School Improvement in Maryland
What do the assessments test? Government

Political Systems | Peoples Of The Nation & World | Geography | Economics |

 
The High School Assessments student's knowledge of Core Learning Goals at the indicator level. Some indicators have assessment limits which indicate more specifically what will be assessed. Assessment items and other instructional resources at the indicator level can be viewed in the CLG Toolkit.

Goal 4 Economics

The student will demonstrate an understanding of the historical development and current status of economic principles, institutions, and processes needed to be effective citizens, consumers, and workers.

Expectation

4.1 The student will demonstrate an understanding of economic principles, institutions, and processes required to formulate government policy.

Indicators

4.1.1 The student will evaluate how governments affect the answers to the basic economic questions of what to produce, how to produce, and for whom to produce.

Assessment limits:
  • Role of government in answering the basic economic questions in traditional, market, command and mixed economies.

4.1.2 The student will utilize the principles of economic costs and benefits and opportunity cost to analyze the effectiveness of government policy in achieving socio-economic goals.

Assessment limits:
  • The role of scarcity and opportunity cost in government decision making.
  • Competing socio-economic goals including: economic freedom, growth, stability, equity, security, productivity, national defense, environmental protection, and educational quality.

4.1.3 The student will examine regulatory agencies and their social, economic, and political impact on the country, a region, or on/within a state.

Assessment limits:
  • How regulatory agencies respond to social issues/concerns, and/or market failures.
  • Regulatory agencies that respond to social issues and/or market failures:
    • Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
    • Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
    • Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
    • Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
    • Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

    Other national agencies and state and local agencies can be used, but information will be provided in the item.

4.1.4 The student will evaluate the effectiveness of current monetary and fiscal policy on promoting full employment, price stability, and economic performance.

Assessment limits:
  • Business cycle, monetary policy (Federal Reserve actions) and fiscal policy (Legislative and Executive actions) and their effect on economic performance, full employment, and price stability.
  • Tools of monetary policy (Federal Reserve System – FED) include the reserve requirement, interest rates, and open-market operations (buying and selling of government securities).
  • Tools of fiscal policy include increasing/decreasing taxes and tariffs and/or spending.
  • Measures of economic performance include Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Consumer Price Index (CPI), and unemployment rate.
Date: 8/2004