Indiana Social Studies USG.3.13
The Standard
Explain the organization of state and local governments in Indiana and analyze how they affect the lives of citizens.
2026 Indiana Academic Standards: K-12 Social Studies · Students understand the nature of citizenship, politics, and governments, understanding the rights and responsibilities of citizens and how these are part of local, state, and national government. Students examine how the United States Constitution protects rights and provides the structure and functions of various levels of government. Students examine how the United States interacts with other nations as well as the government's role in world affairs will be examined.
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students map Indiana's governor, legislature, and courts alongside county, city, town, township, and school district offices. They explain how decisions about roads, schools, and local services affect residents.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can identify who handles a city street repair and who approves the city budget. They can explain how a state funding decision affects what a local school district can spend.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may call every local official a mayor, even though counties have commissioners and towns have councils. They may think the governor runs city services or that school boards set statewide school funding.
How to Assess It
- Ask: A city street and a state highway both need repairs. Who approves each repair budget, and how would the repairs affect drivers?
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs cards naming the governor, legislator, county commissioner, city council member, township trustee, and school board member to sort onto a government chart.
Ask students to write: Who should a resident contact about a pothole on a city street, and who approves the repair budget?
Run a four-corner quiz with state, county, city, and school district signs; read scenarios about highways, county roads, sidewalks, and school calendars.
Have students find one spending item on a local council agenda, then name the service residents would get and who votes on it.
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Printable USG.3.13 Worksheet
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- USG.3.4
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- USG.5.2
Analyze the roles and responsibilities of citizens in Indiana and the United States.
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