Describe a backward design approach to planning a standards-aligned unit.

• A. Start with activities and resources, then decide on assessments.
• B. Start with diagnostic tests and collect data before setting outcomes.
• C. Start with desired outcomes and enduring understandings, determine acceptable evidence of learning, then plan instructional activities and resources.
• D. Plan only based on student interests without standards.

Answer: (C)

Backward design begins by clarifying the desired outcomes and enduring understandings students should reach, tied to the standards. Next, it determines acceptable evidence—valid assessments and performance tasks that will demonstrate those outcomes. Finally, it plans the instructional activities and resources that will lead students to achieve the outcomes and to show what they’ve learned. This order keeps the unit standards-aligned, because every activity and resource is chosen to support the clear objectives, and every assessment directly measures those objectives. Starting with activities and resources, or collecting data before defining outcomes, or planning only from student interests without standards, misses the alignment between what students should understand and how we’ll prove it.