Students will receive weekly grades on class participation, behavior, and extra practice and homework. These grades will allow parents and students to track student progress throughout the grading period. Most practice grades will consist of online quizzes given on Skyward, Socrative.com, or both.
Daily Grades = 40%
Daily grades primarily consist of Bellringer assignments done during class. Bellringers are turned in on the last day of every week (usually Friday) unless there are extenuating circumstances.
Students who are absent do not have to make up the Bellringers for those days.
However, you can get a bad grade if you were only present for one or two Bellringers during a week and you did poorly on them, so you may complete the Bellringers for the day(s) you were absent to help pad your grade.
If you are absent for a Bellringer, write that you were absent for that Bellringer at the top of your Bellringer page before you turn it in on the last day of the week.
Two days after Bellringers are turned in a substitute assignment will have to be done for credit. This is to prevent cheating.
Major Grades = 60%
The tests consist of a multiple choice section (75%) and a math/graphing/free response section (25%).
Multiple choice questions will come directly from the notes, AP practice questions, and final exam questions.
Students will receive AP practice questions before the test. Some of them will be on the test. Some will not.
Toward the end of each six weeks there will be a Notes Grade that counts as a test grade. We take Cornell notes in AP Government. No exceptions. For 100% on your Notes Grade, you must have Cornell note format andkey points and summaries.
Retakes, when offered, can earn up to 70% credit. This 70% is achieved by multiplying retake raw grade by .7
Retakes will occur during lunch only. There is not enough time to take a test between 8:00 AM and 8:30 AM.
Only in the most extenuating of circumstances will any exception to this rule be considered.
No tutorials will be held on Wednesdays at lunch. This is the Senior Social Studies PLC meeting time.
All students will be assumed to be taking the AP Government exam in May 2020. All AP test prep assigned in class will be for a grade for all students.
The AP Government exam is at 8:00 AM on Monday, May 4, 2020. Be there.
Rules and Expectations: 1.) All students should respect classmates, teachers, and guests to the classroom at all times. 2.) Students should not cheat, ever. Honesty counts. 3.) All school rules regarding cell phones, dress code, food and drink, and personal behavior are always in effect. 4.) Do your own work when you’re supposed to do it. Late work will lose credit fast. 5.) Treat others as you would like to be treated. Tutorial Times: Tutorials are held in Room 521 before school, from 8:00 to 8:30 AM, and over lunch, except on Wednesday. For other times, please contact Mr. Rust to schedule a meeting. As Department Chair, Mr. Rust may be called into meetings, so do not delay on retakes and tutorials. He may be in meetings during the last week of the six weeks!
Unit 1: Constitutional Underpinnings of the United States Government (2 weeks)
Chapter 1: Introducing Government in America (p. 2-29) Chapter 2: The Constitution (p. 30-67) Chapter 3: Federalism (Sections 1 & 2, p. 68-79)
Unit 2: Institutions of National Government: The Congress, the Presidency, the Bureaucracy, and the Federal Courts
Chapter 11: Congress (p. 340-375) Chapter 12: The Presidency (p. 376-419) Chapter 14: The Federal Bureaucracy (p. 450-483) Chapter 15: The Federal Courts (p. 484-521)
Unit 3: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
Chapter 4: Civil Liberties and Public Policy (p. 98-143) Chapter 5: Civil Rights and Public Policy (p. 144-179)
Unit 4: Public Policy
Chapter 3: Federalism (Sec. 3 -5, p. 79-97) Chapter 13: The Budget: The Politics of Taxing and Spending (p. 420-449) Chapter 16: Economic and Social Welfare Policymaking (p. 522-551) Chapter 17: Policymaking for Health Care, the Environment, and Energy (p. 552-581) Chapter 18: National Security Policymaking (p. 582-613)
Unit 5: Political Parties, Interest Groups, and Mass Media
Chapter 7: The Mass Media and the Political Agenda (p. 214-243) Chapter 8: Political Parties (p. 244-271) Chapter 9: Campaigns and Voting Behavior (p. 272-311) Chapter 10: Interest Groups (p. 312-339)