Better Vice Club
Illinois standards alignment
Designed for high school. Below is every Illinoisstandard these courses cover: the exact code, the standard's own words, and the lesson that covers it. Where we only cover part of a standard, it says so, and says which part.
- 9
- standards mapped
- 4
- fully covered
- 5
- partially covered
- 3
- frameworks
Read this before you rely on it
- We mapped this ourselves. This alignment was done by Better Vice Club against the published standards. It has not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by Illinois's education authority or by anyone else.
- Every code was fetched, then transcribed word for word. Each framework below shows the date its codes and text were retrieved from the publisher.
- Standards get revised.A code can be renumbered or its wording changed without notice, and some states publish more than one live edition of the same document. Confirm anything you file against your own jurisdiction's current requirements, using the source links below.
- We would rather claim less. Where the courses only partly cover a standard, this page says partially covered and explains the gap. Standards we considered and could not honestly claim are listed at the bottom, with the reasons.
Filtering by course: BVC: Guayusa & Kola Nut — Forest Wisdom
- All courses
- BVC: Beer — Liquid Bread
- BVC: Cannabis — The Green Revolution
- BVC: Chocolate — Food of the Gods
- BVC: Coca — White Lines
- BVC: Coffee — The Daily Global Connection
- BVC: Guayusa & Kola Nut — Forest Wisdom
- BVC: Kava — The Root of Peace
- BVC: Khat — The Afternoon Leaf
- BVC: My Daily Altar — Season Synthesis
- BVC: Opioids — The Poppy's Promise
- BVC: Psychedelics — The Mushroom's Message
- BVC: Rum — Sweet Poison
- BVC: Sugar — The Sweet Revolution
- BVC: Tea — The Way of Tea
- BVC: Tequila & Mezcal — Heart of the Agave
- BVC: The Full Spectrum — Who Draws the Line?
- BVC: The Toast — Season Synthesis
- BVC: Tobacco — Sacred Smoke
- BVC: Whiskey — Fire Water
Showing 9 standards in Social Studies covered by BVC: Guayusa & Kola Nut — Forest Wisdom. Clear filters
Illinois · Social Studies
Illinois Learning Standards for Social Science — History, High School (SS.H)
Illinois Learning Standards for Social Science, Grades 9-12 (2017) · Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) · retrieved 2026-07-18
Illinois's History strand is stated as historical-thinking concepts (causation, sources, the struggle for justice) rather than an era survey, which is where the catalog's commodity, labor, civil-rights, and Cold-War history maps.
Read the source document →SS.H.9.9-12
CoveredAnalyze the relationship between historical sources and the secondary interpretations made from them.
Covered by
- BVC: Sugar — The Sweet Revolution
- BVC: Chocolate — Food of the Gods
- BVC: Guayusa & Kola Nut — Forest Wisdom
- BVC: Coca — White Lines
- BVC: Whiskey — Fire Water
- BVC: Psychedelics — The Mushroom's Message
- BVC: Coffee — The Daily Global Connection
- · Ep 4 · Whose Voice Tells the Story, Beckford (1790) against Equiano (1789) and Mary Prince (1831) on the same plantation world
- · Ep 3 · Two Ways of Seeing a Bean
- · Ep 5 · Two Ways of Knowing
- · Ep 18 · Whose Voice
- · Ep 10 · The Oral History That Survived (recovering Nathan “Nearest” Green's erased role)
- · Ep 19 · Peer Review Versus Press Release
- · Every course's Sources bibliography, with per-claim verification
- · Ep 4 · Whose Voice Tells the Story
Note: Exactly the Whose Voice method: primary accounts read against each other and against the secondary record, and the Nathan “Nearest” Green lesson teaching why the oral and documentary records diverge — source and interpretation held apart on purpose.
SS.H.1.9-12
Partially coveredEvaluate how historical developments were shaped by time and place as well as broader historical contexts.
Covered by
- BVC: Coffee — The Daily Global Connection
- BVC: Tea — The Way of Tea
- BVC: Chocolate — Food of the Gods
- BVC: Sugar — The Sweet Revolution
- BVC: Guayusa & Kola Nut — Forest Wisdom
- BVC: Kava — The Root of Peace
- BVC: Whiskey — Fire Water
- BVC: Rum — Sweet Poison
- BVC: Tequila & Mezcal — Heart of the Agave
- BVC: Tobacco — Sacred Smoke
- · The Commodity Map itself, every episode pinned at its origin
- · The Growing Belts map, production regions by latitude band and country
- · Ep 1 · The Coffee Belt: Where Coffee Grows and Why
- · Ep 3 · The Cacao Tree and the Narrowest Belt
- · Ep 6 · Why Volcanic Soil Only
- · Ep 1 · Climate Change Is Redrawing the Map
- · Ep 3 · A Two-Degree Threat
- · Ep 10 · Karst Limestone and Bourbon
- · Ep 1 · Assignment, Option B, assess a producing country's climate viability and defend the assessment
- · Ep 3 · Conquest and the Great Reversal
- · Ep 4 · The Triangular Trade and the Middle Passage
- · Ep 11 · The Triangular Trade
- · Ep 12 · Burning the Books (the destruction of the Mesoamerican codices)
- · Ep 15 · From Sacred to Commodity
- · Ep 2 · The Tea Plant and Its Climate Zones
- · Ep 3 · The Big Producers and the Cacao Varieties
- · Ep 4 · From New Guinea to the New World
What we do and don't cover: Taught as the series' method — how climate, latitude, and place shaped where commodities grew and what happened there (the Columbian Exchange, the agricultural hearths) — that lens applied to commodity history, not a general survey of causation.
SS.H.8.9-12
Partially coveredAnalyze key historical events and contributions of individuals through a variety of perspectives, including those of historically underrepresented groups.
Covered by
- BVC: Sugar — The Sweet Revolution
- BVC: Chocolate — Food of the Gods
- BVC: Guayusa & Kola Nut — Forest Wisdom
- BVC: Coca — White Lines
- · Ep 4 · The Triangular Trade and the Middle Passage
- · Ep 4 · Whose Voice Tells the Story (Equiano, 1789; Mary Prince, 1831)
- · The Great Migration, Lesson 6 · The Black press as engine: the Chicago Defender
- · The Great Migration, Lesson 7 · The Harlem Renaissance & the New Negro
- · Ep 4 · Whose Voice Tells the Story, Beckford (1790) against Equiano (1789) and Mary Prince (1831) on the same plantation world
- · Ep 3 · Two Ways of Seeing a Bean
- · Ep 5 · Two Ways of Knowing
- · Ep 18 · Whose Voice
What we do and don't cover: Underrepresented perspectives are centered — formerly enslaved writers (Equiano, Mary Prince) on the Middle Passage and plantation, the Harlem Renaissance and the Black press — but as commodity and labor history, not a comprehensive multi-perspective survey.
Illinois · Social Studies
Illinois Learning Standards for Social Science — Economics and Financial Literacy, High School (SS.EC)
Illinois Learning Standards for Social Science, Grades 9-12 (2017) · Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) · retrieved 2026-07-18
The BVC series supplies the Economics strand through real commodity markets — scarcity and incentives, market regulation, trade, and globalization. Illinois's Financial Literacy sub-strand (SS.EC.FL) is not taught here; see notClaimed.
Read the source document →SS.EC.10.9-12
CoveredExplain how globalization trends and policies affect social, political, and economic conditions in different nations.
Covered by
- BVC: Chocolate — Food of the Gods
- BVC: My Daily Altar — Season Synthesis
- BVC: The Full Spectrum — Who Draws the Line?
- BVC: Guayusa & Kola Nut — Forest Wisdom
- BVC: Rum — Sweet Poison
- · Ep 3 · The Commodity Trap
- · Ep 7 · Who Captures the Value
- · Ep 21 · The Smile Curve, Confirmed
- · Ep 3 · Conquest and the Great Reversal
- · Ep 5 · How Coca-Cola Got Its Name (biopiracy)
- · Ep 7 · The Same Story, Six Times
- · Ep 11 · The Debt of Freedom (the 1825 French indemnity and Haiti's modern poverty)
- · Mexico, Lesson 7 · Mexico rewrites its labor law, and the 68-year gap that explains why
- · Mexico, Lesson 10 · The Rapid Response Mechanism: an international labor rule with teeth
- · Mexico, Lesson 12 · The limits, honestly: the cases the United States lost
Note: Globalization's effects are traced through real chains — the commodity trap that keeps producing nations poor, how colonial patterns persist, and NAFTA→USMCA's effect on labor on both sides of the border.
SS.EC.1.9-12
Partially coveredAnalyze how scarcity and incentives influence choices to consume or produce for different individuals and groups.
Covered by
- BVC: Guayusa & Kola Nut — Forest Wisdom
- BVC: Kava — The Root of Peace
- BVC: My Daily Altar — Season Synthesis
- BVC: Coffee — The Daily Global Connection
- BVC: Sugar — The Sweet Revolution
- · Ep 5 · The Reciprocity Economy
- · Ep 6 · Ceremony Meets the Market
- · Ep 7 · Two Ways of Doing Economics
- · Ep 1 · Price Shocks and Why You Keep Buying
- · Ep 4 · From Luxury to the Cheapest Calorie
What we do and don't cover: Scarcity and incentives are taught through real commodity markets — reciprocity versus market economies, and inelastic coffee demand absorbing a price spike — not as a general choice-and-incentives unit.
SS.EC.9.9-12
Partially coveredAnalyze the role of comparative advantage in global trade of goods and services.
Covered by
- BVC: Coffee — The Daily Global Connection
- BVC: Tea — The Way of Tea
- BVC: Chocolate — Food of the Gods
- BVC: Tequila & Mezcal — Heart of the Agave
- BVC: The Toast — Season Synthesis
- BVC: The Full Spectrum — Who Draws the Line?
- BVC: Sugar — The Sweet Revolution
- BVC: Guayusa & Kola Nut — Forest Wisdom
- BVC: Kava — The Root of Peace
- · Ep 1 · Follow the Money: Bean to Cup
- · Ep 2 · Who Gets Paid, Tea and Coffee Compared
- · Ep 3 · The Commodity Trap
- · Ep 12 · The Jimador's Share
- · Ep 14 · Pattern 3: Labor Captures the Smallest Share (the smile curve)
- · Ep 21 · The Smile Curve, Confirmed
- · The Commodity Map itself, every episode pinned at its origin
- · The Growing Belts map, production regions by latitude band and country
- · Ep 1 · The Coffee Belt: Where Coffee Grows and Why
- · Ep 3 · The Cacao Tree and the Narrowest Belt
- · Ep 6 · Why Volcanic Soil Only
What we do and don't cover: The geography of who produces what and who earns from it is the series' spine (coffee, sugar, chocolate), but comparative advantage as a named formal model is not taught.
Illinois · Social Studies
Illinois Learning Standards for Social Science — Geography, High School (SS.G)
Illinois Learning Standards for Social Science, Grades 9-12 (2017) · Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) · retrieved 2026-07-18
The BVC Commodity Map's climate-and-place, migration, and globalization work maps onto Illinois's human- and environmental-geography standards.
Read the source document →SS.G.8.9-12
CoveredEvaluate how short and long term climate variability impacts human migration and settlement patterns, resource use and land uses.
Covered by
- BVC: Coffee — The Daily Global Connection
- BVC: Chocolate — Food of the Gods
- BVC: Kava — The Root of Peace
- BVC: Whiskey — Fire Water
- BVC: Beer — Liquid Bread
- BVC: Tea — The Way of Tea
- BVC: Sugar — The Sweet Revolution
- BVC: Guayusa & Kola Nut — Forest Wisdom
- · Ep 1 · Climate Change Is Redrawing the Map
- · Ep 3 · A Two-Degree Threat
- · Ep 6 · Why Volcanic Soil Only
- · Ep 10 · Karst Limestone and Bourbon
- · Ep 1 · Assignment, Option B, assess a producing country's climate viability and defend the assessment
- · Ep 6 · Islands Under Pressure
- · Ep 8 · Beer Geography Is Shifting
- · The Commodity Map itself, every episode pinned at its origin
- · The Growing Belts map, production regions by latitude band and country
- · Ep 1 · The Coffee Belt: Where Coffee Grows and Why
- · Ep 3 · The Cacao Tree and the Narrowest Belt
Note: This is the Growing Belts map: climate and latitude deciding where each commodity can grow and be settled, and climate change redrawing that map for coffee, cacao, and more.
SS.G.12.9-12
CoveredEvaluate how competition for scarce natural resources contributes to conflict and cooperation within and among countries.
Covered by
- BVC: Opioids — The Poppy's Promise
- BVC: Tea — The Way of Tea
- BVC: Guayusa & Kola Nut — Forest Wisdom
- BVC: Kava — The Root of Peace
- BVC: Khat — The Afternoon Leaf
- BVC: Chocolate — Food of the Gods
- BVC: My Daily Altar — Season Synthesis
- BVC: Rum — Sweet Poison
- · Ep 17 · The Opium Wars
- · Ep 17 · Lin Zexu's Letter
- · Ep 2 · Who Grows the Tea (colonial and plantation labour)
- · Ep 5 · Whose Knowledge Is It
- · Ep 6 · Kava Governs
- · Ep 20 · The Ban Against the Evidence
- · Ep 3 · Conquest and the Great Reversal
- · Ep 5 · How Coca-Cola Got Its Name (biopiracy)
- · Ep 7 · The Same Story, Six Times
- · Ep 11 · The Debt of Freedom (the 1825 French indemnity and Haiti's modern poverty)
Note: Competition for commodities as a driver of conflict is taught directly — European imperialism run through cash crops, and the Opium Wars fought over trade — with the colonial patterns that outlast them.
SS.G.11.9-12
Partially coveredExplain how globalization impacts the cultural, political, economic, and environmental characteristics of a place or region.
Covered by
- BVC: Chocolate — Food of the Gods
- BVC: My Daily Altar — Season Synthesis
- BVC: The Full Spectrum — Who Draws the Line?
- BVC: Coffee — The Daily Global Connection
- BVC: Tea — The Way of Tea
- BVC: Tequila & Mezcal — Heart of the Agave
- BVC: The Toast — Season Synthesis
- BVC: Guayusa & Kola Nut — Forest Wisdom
- BVC: Rum — Sweet Poison
- · Ep 3 · The Commodity Trap
- · Ep 7 · Who Captures the Value
- · Ep 21 · The Smile Curve, Confirmed
- · Ep 1 · Follow the Money: Bean to Cup
- · Ep 2 · Who Gets Paid, Tea and Coffee Compared
- · Ep 12 · The Jimador's Share
- · Ep 14 · Pattern 3: Labor Captures the Smallest Share (the smile curve)
- · Ep 3 · Conquest and the Great Reversal
- · Ep 5 · How Coca-Cola Got Its Name (biopiracy)
- · Ep 7 · The Same Story, Six Times
- · Ep 11 · The Debt of Freedom (the 1825 French indemnity and Haiti's modern poverty)
What we do and don't cover: Globalization's economic and political imprint on producing regions is taught through commodity case studies — value capture along the chain and the commodity trap — rather than a full four-characteristics analysis.
What we don't claim
A standards page is only worth reading if the omissions are honest too. We looked at these and left them out:
- Mathematics — nothing. This catalog does no mathematics instruction, so it meets no Illinois Common Core (Illinois Learning Standards) mathematics standard.
- Science — one partial claim, via the shared NGSS file. Illinois adopted the NGSS verbatim (January 2014) as its science standards, so our one honest science claim — HS-ESS3-1, partial — comes through the shared NGSS mapping with the limit stated on the entry. There is no laboratory work, investigation, or modelling in this catalog, and we will not claim more.
- Financial Literacy (SS.EC.FL) — nothing. Illinois's Economics strand carries a six-standard Financial Literacy sub-strand (income strategies, budgeting, interest and inflation, credit, investing, insurance). This catalog teaches no personal finance, so it claims none of SS.EC.FL.1-6.
- The Illinois Civics flagship's Illinois-specific structure has no Illinois code to cite. Illinois Civics teaches the 1970 Constitution, the plural executive (uniquely both a Comptroller and a Treasurer), the partisan-elected Supreme Court, the uniquely narrow Legislative-Article initiative and the 1980 Cutback Amendment, and one of the nation's strongest home-rule traditions — from Illinois's own official sources. But the 2017 Social Science Standards are DISCIPLINARY CONCEPTS: no standard names a state's structure, so these lessons map only onto the abstract institution and participation standards (SS.CV.1, SS.CV.2, SS.CV.3). The gap is in the standards, not the course.
- Civics standards we checked and rejected. SS.CV.5 (civic dispositions and diverse perspectives as a named concept) and SS.CV.6 (political parties, the media, and public interest groups — our media literacy is consumer protection, not political-media analysis) are not genuinely taught, so we do not claim them.
- The disciplinary standards we read and did not claim. Across History, Economics, and Geography we claim only the concept standards the catalog genuinely teaches. SS.H.2/4/5/6/11/12, SS.EC.2-4/6-8, and SS.G.1-5/7/9/10 were checked and not claimed — the change-and-continuity, market-mechanics, macroeconomic-indicator, mapping-tool, and culture standards are not this catalog's subject. The reject list is the evidence the map was not padded.
See it for yourself
Don't take the mapping on trust. Open the lesson and check it against the standard. Every course publishes its sources too.