DecisionPoint Education

DECISIONPOINT CURRICULUM PLANNING TOOLS

Start with the learning.
Build backward with purpose.

Align standards, lasting learning, assessment evidence, instructional sequence, and learner access before filling the calendar with activities.

STEP 1

Name the destination

STEP 2

Align evidence and learning

How will students demonstrate the learning?
What belongs in the learning sequence?
Which access supports belong in the design?
STEP 3

Your backward unit plan

4-week unitStandards → evidence → learning
DECISIONPOINT EDUCATIONBackward design
BACKWARD UNIT DESIGN

UNIT AT A GLANCE
7th Grade Social Studies | How societies respond to change
Length: 4 weeks
Culminating Depth of Knowledge: DOK 3 — Strategic thinking
Bloom’s cognitive process: Evaluate and create

PRIORITY STANDARDS
Students analyze causes, consequences, and competing perspectives using evidence from primary and secondary sources.

LASTING LEARNING / TRANSFER GOAL
Students will use evidence to explain how decisions made during periods of change affect different groups.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
Whose choices shape change?
How does evidence change the story we tell?

ACCEPTABLE EVIDENCE
• Performance task or authentic product
• Writing or constructed response
• Student reflection or self-assessment

SUCCESS CRITERIA
• The final evidence directly addresses the priority standard.
• Students explain decisions, reasoning, or use of evidence.
• Criteria describe quality—not task completion or compliance.
• Students have an opportunity to use feedback and revise.

LEARNING SEQUENCE
WEEK 1 — Launch the essential question, surface prior knowledge, and establish the unit’s central problem.
WEEK 2 — Build knowledge and priority skills, analyze examples, and collect formative evidence before moving forward.
WEEK 3 — Build knowledge and priority skills, analyze examples, and collect formative evidence before moving forward.
WEEK 4 — Apply learning in the culminating evidence, receive feedback, revise, and reflect on transfer.

SELECTED DESIGN MOVES
• Launch with a compelling question or problem
• Model or analyze an exemplar
• Use formative checkpoints
• Include revision after feedback

ACCESS WITHOUT LOWERING THE GOAL
• Vocabulary and language supports
• Visuals, models, and worked examples
• Choice of response format

FORMATIVE DECISION POINTS
1. Early check: What prior knowledge or misconception must shape instruction?
2. Mid-unit check: Who needs a different model, additional practice, or greater challenge?
3. Pre-performance check: Can students independently apply the priority skill?
4. Revision check: What feedback will produce the most meaningful improvement?

UNIT QUALITY CHECK
• Standards, evidence, and daily learning point in the same direction.
• Activities earn their place by preparing students for the final evidence.
• The plan includes time to respond to formative evidence.
• Support changes access—not the intellectual demand.