Civics (High School) Grade-Level Expectations

Civics (Core Course: Civics)

Civics

Structure and Purposes of Government

1. Explain competing ideas about the purposes of politics and government and identify reasons why government is necessary (C-1A-H1)

2. Identify and describe services provided by government and assess their necessity and effectiveness (e.g., health care, education) (C-1A-H1)

3. Identify programs, institutions, and activities that fulfill a given governmental or political purpose (e.g., the court system, the military, revenue sharing, block grants) (C-1A-H1)

4. Analyze ways in which the purposes of the U.S. government, as defined in the U.S. Constitution, are achieved (e.g., protecting individual rights, providing for the general welfare) (C-1A-H1)

5. Compare and contrast various forms of government among nations that have been significant in U.S. history (e.g., absolute monarchy in England or France, Germany under Hitler, the Soviet Union under Stalin) (C-1A-H2)

6. Explain the distribution of powers, responsibilities, and the limits of the U.S. federal government (C-1A-H3)

7. Categorize governmental powers as delegated, reserved, concurrent, or implied (C-1A-H3)

8. Identify powers denied to federal or state governments by the U.S. Constitution (C-1A-H3)

9. Analyze or assess issues related to the distribution of powers at the federal level (e.g., tensions among the three branches of government, roles and responsibilities of the three branches) (C-1A-H3)

10. Explain the structure and functions of the three branches of the federal government, including regulatory and independent agencies and the court system (C-1A-H4)

11. Cite the roles, duties, qualifications, and terms of office for key elected and appointed officials (C-1A-H4)

12. Explain the structure and functions of state, parish, and local governments (C-1A-H4)

13. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various types of local government (C-1A-H4)

14. Examine constitutional provisions concerning the relationship between federal and state governments (C-1A-H4)

15. Explain the processes and strategies of how a bill becomes a law at the federal and state levels (C-1A-H5)

16. Evaluate a specific law or court ruling on given criteria (C-1A-H5)

17. Examine the meaning, implications, or applications of the U.S. Constitution (e.g., the Bill of Rights, Fourteenth Amendment) (C-1A-H5)

18. Define domestic and foreign policies (C-1A-H6)

19. Analyze responsibilities of the federal government for domestic and foreign policy (e.g. monetary policy, national defense) (C-1A-H6)

20. Analyze a past or present domestic or foreign policy issue from a news article or editorial (C-1A-H6)

21. Explain how government is financed (e.g., taxation, fines, user fees, borrowing) (C-1A-H7)

22. Identify the major sources of tax revenues at the federal, state, and local levels (C-1A-H7)

23. Analyze or evaluate various uses of tax dollars (e.g., the public’s need for services versus the public’s resistance to taxation) (C-1A-H7)

24. Use the rules of taxation (ability, equity, ease of payment, convenient times to pay) to analyze or evaluate a given tax practice (C-1A-H7)

Foundations of the American Political System

25. Analyze the significance of the Magna Carta, English common law, and the English Bill of Rights in creating limited government in the United States (C-1B-H1)

26. Explain how European philosophers (e.g., Rousseau, Locke, Montesquieu, Voltaire) helped shape American democratic ideas (C-1B-H1)

27. Analyze central ideas in an American historical document and explain the document’s significance in shaping the U.S. Constitution (C-1B-H1)

28. Explain the meaning and importance of principles of U.S. constitutional democracy in American society (C-1B-H1)

29. Assess the importance of the U.S. Constitution as the Supreme Law of the Land, and ways in which U.S. constitutional government has helped shape American society (C-1B-H1)

30. Identify and describe examples of freedoms enjoyed today but denied to earlier Americans (C-1B-H1)

31. Explain issues involved in various compromises or plans leading to the creation of the U.S. Constitution (C-1B-H2)

32. Interpret, analyze, or apply ideas presented in a given excerpt from any political document or material (e.g., speech, essay, editorial, court case) (C-1B-H2)

33. Analyze a given example of American political or social conflict, and state and defend a position on the issue (C-1B-H3)

34. Analyze discrepancies between American ideals and social or political realities of life (e.g., equal protection vs. Jim Crow laws) (C-1B-H4)

35. Explain the two-party system and assess the role of third parties in the election process (C-1B-H5)

36. Assess the significance of campaigns, campaign finance, elections, the Electoral College, and the U.S. census in the U.S. political system (C-1B-H5)

37. Analyze the use and effects of propaganda (C-1B-H5)

38. Identify key platform positions of the major political parties (C-1B-H5)

39. Evaluate the role of the media and public opinion in American politics (C-1B-H6)

40. Explain historical and contemporary roles of special interest groups, lobbyists, and associations in U.S. politics (C-1B-H6)

International Relationships

41. Identify the political divisions of the world and the factors that contribute to those divisions (C-1C-H1)

42. Analyze and assess the various ways that nation-states interact (C-1C-H1)

43. Explain the role of the United Nations or other international organizations in political interactions and conflicts (C-1C-H1)

44. Analyze ways in which the interactions of nation-states or international organizations affect the United States (C-1C-H1)

45. Describe the means by which the United States upholds national security, protects its economic welfare and strategic interests, and attains its foreign policy objectives (e.g., aid, sanctions, embargos, treaties) (C-1C-H2)

46. Assess the extent to which a given U.S. foreign policy position has helped or hindered the United States’ relations with the rest of the world (C-1C-H2)

47. Explain how U.S. domestic policies, constitutional principles, economic behavior, and culture affect its relations with the rest of the world (C-1C-H3)

48. Describe ways in which ideas, actions, and problems of other nations impact the United States (C-1C-H3)

Roles of the Citizen

49. Distinguish between personal, political, and economic rights of citizenship (C-1D-H1)

50. Describe the importance of various rights of citizenship to the individual or to society at large (C-1D-H1)

51. Analyze an amendment or law concerning the rights of citizens in terms of their effect on public policy or American life (e.g., Nineteenth Amendment, Americans with Disabilities Act) (C-1D-H1)

52. Evaluate and defend a position on a given situation or issue in terms of the personal, political, or economic rights of citizens (C-1D-H1)

53. Assess the difference between personal and civic responsibilities (C-1D-H2)

54. Describe various forms of political participation (C-1D-H3)

55. Evaluate current and past political choices that individuals, groups, and nations have made, taking into account historical context (C-1D-H3)

56. Describe the importance of political leadership to American society, and identify ways in which citizens can exercise leadership (C-1D-H4)

57. Identify examples of public service, and describe the importance of public service to American society (C-1D-H4)

58. Evaluate the claim that American constitutional democracy requires the participation of an attentive, knowledgeable, and competent citizenry (C-1D-H4)

59. Compare and evaluate characteristics, style, and effectiveness of state and national leaders, past and present (C-1D-H4)

Civics is a single-semester social studies course required for many ninth-graders. The other semester is Free Enterprise (economics). Civics covers citizenship and government.