The tools for the Toolkit are embedded in the VSC document at the objective level. Nine different types of tools are under development, although not all tools are currently available for every objective.

Clarifications: Each clarification provides an explanation of an indicator/objective to help teachers better understand the skills and/or concepts.

Lesson Plans: The lesson plans have been juried by Maryland educators and could be used when teaching this concept.

Lesson Seeds: The lesson seeds are ideas for the indicator/objective that can be used to build a lesson. Lesson seeds are not meant to be all-inclusive, nor are they substitutes for instruction.

Sample Assessments: Each sample assessment item gives an idea of how an assessment item on the Maryland School Assessment (MSA) might be presented. The items appropriately measure the content of the VSC and may be formatted similarly to those appearing on the MSA; however, these are sample items only and have not appeared on any MSA form.

Prerequisite Skills: The prerequisite skills describe what concepts a student needs to understand before working on this concept.

Higher Order Thinking Skills: The higher order thinking skills shows examples of questions for this concept at various levels of cognitive demand.

Technology: This tool suggests ways technology may be used to enhance the teaching of this concept.

Resources: This tool shows resource links to websites that offer instructional resources.

Public Release Item: Public Release items have appeared on MSA forms and then are released for public viewing and use. Releasing items is one step to ensuring that schools, districts, and other stakeholders understand how the content standards are assessed on the MSA.