Alabama Social Studies SS24.USG.8b
The Standard
- SS24.USG.8
- Describe how special interest groups and political action committees develop, how they function, and how their campaign contributions affect state and national elections.
Analyze examples of legislation or policy decisions that reflect the influence of special interest groups, and describe methods by which these groups seek to sway the policy-making process.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students connect a group's policy goal to a decision lawmakers made. They identify how the group tried to influence that decision and judge what the evidence does and does not show.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can explain why sugar growers supported price supports in the 2018 Farm Bill and identify a lobbying tactic they used. They can point to a lobbying record as evidence of an attempt to influence lawmakers without claiming it proves why lawmakers voted as they did.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may treat a campaign donation as proof that a lawmaker changed a vote. They may also think lobbying only means donating money, overlooking meetings, testimony, and calls from members.
How to Assess It
- Give students a short summary of the 2018 Farm Bill's sugar provisions and a sugar growers' lobbying disclosure. Ask them to name the group's goal and one tactic, then explain why the disclosure alone cannot prove it caused the policy.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Have pairs sort printed cards showing a lobbying disclosure, a Farm Bill provision, and a lawmaker's vote into tactics, policy, and evidence needing more context.
Ask students to write three sentences on why sugar growers wanted price supports and what evidence might show whether lawmakers considered their request.
Play a matching round with cards for lobbying meetings, campaign donations, and member phone calls, each paired with its intended audience.
Find a local school board agenda and a PTA public comment, then have students identify the group's request and the board's decision.
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Printable SS24.USG.8b Worksheet
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Related Standards
- SS24.S.7
Analyze how different types of social groups can influence individual and group behavior.*
- SS24.US1.13a
Describe the roles of key groups in seeking to influence or resist economic, political, and social change throughout the Reconstruction era in the United States...
- SS24.USG.8
Describe how special interest groups and political action committees develop, how they function, and how their campaign contributions affect state and national ...
- SS24.6.18a
Identify and describe ways citizens work together to influence the government and solve problems.
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