Civics and Government: US Constitution: Embodies the Purpose, Values and Principles of American Democracy

High Emphasis

• Describe the purposes, organization, and functions of the institutions of the national government. 

• Explain how the United States Constitution grants and distributes power to national and state government and how it seeks to prevent the abuse of power. 

• Evaluate, take, and defend positions on issues regarding the proper relationship between the national government and the state and local governments. 

• Identify the major responsibilities of their state and local governments and evaluate how well they are being fulfilled. 

• Evaluate, take, and defend positions on the role and importance of law in the American political system. 

• Explain the importance of the judicial protection of individual rights. 

• Describe how the public agenda is set. 

• Evaluate, take, and defend positions about the role of public opinion in American politics. 

• Evaluate, take, and defend positions on the influence of the media on American political life. 

• Describe the roles of political parties, campaigns, and elections in American politics. 

Civics and Government: Foundations of the American Political System  

High Emphasis

• Explain the central ideas of American constitutional government and their history. 

• Explain the extent to which Americans have internalized the values and principles of the Constitution and attempted to make its ideals realities. 

• Explain the importance of shared political and civic beliefs and values to the maintenance of constitutional democracy in an increasingly diverse American society. 

• Explain the meaning of the terms “liberal” and “democracy” in the phrase “liberal democracy”. 

• Explain how and why ideas of classical republicanism are reflected in the values and principles of American constitutional democracy. 

• Evaluate, take, and defend positions on what the fundamental values and principles of American political life are and their importance to the maintenance of constitutional democracy. 

Civics and Government: Civic Life, Politics and Government 

High Emphasis

• Explain the meaning of the terms civic life, politics, and government. 

• Explain the essential characteristics of limited and unlimited governments. 

• Explain the various purposes served by constitutions. 

• Describe the major characteristics of systems of shared powers and of parliamentary systems. 

• Explain the advantages and disadvantages of federal, confederal, and unitary systems of government. 

Medium Emphasis

Civics and Government: Role of the Citizen in American Democracy 

• Explain the meaning of citizenship in the United States. 

• Evaluate, take, and defend positions on issues regarding the criteria used for naturalization. 

• Evaluate, take, and defend positions on issues regarding personal, economic and political rights. 

• Evaluate, take, and defend positions on issues regarding civic responsibilities of citizens in American constitutional democracy.

From tasctest.com:

• The TASC test emphasizes the targets for social studies that appear most frequently on state standards for the specified domains, as indicated by the categories in the below “High Emphasis” category. 

• Concepts in the “Medium Emphasis” items will be fully assessed within the TASC test as well, though there will be fewer questions aligned to these standards. 

• The “Low Emphasis” category will have no more than one or two items on any given test.