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Civics Standards and Benchmarks
Civics Standard 1:
Understands ideas about civic life, politics, and government
Level III (Grade 6-8)
- Distinguishes between private life and civic life (e.g., private life concerns the personal life of the individual such as being with family and friends or practicing one's religious beliefs, civic life concerns taking part in government such as helping to find solutions to problems or helping to make rules and laws)
- Understands how politics enables people with differing ideas to reach binding agreements (e.g., presenting information and evidence, stating arguments, negotiating, compromising, voting)
- Knows institutions that have the authority to direct or control the behavior of members of a society (e.g., a school board, state legislature, courts, Congress)
- Understands major ideas about why government is necessary (e.g., people's lives, liberty, and property would be insecure without government; individuals by themselves cannot do many of the things they can do collectively such as create a highway system, provide armed forces for the security of the nation, or make and enforce laws)
Level IV (Grade 9-12)
- Understands how politics enables a group of people with varying opinions and/or interests to reach collective decisions, influence decisions, and accomplish goals that they could not reach as individuals (e.g., managing the distribution of resources, allocating benefits and burdens, managing conflicts)
- Knows formal institutions that have the authority to make and implement binding decisions (e.g., tribal councils, courts, monarchies, democratic legislatures)
- Understands the nature of political authority (e.g., characteristics such as legitimacy, stability, limitations)
- Understands major arguments for the necessity of politics and government (e.g., people cannot fulfill their potential without politics and government, people would be insecure or endangered without government, people working collectively can accomplish goals and solve problems they could not achieve alone)
- Understands how the purposes served by a government affect relationships between the individual and government and between government and society as a whole (e.g., the purpose of promoting a religious vision of what society should be like may require a government to restrict individual thought and actions, and place strict controls on the whole of the society)
Civics Standard 3:
Understands the sources, purposes, and functions of law, and the importance of the rule of law for the protection of individual rights and the common good
Level III (Grade 6-8)
- Understands how and why the rule of law can be used to restrict the actions of private citizens and government officials
- Understands the possible consequences of the absence of a rule of law (e.g., anarchy, arbitrary and capricious rule, absence of predictability, disregard for established and fair procedures)
Level IV (Grade 9-12)
- Knows alternative ideas about the purposes and functions of law (e.g., regulating relationships among people and between people and their government; providing order, predictability, security, and established procedures for the management of conflict; regulating social and economic relationships in civil society)
Civics Standard 13:
Understands the character of American political and social conflict and factors that tend to prevent or lower its intensity
Level III (Grade 6-8)
- Knows conflicts that have arisen regarding fundamental values and principles (e.g., conflicts between liberty and equality, conflicts between individual rights and the common good, conflicts between majority rule and minority rights)
- Knows how disagreements regarding specific issues may arise between people even though the people agree on values or principles in the abstract (e.g., people may agree on the value of freedom of expression but disagree about the extent to which expression of unpopular and offensive views should be tolerated; people may agree on the value of equality but disagree about affirmative action programs)
- Knows reasons why most political conflict in the United States has generally been less divisive than in many other nations (e.g., a shared respect for the Constitution and its principles, a sense of unity within diversity, willingness to relinquish power when voted out of office, willingness to use the legal system to manage conflicts, opportunities to improve one's economic condition)
Level IV (Grade 9-12)
- Understands issues that involve conflicts among fundamental values and principles such as the conflict between liberty and authority
- Knows why people may agree on values or principles in the abstract but disagree when they are applied to specific issues such as the right to life and capital punishment
- Knows how universal public education and the existence of a popular culture that crosses class boundaries have tended to reduce the intensity of political conflict (e.g., by creating common ground among diverse groups)
Civics Standard 19:
Understands what is meant by "the public agenda," how it is set, and how it is influenced by public opinion and the media
Level III (Grade 6-8)
- Knows that the public agenda consists of those matters that occupy public attention at any particular time (e.g., crime, health care education, child care, environmental protection, drug abuse)
- Knows how the public agenda is shaped by political leaders, interest groups, and state and federal courts; and understands how individual citizens can help shape the public agenda (e.g., by joining interest groups or political parties, making presentations at public meetings, writing letters to government officials and to newspapers)
- Understands the importance of freedom of the press to informed participation in the political system; and understands the influence of television, radio, the press, newsletters, and emerging means of electronic communication on American politics
- Knows how Congress, the president, the Supreme Court, and state and local public officials use the media to communicate with the citizenry
- Understands how citizens can evaluate information and arguments received from various sources so that they can make reasonable choices on public issues and among candidates for political office
- Understands the opportunities that the media provides for individuals to monitor the actions of their government (e.g., televised broadcasts of proceedings of governmental agencies such as Congress and the courts, public officials' press conferences) and communicate their concerns and positions on current issues (e.g., letters to the editor, talk shows, "op-ed pages," public opinion polls)
Level IV (Grade 9-12)
Understands how political institutions and political parties shape the public agenda
- Understands why issues important to some groups and the nation do not become part of the public agenda
- Understands the concept of public opinion, and knows alternative views of the proper role of public opinion in a democracy
- Understands how public opinion is measured, used in public debate, and how it can be influenced by the government and the media
- Understands the influence that public opinion has on public policy and the behavior of public officials
- Understands the ways in which television, radio, the press, newsletters, and emerging means of communication influence American politics; and understands the extent to which various traditional forms of political persuasion have been replaced by electronic media
- Knows how to use criteria such as logical validity, factual accuracy, emotional appeal, distorted evidence, and appeals to bias or prejudice in order to evaluate various forms of historical and contemporary political communication (e.g., Lincoln's "House Divided," Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman?," Chief Joseph's "I Shall Fight No More Forever," Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream," campaign advertisements, political cartoons)
Civics Standard 21:
Understands the formation and implementation of public policy
Level III (Grade 6-8)
- Understands what public policy is and knows examples at local, state, and national levels
- Knows how public policies are formed and implemented, and understands how citizens can monitor and influence policies
- Understands why conflicts about values, principles, and interests may make agreement difficult or impossible on certain issues of public policy (e.g., affirmative action, gun control, environmental protection, capital punishment, equal rights)
Level IV (Grade 9-12)
- Knows a public policy issue at the local, state, or national level well enough to identify the major groups interested in that issue and explain their respective positions
- Understands the processes by which public policy concerning a local, state, or national issue is formed and carried out
- Knows the points at which citizens can monitor or influence the process of public policy formation
- Understands why agreement may be difficult or impossible on issues such as abortion because of conflicts about values, principles, and interests
Civics Standard 26:
Understands issues regarding the proper scope and limits of rights and the relationships among personal, political, and economic rights
Level III (Grade 6-8)
- Understands what is meant by the "scope and limits" of a right (e.g., the scope of one's right to free speech in the United States is extensive and protects almost all forms of political expression, but the right to free speech can be limited if it seriously harms or endangers others)
- Understands the argument that all rights have limits, and knows criteria commonly used in determining what limits should be placed on specific rights (e.g., clear and present danger rule, compelling government interest test, national security, libel or slander, public safety, equal opportunity)
- Understands different positions on a contemporary conflict between rights (e.g., right of a fair trial and right to a free press; right to privacy and right to freedom of expression)
- Understands different positions on a contemporary conflict between rights and other social values and interests (e.g., the right of the public to know what their government is doing versus the need for national security; the right to property versus the protection of the environment)
Level IV (Grade 9-12)
- Knows how to distinguish among personal, political, and economic rights (e.g., the right to live where one chooses as distinct from the right to use money to buy personal property as distinct from the right to register to vote)
- Understands different positions on a contemporary conflict between rights such as one person's right to free speech versus another person's right to be heard
- Knows examples of situations in which personal, political, or economic rights are in conflict
- Understands the argument that poverty, unemployment, and urban decay serve to limit both political and economic rights
- Understands the argument that personal, political, and economic rights reinforce each other
- Understands the relationship between political rights and the economic right to acquire, use, transfer, and dispose of property
- Understands the relationship of political rights to economic rights such as the right to choose one's work, to change employment, and to join a labor union and other lawful associations
Civics Standard 28:
Understands how participation in civic and political life can help citizens attain individual and public goals
Level III (Grade 6-8)
- Understands how participation in civic and political life can help bring about the attainment of individual and public goals (e.g., personal goals such as living in a safe and orderly neighborhood, obtaining a good education, living in a healthy environment; public goals such as increasing the safety of the community, improving local transportation facilities, providing opportunities for education and recreation)
- Understands the importance of both political and social participation and what distinguishes one from the other (e.g., participating in a campaign to change laws regulating the care of children as opposed to volunteering to care for children), and knows opportunities for both political and social participation in the local community
- Understands how Americans can use the following means to monitor and influence politics and government at local, state, and national levels: joining political parties, interest groups, and other organizations that attempt to influence public policy and elections; voting; taking part in peaceful demonstrations; circulating and signing petitions
- Knows historical and contemporary examples of citizen movements seeking to promote individual rights and the common good (e.g., abolition, suffrage, labor and civil rights movements)
- Understands why becoming knowledgeable about public affairs and the values and principles of American constitutional democracy and communicating that knowledge to others is a form a political participation
Level IV (Grade 9-12)
- Understands how individual participation in the political process relates to the realization of the fundamental values of American constitutional democracy
- Understands what distinguishes participation in government and political life from nonpolitical participation in civil society and private life (e.g., participating in a campaign to change laws regulating nursing homes as opposed to volunteering to work in a nursing home), and understands the importance of both forms of participation to American constitutional democracy
- Knows the many ways citizens can participate in the political process at local, state, and national levels, and understands the usefulness of other forms of political participation in influencing public policy (e.g., attending political and governmental meetings, demonstrating, contacting public officials, writing letters, boycotting, community organizing, petitioning, picketing)
- Knows historical and contemporary examples of citizen movements seeking to expand liberty, to insure the equal rights of all citizens, and/or to realize other values fundamental to American constitutional democracy (e.g., the suffrage and civil rights movements)
- Understands the importance of voting as a form of political participation
Civics Standard 29:
Understands the importance of political leadership, public service, and a knowledgeable citizenry in American constitutional democracy
Level III (Grade 6-8)
- Understands the functions of political leadership and why leadership is a vital necessity in a constitutional democracy
- Understands why becoming knowledgeable about public affairs and the values and principles of American constitutional democracy and communicating that knowledge to others is an important form of participation, and understands the argument that constitutional democracy requires the participation of an attentive, knowledgeable, and competent citizenry
- Understands how awareness of the nature of American constitutional change gives citizens the ability to reaffirm or change fundamental constitutional values
Level IV (Grade 9-12)
- Understands why becoming knowledgeable about public affairs and the values and principles of American constitutional democracy, and communicating that knowledge to others are important forms of participation, and understands the argument that constitutional democracy requires the participation of an attentive, knowledgeable, and competent citizenry
- Understands how awareness of the nature of American constitutional change gives citizens the ability to reaffirm or change fundamental constitutional values
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Selected Standards and Benchmarks
used by permission:
Copyright
2003 McRel
Mid-continent Research for
Education and Learning
2550 S. Parker Road, Suite 500
Aurora, CO 80014
Telephone: (303) 337-0990
www.mcrel.org/standards-benchmarks
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