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AP PsychCivicsIB HOTA
CLCivic Literacy
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Course syllabus

Civic Literacy

Fall 2026

“Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.”

— Chinese Proverb

Course description

Founding Principles of the United States and North Carolina: Civic Literacy covers how American democracy works — the principles it rests on, the government the Constitution establishes, and how citizens take part in politics.

Its standards run through civics and government: the institutions of constitutional democracy, the values behind them, and how decisions are made and disagreements settled. The course follows the North Carolina Standard Course of Study, across the strands of inquiry, behavioral sciences, civics and government, economics, geography, and history.

  1. Display respect. Respect yourself, classmates, peers, teachers, and administrators. Respect others’ right to have an opinion different from yours on various social, political, legal, and religious issues.
  2. Act responsibly. Always think before you act. Allowing time to think before you speak will ensure that you ask better questions and make intelligent statements.
  3. Keep an open mind. Throughout this course you will come in contact with many cultures, beliefs, and behaviors. You will encounter what you may consider strange ideas and practices, and they should challenge you to think about your own beliefs and to think logically through the applications and results of legal principles and procedures.
  1. Complete assignments to the best of your ability. Anything less will be graded accordingly.
  2. Homework assignments are due at the beginning of class. Assignments being turned in due to absences have a maximum of two days to be turned in; after that it is at the teacher’s discretion whether to accept the work.
  3. Make-up work, including any missed test, is your responsibility. Do not expect the teacher to track you down to make up work.
  4. When making up a test or major quiz, it is your responsibility to arrange transportation to get home. You may also miss any extracurricular activity planned for that afternoon.
  5. Plagiarism is presenting another author’s language and/or thoughts and ideas as your own, either through direct quotation or close imitation. Plagiarism is cheating and will be dealt with by giving you a zero and submitting a discipline referral to an administrator.
  6. Late work: maximum grade of 70 out of 100. If work is over two days late, it is at the discretion of the teacher whether to accept it.

Bring these to class each day:

  1. 2.5-inch, 3-ring binder
  2. Blue or black ink pens
  3. Pencil(s) and colored pencils
  4. Paper
  5. Completed assignments

Course goals

Upon successful completion of this course, you will have learned to:

  1. Compare citizenship in the American constitutional democracy to other forms of government, and evaluate the rights, responsibilities, and privileges of U.S. citizenship.
  2. Trace the intellectual and historical origins of American government, including colonial governance, the Declaration of Independence, and the drafting of the U.S. Constitution.
  3. Analyze the purposes of the Bill of Rights and later amendments, and evaluate how the Supreme Court has applied constitutional principles over time.
  4. Explain the structure and lawmaking function of the legislative branch (Article I) at the federal and North Carolina state levels.
  5. Explain the structure, powers, and responsibilities of the executive branch (Article II) at the federal and North Carolina state levels.
  6. Explain the structure and function of the judicial branch, and evaluate the American political process, including political parties, campaigns, elections, and the role of media and public opinion.

Grading

Quarter grading

Category Civics (OL) Civics (Honors)
Major assessments: unit tests, assessments, projects, and papers 40% 50%
Quizzes 30% 25%
In-class assignments 30% 25%
Total 100% 100%

Final semester grade (both OL and Honors): first quarter 40%, second quarter 40%, final exam 20%.

Assessment mastery (“do-over”) policy. If a student received less than a grade of 80 on a major assessment, that student may retake the assessment and receive a grade of up to 80 if the following conditions are met:

  1. The student did not have an unexcused absence or tardiness on the day of the test.
  2. The student has completed all assignments pertaining to that unit.
  3. The student completes test corrections in accordance with the teacher’s specifications.
  4. The student notifies the teacher within 3 days of receiving the test grade back that they are requesting to retake the assessment.

The retake assessment will be at a time outside of class time (before or after school), set by the teacher, and will be an alternative assessment — not the same test as the first.

Units in this course7 units