D2.Civ.13.6-8C3 FrameworkSocial StudiesCivicsGrades 6-8

D2.Civ.13.6-8: Purposes, Implementation and Consequences of Public Policies

In plain English: D2.Civ.13.6-8 is the C3 Framework civics indicator for grades 6-8 that asks students to analyze public policies: why a policy was made (its purposes), how it was carried out (its implementation) and what happened as a result (its consequences). Students apply these three questions to policies in more than one setting, such as national, town and school government.

Analyze the purposes, implementation, and consequences of public policies in multiple settings.

C3 Framework for Social Studies (NCSS) · Dimension 2: Applying Disciplinary Concepts and Tools · Discipline: Civics · Processes, Rules, and Laws · Official standard

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Lesson Plan

55-80 min

Overview

Students learn to analyze the purposes, implementation, and consequences of public policies in multiple settings, the skill named in D2.Civ.13.6-8. For any policy they ask three questions: Why was it made (its purposes)? How is it carried out, by whom and with what resources (its implementation)? And what happened because of it (its consequences)? The same three questions work for a law of Congress, a town ordinance and a school board rule.

The lesson starts in the national setting with the act that created Yellowstone National Park in 1872 and the National Park Service's own account of the troubled years that followed, when a policy with clear purposes had almost no money or staff. Students then apply the three questions to an invented town ordinance that bans leaf burning, and, in the homework, to an invented school board policy that adds activity buses.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

Define public policy, purpose, implementation and consequence, and tell a public policy from a private rule
Identify the stated purposes of a policy in a primary source, quoting its words
Explain how a policy was carried out, including who was in charge and what money, workers and tools they had
Analyze the consequences of a policy, using evidence and numbers, and explain how consequences can lead to changes in the policy
Compare policies made in national, town and school settings

Prior Knowledge Required

Students should already be comfortable with:

Examining the origins, purposes and impact of laws D2.Civ.3.6-8
Explaining the powers and limits of public officials and government agencies at different levels D2.Civ.4.6-8
Citing evidence from a source to support an answer RH.6-8.1

Lesson Procedure

55-80 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

Warm-Up5-10 minutes
Warm-Up Prompt
"Think of one rule at our school that everyone has to follow. Why do you think the school made it? Who makes sure people follow it? What has changed because of it?"
Take three or four answers and write them in three columns on the board, without headings at first. Then add the headings Why, How and What happened. Tell students that these three columns are the three questions of today's lesson, and that they work for a school rule, a town law or an act of Congress.

Direct Instruction15-20 minutes

Part 1: Key words. A public policy is a plan of action that a government adopts to deal with a public problem. Laws, ordinances, regulations and school board policies are all kinds of public policy. The rules a family or a private store makes are not public policy, because they are not made by a government. Introduce the three questions with Diagram 1 and the table below.

Three questions for analyzing a public policy (working definitions)
Question	What it means	Where to look in a source
Purpose	The reason the policy was made: the problem it should solve or the good it should do	Words such as "the purpose of," "to protect," "for the benefit of"
Implementation	How the policy is carried out: who is in charge, what they do, and the money, workers and tools they have	Who is "in charge" or "under the control" of whom; budgets, staff, rules, fines
Consequences	What actually happens because of the policy, good or bad, planned or not	Results after the policy starts: numbers before and after, new problems, new laws

Part 2: Settings. A setting is the level or place where a policy is made: the national government (Congress and federal agencies), a state or tribal government, a town or county, or a public school board. Policies in every setting can be analyzed with the same three questions, but the setting changes who acts and how much money and power they have.

Part 3: Source 1. In 1871, explorers returned from the Yellowstone region with reports, photographs and paintings of its geysers and canyons. The land was in the Montana and Wyoming territories (areas run by the national government that were not yet states). In 1872, Congress passed the act below. Glosses: withdrawn from settlement means closed to people claiming the land to live on or farm; trespassers are people who are on land without permission; spoliation means damage or ruin; a lease is a contract to rent land for a set time; bridle-paths are trails for horses; wanton means careless or without good reason; merchandise means goods for sale.

AN ACT to set apart a certain tract of land lying near the headwaters of the Yellowstone River as a public park.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the tract of land in the Territories of Montana and Wyoming, lying near the headwaters of the Yellowstone River, [...] is hereby reserved and withdrawn from settlement, occupancy, or sale under the laws of the United States, and dedicated and set apart as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people; and all persons who shall locate or settle upon or occupy the same, or any part thereof, except as hereinafter provided, shall be considered trespassers and removed therefrom.
SEC 2. That said public park shall be under the exclusive control of the Secretary of the Interior, whose duty it shall be, as soon as practicable, to make and publish such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary or proper for the care and management of the same. Such regulations shall provide for the preservation, from injury or spoliation, of all timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or wonders within said park, and their retention in their natural condition. The Secretary may in his discretion, grant leases for building purposes for terms not exceeding ten years, of small parcels of ground, at such places in said park as shall require the erection of buildings for the accommodation of visitors; all of the proceeds of said leases, and all other revenues that may be derived from any source connected with said park, to be expended under his direction in the management of the same, and the construction of roads and bridle-paths therein. He shall provide against the wanton destruction of the fish and game found within said park, and against their capture or destruction for the purposes of merchandise or profit. He shall also cause all persons trespassing upon the same after the passage of this act to be removed therefrom, and generally shall be authorized to take all such measures as shall be necessary or proper to fully carry out the objects and purposes of this act.

Forty-second Congress of the United States, Act Establishing Yellowstone National Park, March 1, 1872 (Source 1: the title and sections 1 and 2; the boundary description is cut and marked [...]) (1872). Public domain (published 1872). Source text.

Model the first column of Diagram 1 aloud: "To find the purpose, I look for words that say what the land is for. Paragraph 2 says the land is set apart as a public park. That is the policy. Now I ask: for whom, and to do what?" Students finish the sentence in their charts before the worked examples.

Guided Practice15-20 minutes
Source 2: carrying out the policy. The act of 1872 said what should happen. Source 2, written by the National Park Service, tells what happened next. Glosses: a superintendent is the official in charge of a park; an appropriation is money that Congress sets aside for a purpose; poachers are people who hunt illegally; squatters are people who live on land they do not own or rent; banishment means being forced to leave a place; an outcry is a strong public protest.
The park’s promoters envisioned Yellowstone National Park would exist at no expense to the government. Nathaniel P. Langford, member of the Washburn Expedition and advocate of the Yellowstone National Park Act, was appointed to the unpaid post of superintendent. (He earned his living elsewhere.) He entered the park at least twice during five years in office—as part of the 1872 Hayden Expedition and to evict a squatter in 1874. Langford did what he could without laws protecting wildlife and other natural features, and without money to build basic structures and hire law enforcement rangers.
Political pressure forced Langford’s removal in 1877. Philetus W. Norris was appointed the second superintendent, and the next year, Congress authorized appropriations “to protect, preserve, and improve the Park.”
Norris constructed roads, built a park headquarters at Mammoth Hot Springs, hired the first “gamekeeper,” and campaigned against hunters and vandals. Much of the primitive road system he laid out remains as the Grand Loop Road. Through constant exploration, Norris also added immensely to geographical knowledge of the park.
[...]
Norris fell victim to political maneuvering and was removed from his post in 1882. He was succeeded by three ineffectual superintendents who could not protect the park. Even when ten assistant superintendents were authorized to act as police, they failed to stop the destruction of wildlife. Poachers, squatters, woodcutters, and vandals ravaged Yellowstone.
[...]
In 1886 Congress refused to appropriate money for ineffective administration.The Secretary of the Interior, under authority given by the Congress, called on the Secretary of War for assistance. On August 20, 1886, the US Army took charge of Yellowstone. The Army strengthened, posted, and enforced regulations in the park. Troops guarded the major attractions and evicted troublemakers, and cavalry patrolled the vast interior.
The most persistent menace came from poachers, whose activities threatened to exterminate animals such as the bison. In 1894, soldiers arrested a man named Ed Howell for slaughtering bison in Pelican Valley. The maximum sentence possible was banishment from the park. Emerson Hough, a well-known journalist, was present at the arrest and wired his report to Forest & Stream, a popular magazine of the time. Its editor, renowned naturalist George Bird Grinnell, helped create a national outcry. Within two months Congress passed the National Park Protection Act, which increased the Army’s authority for protecting park treasures. (This law is known as the Lacey Act, and is the first of two laws with this name.)
National Park Service, Yellowstone National Park, Yellowstone history, "Formative Years" and "The Army Arrives" (Source 2: how the park policy was carried out, 1872-1894; two cuts marked [...]) (2025). US government work (17 U.S.C. 105). Source text.
- Purpose (Source 1)
  What purposes does the 1872 act give for the park? Find two, with the exact words.
  Result: Paragraph 2 sets the land apart "as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people": the park is for everyone, not for private owners. Paragraph 3 adds a second purpose: rules must provide for "the preservation, from injury or spoliation" of the park's timber, minerals and "natural curiosities, or wonders," and "their retention in their natural condition." So the act has two purposes: public enjoyment and protection of nature.
- Implementation on paper (Source 1)
  According to the act, who is in charge of carrying out the policy, and what is that official told to do first?
  Result: Paragraph 3 puts the park "under the exclusive control of the Secretary of the Interior," a member of the President's cabinet. His first job is "to make and publish such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary or proper for the care and management" of the park. The act names one official and gives him the power to write the detailed rules, so much of the real plan is left to him.
- Implementation in practice (Source 2)
  Source 2, paragraph 1 describes the first five years. Why was the policy hard to carry out?
  Result: The promoters "envisioned Yellowstone National Park would exist at no expense to the government." The first superintendent, Nathaniel Langford, held an "unpaid post" and "earned his living elsewhere," and he worked "without money to build basic structures and hire law enforcement rangers." A policy with clear purposes still needs money and workers. Here the plan gave the job to one unpaid person for an area larger than some states, so implementation was weak from the start.
- Consequences of weak implementation (Source 2)
  What does paragraph 4 of Source 2 show about the years after 1882?
  Result: After Norris was removed, "three ineffectual superintendents" followed, and "even when ten assistant superintendents were authorized to act as police, they failed to stop the destruction of wildlife." The consequence: "Poachers, squatters, woodcutters, and vandals ravaged Yellowstone." The act's purpose of preservation was not being met, which shows that the consequences of a policy depend on how it is carried out, not only on what the law says.
Pair task: Pairs fill the three columns of Diagram 1 for Yellowstone, adding at least one detail from paragraphs 2, 3, 5 and 6 of Source 2 that the worked examples did not use. Pairs then mark each detail P (purpose), I (implementation) or C (consequence) and compare with another pair.
Independent Practice15-20 minutes
A second setting: a town. Students read Source 3, an invented scenario about a town policy. An ordinance is a law passed by a town or city council. Asthma is a lung condition that makes breathing hard, and smoke can make it worse. Public Works is the town department that takes care of streets and collects trash. Overtime is extra pay for working more hours than usual. Students fill a new copy of Diagram 1 for Ordinance 12, with paragraph numbers, then write two sentences comparing it with the Yellowstone policy: one way the setting made implementation different, and one way the three questions worked the same.
For many years, people in the town of Lakemont raked their fallen leaves into the street each autumn and burned them. Smoke hung over some neighborhoods for weeks. In one October and November, the town received 60 complaints about smoke, and firefighters answered 8 calls for leaf fires that spread to fences, sheds or parked cars.
The next summer, the Town Council passed Ordinance 12. It says: "No person may burn leaves, grass or other yard waste outdoors within town limits. The purposes of this ordinance are to protect the health of residents, especially people with asthma, and to reduce the risk of fire."
To carry out the ordinance, the Public Works Department collects leaves at the curb every Monday from October 15 to November 30. Residents rake their leaves into a pile at the curb or put them in paper bags. The town bought a leaf vacuum truck for $48,000. A police officer who sees someone burning leaves gives a written warning the first time and a $50 fine the second time.
After the first autumn under the new rule, the town received 12 complaints about smoke, and firefighters answered 2 calls for leaf fires. Public Works collected 310 tons of leaves, turned them into compost and gave the compost to residents for free in the spring. But a heavy rain in November washed leaf piles into storm drains, and two streets flooded. Workers also needed $14,000 more in overtime pay than the council had planned. For next year, the council asks residents to keep leaf piles at least 2 feet from storm drains, and it added a second pickup day each week.
SVHS (invented scenario), Source 3: Lakemont bans leaf burning (invented scenario written for this page; the town, ordinance and numbers are invented) (2026). Original passage written for this page.
Closure5-10 minutes
Exit ticket: "Which of the three questions, purpose, implementation or consequences, is hardest to answer from the law alone? Explain using Yellowstone or Lakemont."
Teacher note on the sources: Source 1 is the 1872 act as transcribed by the National Archives, with only the boundary description cut. Source 2 is history written by the National Park Service; the paragraph cut after paragraph 3 says that Superintendent Norris, during wars between the United States and many Native American tribes, promoted the idea that Native Americans avoided the area because they feared the geysers, and that this myth went against the evidence. Yellowstone was not empty land: Native peoples had long lived in, hunted in and traveled through the region, and the park policy limited their use of it. Teachers may raise this as a consequence the 1872 act does not mention. Sources 3 and 4 are invented and are not about any real town or school.
Homework passage. Source 4 is an invented scenario about a school board policy, a third setting. A school board is the elected group that makes policy for a public school district.
At Quarry Hill Middle School, the last regular bus leaves at 3:15 p.m., but most clubs and teams meet until 4:30. In a school survey, 90 of the 300 students who ride the bus said they would join an after-school activity if they had a ride home.
In December, the school board adopted a new policy: "Beginning in January, two activity buses will leave Quarry Hill Middle School at 4:45 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The purpose of this policy is to give every student a fair chance to take part in after-school activities, whether or not a family member can drive."
To carry out the policy, students sign up in the main office by noon on each day they need a ride. The district pays each driver $35 extra for every late run. Because two activity buses must cover the neighborhoods that six regular buses serve, each activity bus follows a longer route.
After 10 weeks, the number of students who attended at least one club or team each week had risen from 150 to 210. On an average bus day, 52 students rode the activity buses. Some students on the longest route got home after 5:45 p.m., and a few parents asked for a third bus. The librarian noticed something no one had planned: more students now stayed in the library to do homework before their clubs or the bus, so the library began staying open until 4:40 on bus days.
SVHS (invented scenario), Source 4: activity buses at Quarry Hill Middle School (invented scenario written for this page, for the homework; the school and numbers are invented) (2026). Original passage written for this page.

Differentiation Strategies

For Struggling Students

Give Diagram 1 with sentence starters: "The policy was made to ___." "___ carries it out by ___." "Because of the policy, ___."
Read Source 2 aloud one paragraph at a time and have students label each paragraph P, I or C in the margin before answering questions
Pair Source 3 with a three-color highlighter key: one color each for purpose, implementation and consequences

For Advanced Students

Compare the 1872 act with a park or nature rule in your own state or town: for which one is each of the three questions easiest to answer, and why?
Rewrite Ordinance 12 in Source 3 to fix one problem that appeared after it began, and predict one new consequence of your version
Choose a real policy in your town or school and interview an adult about its purpose, how it is carried out and one consequence they have noticed

Assessment Guidance

What to Look For

Strong answers keep the three questions apart: a purpose says why a policy exists, implementation says who does what with which resources, and a consequence is something that happened after the policy began. Students should quote or cite the source with a paragraph number and use numbers when the source gives them. Watch for students who list the policy itself as its consequence, or who assume that a policy with good purposes must have had good results; Yellowstone's first fourteen years show why that does not follow.

Classroom Activities

3 Activities

Policy Card Sort

12 minPairs

Pairs get 12 cards about three invented policies in three settings: a state law, a city bus route and a school's water stations. They sort each card as a purpose (P), part of the implementation (I) or a consequence (C), and group the cards by setting.

The 12 Policy Cards

State law: "This law aims to cut head injuries among bicycle riders under 16."
State law: Police officers stop young riders without helmets and give them a warning and a coupon for a free helmet.
State law: In the first year, children's hospital visits for bike head injuries in the state went down.
State law: Some families said that buying helmets for several children cost too much.
City bus: The new Route 9 is meant to help residents without cars reach the community college.
City bus: The city buys two buses and runs them every 30 minutes from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
City bus: Enrollment at the college's evening classes rose the next fall.
City bus: Neighbors on Fifth Street complained about bus noise early in the morning.
School: The water stations are meant to cut the number of plastic bottles thrown away at school.
School: The parent group raises money and custodians install four refill stations.
School: The cafeteria trash had far fewer plastic bottles by spring.
School: Lines at the stations made some students late for class after lunch.

Answer Key for the Teacher

Purpose: cards 1, 5, 9
Implementation: cards 2, 6, 10
Consequence: cards 3, 4, 7, 8, 11, 12
Settings: cards 1-4 state, 5-8 city, 9-12 school. All three are public policies, because a state legislature, a city government and a public school make them.

Discussion

Each policy has one purpose card but two consequence cards. Why might a policy have more consequences than purposes?
Which consequence cards show a problem that the people who made the policy probably did not want?

Policy Lab: Morning Drop-Off

25 minGroups of 4

Each group acts as an invented school board facing one problem: cars back up onto a busy road every morning when parents drop students off. Groups write a policy, plan how to carry it out, predict consequences, and then react to a consequence card.

Procedure

Write a one-sentence purpose statement for your policy
Write the implementation plan: who is in charge, what they do each morning, and what it costs (staff time, signs, cones)
Predict two consequences, one you hope for and one possible problem
The teacher hands each group one consequence card; the group decides whether to keep, change or end its policy, and why

Consequence Cards (one per group)

The line of cars is shorter, but more families now park on a side street and block driveways
Two teachers on morning duty say they no longer have time to prepare for first period
More students walk or bike to school, and the crossing guard asks for help
The plan works on dry days, but on rainy days the line is as long as before

Debrief Questions

Which part of your plan did the consequence card test: the purpose or the implementation?
How is a school board's policy different from an act of Congress in who carries it out and how quickly it can be changed?

Same Goal, Three Settings

15 minGroups of 3

Groups compare three policies that share one goal, protecting a natural place, but come from different settings. Each student takes one policy and reports to the group.

The Three Policies

National: the Yellowstone act of 1872 (Sources 1 and 2)
State: in 1864 Congress gave Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias to the state of California to protect as a park; in 1890 Congress made the high country around the valley a national park, and in 1906 the valley itself was returned to the national government
Town (invented): the town of Lakemont sets aside a 40-acre wetland as a nature preserve, with a volunteer trail crew and a rule against bikes on the boardwalk

Comparison Grid

Each group fills a 3-by-3 grid: one row per policy, with columns for purpose, implementation (who, how, what resources) and consequences (known or likely). Then the group writes two sentences: one on how the setting changed who carried the policy out, and one on a question they would ask to learn more about its consequences.

Diagrams & Visual Aids

2 diagrams

Diagram 1: Three Questions for Any Public Policy

The three parts of D2.Civ.13.6-8: purpose, implementation and consequences, with the dashed arrow showing how consequences can lead to a changed policy. The bottom row lists settings where policies are made. Students use the top row as an analysis chart for each source.

Diagram 2: Yellowstone Policy, 1870-1920, Drawn to Scale

Key years in the Yellowstone story, placed to scale on a line from 1870 to 1920. The years from 1872 to 1894 come from Sources 1 and 2; 1916 and 1918 come from the same National Park Service history page.

Homework Assignment

~30 min

D2.Civ.13.6-8 Homework: Activity Buses at Quarry Hill

Directions: Problems 1-5 use Source 4, the invented scenario about activity buses at Quarry Hill Middle School, printed in the Closure phase of the lesson plan. Problem 6 also uses Source 3. Cite paragraph numbers and show your arithmetic.

Part 1: Setting and Purpose (Problems 1-2)

Who made the activity bus policy, and in what setting (national, state, town or school)? Quote the sentence that states its purpose.
In the survey, 90 of the 300 students who ride the bus said they would join an activity if they had a ride. What percent is that? Explain how this number connects to the purpose of the policy.

Part 2: Implementation (Problems 3-4)

List three things that must happen for the policy to be carried out, using paragraph 3.
Each bus day has two late runs, one per bus, and there are 3 bus days a week. At $35 per run, how much extra did the district pay drivers in the first 10 weeks? Show your work.

Part 3: Consequences and Choices (Problems 5-6)

Weekly club and team attendance rose from 150 to 210 students. By how many students, and by what percent, did it rise? Then name one other consequence in paragraph 4 that helps the purpose and one that is a problem.
A parent asks the board for a third activity bus. Should the board add one? Use the purpose, the cost of each late run and at least one consequence from paragraph 4. Then compare: how did the Lakemont council in Source 3 respond to a problem the ordinance caused?

Rubric

Criterion	Full Credit (2 pts)	Partial Credit (1 pt)	No Credit (0 pts)
Purpose	States the purpose in the source's words and links it to the problem	States the purpose without a link to the problem	Missing or wrong
Implementation	Names who acts, what they do and what it costs	Names some steps but leaves out who or the cost	Missing or wrong
Consequences	Uses numbers and details from paragraph 4, including a problem and a benefit	Names a consequence without evidence	Confuses consequences with the policy itself
Reasoning and Accuracy	Arithmetic is correct and the recommendation weighs purpose against cost	One error, or a recommendation without reasons	Several errors

Quiz: 20 Questions

Interactive, with answers

Instructions

Questions 1-4 use the Yellowstone act (Source 1), Questions 5-9 use the National Park Service history (Source 2), Questions 10-13 use the invented Lakemont scenario (Source 3), and the rest apply the three questions across settings. All sources are in the lesson plan phases above. Choose the best answer, then check your work.

Multiple choice: pick an option to check it. Short answer: write your answer, then reveal the model answer.

0 of 20 answered · 0 correct

Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 1, paragraph 2, what would happen to people who settled on the park land?
Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Section 2 of Source 1 says that money from leases and "all other revenues" from the park must be spent on what?
Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Section 2 orders protection of fish and game against "capture or destruction for the purposes of merchandise or profit." Which invented action would break this rule?
Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Section 2 lets the Secretary lease only "small parcels of ground," for no more than ten years, for buildings "for the accommodation of visitors." Which purpose does this limit serve best?
Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Source 2, paragraph 2 says that in 1878 Congress "authorized appropriations." What did this change about how the park policy was carried out?
Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which result of Superintendent Norris's work, according to Source 2, can still be seen in the park today?
Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 2, paragraph 5, why did the U.S. Army take charge of Yellowstone in 1886?
Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice
When soldiers caught Ed Howell killing bison in 1894, "the maximum sentence possible was banishment from the park" (Source 2, paragraph 6). What problem with the park policy did this show?
Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Who outside government helped turn Howell's arrest into a "national outcry" that led Congress to pass a new law within two months?
Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Ordinance 12 in Source 3 states two purposes. What are they?
Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which of these is part of how Lakemont implements, or carries out, Ordinance 12?
Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice
After the first autumn, complaints about smoke in Lakemont fell from 60 to 12. By what percent did they fall?
Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which consequence of Ordinance 12 is one the council did not plan for?
Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice
An invented city council votes to plant 500 trees along its streets to give shade. The city's Parks Department then hires a planting crew and orders young trees. The hiring and ordering are part of the policy's:
Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer
Source 1 sets the park apart "for the benefit and enjoyment of the people" and also calls for "retention in their natural condition." Explain how these two purposes could pull against each other. Use one detail from Source 1 or Source 2.
Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer
Compare how the Yellowstone policy (1872-1886) and Lakemont's Ordinance 12 were implemented. For each, name who carried it out and what money, workers or equipment they had.
Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer
In Lakemont, calls for leaf fires fell from 8 to 2, but the town needed $14,000 more in overtime than planned. Explain how you would judge whether the ordinance was worth its cost. Use at least one number from Source 3.
Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer
An invented county library starts lending free laptops to students who do not have a computer at home. Write one possible purpose, two steps of implementation and two possible consequences, one helpful and one a problem.
Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer
A consequence of a policy can lead to a change in the policy. Trace one example from Source 2 or Source 3: describe the consequence, who responded to it, and what changed.
Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer
Choose a rule or policy at your school or in your community. Analyze it with the three questions: its purpose, how it is implemented and one consequence you have seen or would expect. Name its setting.

0 of 20 answered · 0 correct

Frequently Asked Questions

10 Questions

What does D2.Civ.13.6-8 mean?

D2.Civ.13.6-8 asks students in grades 6-8 to analyze public policies by asking why each one was made, how it is carried out and what happened because of it. Students practice with policies from more than one setting, for example a national law, a town ordinance and a school board rule.

What is a public policy?

A public policy is a plan of action that a government adopts to deal with a public problem. Acts of Congress, state laws, town ordinances, agency regulations and public school board policies all count. Rules made by families, stores or private clubs do not, because no government makes them.

What is the difference between implementation and consequences?

Implementation is how a policy is carried out; consequences are what happens as a result. Hiring workers, buying equipment and writing detailed rules are implementation. Fewer injuries, higher costs or a new problem that shows up later are consequences.

What does "multiple settings" mean in D2.Civ.13.6-8?

It means students analyze policies made at different levels or places, not just one. A setting can be the national government, a state or tribal government, a town or county, or a public school district. Comparing settings shows how the level of government changes who carries out a policy and what resources they have.

Why use Yellowstone to teach public policy?

Because the act of 1872 is short, states its purposes clearly and was followed by years of trouble carrying it out. The National Park Service's own history lets students compare what the law said with what actually happened, which is the heart of this indicator.

Is a school rule really a public policy?

Yes, when it is made by a public school board or a public school acting under the board's authority. School boards are local governments chosen by voters, and their policies can be analyzed like any other. A rule made by a private club or a family is not public policy.

How is D2.Civ.13.6-8 different from D2.Civ.12.6-8?

D2.Civ.12.6-8 asks students to assess specific rules and laws as ways of addressing public problems. D2.Civ.13.6-8 looks at public policies over time: their purposes, how they were put into practice and what followed. A lesson on 12 asks "Is this a good rule for this problem?"; a lesson on 13 also asks "What happened when it was carried out?"

How do I keep a lesson on public policy nonpartisan?

Use historical policies and invented local scenarios, and grade how students analyze, not which policies they like. The questions on this page ask students to find purposes, steps and results in the evidence. When students judge a policy, as in the homework, either recommendation earns full credit if it is supported.

Are Lakemont and Quarry Hill real places?

No. Source 3 and Source 4 are invented scenarios written for this page, and their numbers are invented. They are realistic examples of town and school policies, so students can practice the three questions on settings close to their own lives.

What does D2.Civ.13.6-8 lead to in high school?

It leads to D2.Civ.13.9-12, which asks students to evaluate public policies in terms of their intended and unintended outcomes and related consequences. High school students go beyond describing what happened to judging whether a policy achieved what it was meant to and what it cost.