Education Technology


NCSS: Assessing Federal Budget and National Debt

Activity Overview

Student knowledge and understanding of the parts of the federal budget and the related growth of the national debt are assessed. Also assessed is their understanding of how the budget and its surpluses and deficits are related to the national debt.

Before the Activity

See the attached Activity PDF file for detailed instructions for this activity.

Print the appropriate pages from the Activity for your class.

Install the LearningCheck(tm) App on the students' graphing calculators following the attached instructions.

Using the Teacher Guide: Assessing the Federal Budget and National Debt conduct a class review session. Remind the students to review their vocabulary and their notes.

During the Activity

  • Distribute the appropriate pages from the Activity to your class
  • Distribute the LearningCheck(tm) file(s) to your class using TI Connect(tm) and the appropriate TI Connectivity cable
  • Follow the procedures outlined in the Activity


  • Students will:
  • Evaluate choices the government makes in deciding budgetary expenditures.
  • Use data from pie graphs to understand the priorities in government expenditures.
  • Use data from pie graphs to compare the federal government's revenue sources.
  • Examine trends in the national debt and its impact on government finances.
  • After the Activity

    Discuss the assessment and answers.