Understand the rights and responsibilities of each citizen and demonstrate the value of lifelong civic action. (SS.6-8.PSCL.1)
· Understand rights, roles and status of the individual in relation to the general welfare.
· Understand issues regarding personal, political, and economic rights.
· Understand what is meant by the "scope and limits" of a right.
· Understand participation in civic and political life can help bring about the attainment of individual and public goals.
· Understand the functions of political leadership and why leadership is a vital necessity in a democracy.
· Understand the importance of voluntarism as a characteristic of American society.
Understand how the government established by the Constitution embodies the principles of democracy and republicanism. (SS.6-8.PSCL.2)
· Understand the essential ideas of American government that are expressed in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and other documents.
· Understand the concepts of constitutional government as fundamental principles of American democracy.
· Understand the essential characteristics of limited and unlimited governments.
· Understand the basic concepts of a federal system of government.
· Understand values such as individual rights, the common good, self government, justice, equality, diversity, openness and free inquiry, truth, patriotism are fundamental to American public life.
· Understand the type of citizenry needed to establish and maintain constitutional government.
Understand the purpose and function of each of the three branches of government established by the Constitution. (SS.6-8.PSCL.3)
· Understand the primary responsibilities of each branch of government in a system of shared powers (legislative, executive, judicial) and ways in which each branch shares the powers and functions of the other branches.
· Understand how the legislative, executive, and judicial branches use checks and balances.
Understand the similarities and differences among the complex levels of local, state and national government (SS.6-8.PSCL.4).
· Understand the relationship between state and local governments and the national government.
· Understand the powers and responsibilities of local, state and national governments.
Understand strategies for effective political action that impacts local, state and national governance. (SS.6-8.PSCL.5)
· Understand the concept of civic responsibility.
· Understand the importance of political leadership, public service, and a knowledgeable citizenry in American democracy.
· Understand the concept of political leadership in the student’s own school, community, state, and the nation.
Understand how laws are established at the local, state and national levels. (SS.6-8.PSCL.6)
· Understand the concept of public policy.
· Understand 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.
Understand how various political systems throughout the world define the rights and responsibilities of the individual. (SS.6-8.PSCL.7)
· Understand constitutions protect individual rights and promote the common good.
· Understand the essential characteristics of limited and unlimited governments.
Understand the role of the United States in current world affairs. (SS.6-8.PSCL.8)
· Understand conditions, actions and motivations that contribute to conflict and cooperation within and among nations.
· Understand current foreign policy issues and the means the United States is using to deal with them.