AP U.S. Government And Politics Syllabus

AP U.S. Government and Politics SyllabusAdvanced Placement United States Government and Politics primary purpose is to helpstudents gain and display an understanding United States politics, and the processes ofgovernment that help shape our public policies. It is designed to convey to the studentshow people behave politically in the United States as a pluralistic system of variousindividual and group interests, all promoting their own agendas to benefit the country asa whole. This is a rigorous course, which requires a motivated student in order to keepup with the caseload.AP U.S. Government and Politics is a semester long college level course which preparesthe student to take one AP exam in May of the school year. Content covered anddiscussed will directly reflect the AP United States Government and Politics CourseDescription from College Board. Each student is strongly encouraged to take the exam.Upon a successful score on the AP examination, the student earns three hours of collegecredit.Textbook and Materials:George C Edward, Martin P. Wattengburg, and Robert L. Lineberry. Government inAmerica: People, Politics, and Policy, 12 ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2006.Supplementary articles from The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and TheEconomist. They will be provided to students as handouts. Further supplemental readingsare presented with the coordinating unit.Sample Assignments and AssessmentsStudents are asked to: Compose a compare/contrast table of John Locke and the Declaration ofIndependence Explore their political ideology by completing Ideolog handout and the WorldsSmallest Political Quiz by TheAdvocates.org. To be fulfilled at beginning and endof course. Assignment is completed as an analyzer of own ideology after learningcontent from course.

Examine exit poll data from U.S. Presidential or Congressional elections after themost recent election. How will it effect future elections?Become an ideologue for the upcoming Congressional or Presidential election bycomposing an table with appropriate ideals met or unmet by each candidate inspecific assigned states/country.Analyze cause and effects of Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002.Why was the original bill different? How did it affect future elections?Over two weeks complete the media project in comparing and contrastingdifferent national news organizations on similar current topics.Examine a State of the Union Address from a recent president. Evaluate whatfactors enabled or disable the President from fulfilling his address, in regards todomestic and foreign policy.Analyze statistics on women and minorities in Congress and formulate concretereasoning behind such findings during research.Weekly viewings of C SPAN video clips that coordinate with content. Studentsare quizzed verbally and written on the video clips.All readings to be seen in some form of assessment: verbal, quiz, test, or writtenfree response.Complete interpretative free response questions every two weeks either in class oras a take home assessment.Complete a multiple choice and essay examination after every unit which assessestheir understanding of quantitative and visually presented maps, graphs, and/orcharts.Unit One: Constitutional Underpinnings of United StatesGovernment2 weeks of block schedulingTopicsConsiderations that influenced the formulation and adoption of the Constitution:Separation of powers, Federalism, Theories of democratic governmentReadings

Edwards, et al.: Chapters 1,2,3: “Introducing Government in America” “TheConstitution” “FederalismSupplemental Readings: Federalist Papers 10, 47, 48, 51, 45; The Economist “IfYou Sincerely Want to Be a United States ” (1991); James L. Sundquist,Constitutional Reform and Effective Government, rev. ed. (Washington, D.C.:Brookings Institution, 1992), 1 11, 16 19, 322 334 (excerpts). Copyright 1992, byBrookings Institution.Figures/Data InterpretedChapter1: Age and Political Knowledge: 1964 and 2000 Compared; PresidentialElection Turnout Rates by Age 1972 2000; The Policymaking System.Chapter 2: Locke and the Declaration of Independence: Some Parallels; PowerShift: Economic Status of State Legislators Before and After the Revolutionary War.Chapter 3: Fiscal Federalism: Federal Grants to State and Local Governments1955 2000; The Number of Governments in America; The Downside of Diversity:Spending on Public Education Per Pupil Per State.Unit Two: Political Beliefs and Behaviors2 weeks of block schedulingTopicsPolitical Culture and Participation:Beliefs that citizens hold about their government and Its leaders; processes by whichcitizens learn about politics;The nature, sources, and consequences of public opinion;The ways in which citizens vote and otherwise participate in political life;Factors that influence citizens to differ from one another in terms of political beliefs andbehaviorsReadings

Edwards, et al: Chapters 6, 10: “Public Opinion and Political Action” “Elections andVoting Behavior”Supplemental Readings: V.O. Key Jr., “The Voice of the People: An Echo,” in TheResponsible Electorate: Rationality in Presidential Voting, 1936 1960, 1 8.Copyright 1966 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College; selected articlesfrom the New York Times, and the Economist.Figures/Data InterpretedChapter 6: The Coming Minority Majority; How Party Identification is PassedDown from One Generation to the Next; Voter Turnout by Age, 2000; The Decline ofTrust in Government, 1958 2004; Political Participation by Family Income.Chapter 10: The Electoral College Results for 2000 and 2004; The Decline ofTurnout: 1892 2004; Changing Patterns in Voting Behavior: 1960 and 2004 Compared.Unit Three: Political Parties, Interest Groups, and MassMedia2 weeks of block schedulingTopicsPolitical parties and elections:Functions, Organization, Development, Effects on the political process, Electoral lawsand systemsInterest Groups, including political action committees (PAC’s):The range of interests represented, The activities of interest groups, The effects ofinterest groups on the political process, The unique characteristics and roles of PAC’s inthe political processThe mass media:The functions and structures of the media, Thee impacts of media and politics

Readings/DiscussionsEdwards. et al.: Chapters 7,8,9,11: “The Mass Media and the Political Agenda,”“Political Parties,” “Nominations and Campaigns,” “Interest Groups,”Supplemental Readings: Semi Sovereign People: A Realist’s View ofDemocracy in America, pp. 21 35. First edition by E. E. Schattschneider,Copyright 1961.; York Times Co. v. United States (1971). Opinion by JusticeHugo L. Black. Selected articles from the New York Times.Figures/Data InterpretedChapter 8: The Downs Model: How Rational Parties Match Voters’ PolicyPreferences; Party Identification in the United States, 1952 2004; Party Platforms 2004;Party Coalitions Today.Chapter 9: The Inflated Importance of Iowa and New Hampshire; The DecliningCoverage of Conventions on Network TV; The Decline in Income Tax Check offParticipation for Federal Financing of Campaigns; The Big Spending PACs.Chapter 11: Perceptions of Dominance of Big Interests; Associations by Type.Unit Four: Institutions of National Government: TheCongress, the Presidency, the Bureaucracy, and the FederalCourts8 weeks of block schedulingTopicsThe major formal and informal institutional arrangements of power,Relationships among these four institutions and varying balances of power, links betweentheses institutions and the following:Public opinion, Interest Groups, Political parties, The media, Subnational governmentsReadings/DiscussionsEdwards, et al.: Chapters 12, 13, 15, 16: “Congress,” “The Presidency,” “TheFederal Bureaucracy,” “The Federal Courts”

Supplemental Readings: Federalists Papers 57, 70, 78; Excerpt fromPresidential Power by Richard E. Neustadt. Copyright 1986 by MacmillanPublishing Company; “Bureaucracy” from Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, byMax Weber, edited and translated by H.H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills, Copyright1973 by H.H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills.; selected articles from the New YorkTimes and The Economist. U.S. Supreme Court Case Informationhttp://www.oyez.org/casesFigures/Data InterpretedChapter 12: A Portrait of the 109th Congress: Some Statistics; The IncumbencyFactor in Congressional Elections.Chapter 13: Executive Office of the President; Principal Offices in the WhiteHouse; Presidential Vetoes; Congressional Gains or Losses for the President’s Party inthe Presidential Election Years; Congressional Gains or Losses for the President’s Partyin Midterm Election Years; Average Yearly Presidential Approval; Average PresidentialApproval for Entire Terms in Office.Chapter 15: Growth in Civilian Government Employees; Departments andAgencies with Responsibility for Border Security in 2002; Iron Triangles.Chapter 16: Backgrounds of Recent Federal District and Appeals Court Judges;Supreme Court Rulings in Which Federal Statues Have Been Found Unconstitutional.Unit Five: Public Policy2 weeks of block schedulingTopicsPolicymaking in a federal system,The formation of policy agendasThe role of institutions in the enactment of policy,The role of the bureaucracy and the courts in policy implementation and interpretation,linkages.Readings/Discussions

Edwards, et al.: Chapters 14, 17, 18, 19, 20: “The Congress, the President and theBudget: the Politics of Taxing and Spending,” “Economic Policymaking,” “SocialWelfare Policymaking,” “Policymaking of Healthcare and the Environment”“National Security Policymaking”Supplemental Readings: “Domestic Policy Making (1994),” Roger H. Davidsonand Walter J. Olezek, Congress and Its Members, 6th Edition pp. 349 356.Copyright 1998 by CQ Press; selected articles from the Wall Street Journal andThe Economist.Figures/Data InterpretedChapter 14: Federal Revenues; Total National Debt; Tax Expenditures; TheMoney Government Does Not Collect; Trends in National Defense Spending; Trends inSocial Service Spending; Annual Federal Deficits, 1970 2005.Chapter 17: Unemployment: Joblessness in America, 1960 2003; Inflation:Increases in the Cost of Living, 1960 2003.Chapter 19:The Nation’s Health Care Dollar: Who Pays?Chapter 20: U.S. Military Interventions in Central America and the CaribbeanSince 1900; Size of the Armed Forces.Unit Six: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties2 weeks of block schedulingTopicsThe development of civil liberties and civil rights by judicial interpretation,Knowledge of substantive rights and libertiesThe impact of the Fourteenth Amendment on the constitutional development of rightsand libertiesReadings/Discussions

Edwards, et al.: Chapters 4, 5: “Civil Liberties and Public Policy,” “Civil Rightsand Public Policy”Supplemental Readings: U.S. Bill of Rights; Excerpts from selected U.S.Supreme Court Cases; John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Copyright 1859 by J.W.Parker and Son. London. U.S. Supreme Court Case Informationhttp://www.oyez.org/casesFigures/Data InterpretedChapter 5: Percentage of Black Students Attending School With Any Whites inSouthern States; Discrimination Against Homosexuals 1992 2003.Unit Seven: Review for AP Exams and Final Exams forCourse2 weeks of block schedulingTopicsReview for each AP Exam by Course Description units, vocabulary quizzes coveringseveral units, and comprehensive final exams in each subject.Students will participate in AP Free Response Reading Response and Score Activity.Students compose Final Review packets then dispersed to entire class for discussion.Students will participate in discussion on how to use content of the course, out of theclassroom in their everyday experiences.

Aug 20, 2014 · AP U.S. Government and Politics is a semester long college level course which prepares the student to take one AP exam in May of the school year. Content covered and discussed will directly reflect the AP United States Government and Politics Course Description from College Boa