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How are Ethnic Studies and Integrated Action Civics mutually reinforcing approaches? The concepts of Ethnic Studies are interwoven throughout the Integrated Action Civics. Conversely, the scaffolds and models of Integrated Action Civics offer powerful tools to support the Ethnic Studies exploration of power, systems of oppression, community, identity, allies, and the critically important healing and transformation that can be achieved through community-centered action and change.

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Civic Learning Award For CA Public Schools - Initiatives & Programs (CA Dept of Education)

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Recognizing the important role of public schools in preparing students for participation in our democracy.

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Gwenn Lei, Ed.D
Coordinator
English/ Language Arts
History/Social Studies
650-802-5624

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The Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series features renowned civil and human rights luminaries addressing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's "Chaos or Community: Where Do We Go From Here?" The lectures are co-produced by the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Peralta Community College District. The online series is free to the general public. For more information on the lecture series or the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center, please call (206) 755-3677.

Lawyer, author, former Georgia State Representative, 2018 Gubernatorial Candidate, and powerful advocate for voting rights

United States Representative for California's 13th Congressional District (Member of Congress 1998 to present), California State Assembly member (1990-1996), and California State Senator (1996-1998)

Formerly served as California State Assembly member (1978-1990), Mayor of City of Oakland (1991-1999) and Chancellor of Peralta Community College District (2003-2010)

Welcome! Please join us here for the first of our spring lectures featuring:

Thank you for joining the first of our spring lectures. If you missed the live event, you may watch the recording below featuring:

Stacey Abrams, Congresswoman Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris

Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. Powered by Leaderosity -A program of the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance.

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Refresh browser if video does not start automatically.

Honorable Elihu Harris

Former Oakl and Mayor and California Assemblymember

Aired on Thursday, November 12, 2020, at 7:00 p.m. PST

To ensure the best user experience we recommend using the most up to date version of one of the following browsers:

Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Safari

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The Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series features renowned civil and human rights luminaries addressing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's "Chaos or Community: Where Do We Go From Here?" The lectures are co-produced by the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Peralta Community College District.

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Civic engagement involves “working to make a difference in the civic life of one’s community and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes.”…

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Civic engagement involves “working to make a difference in the civic life of one’s community and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes.”…

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Executive Summary

BACKGROUND

For more than 250 years, Americans have shared a vision of a democracy in which all citizens understand, appreciate, and engage actively in civic and political life. In recent decades, however, increasing numbers of Americans have disengaged from civic and political institutions such as voluntary associations, religious congregations, community-based organizations, and political and electoral activities such as voting and being informed about public issues. Young people reflect these trends: they are less likely to vote and are less interested in political discussion and public issues than either their older counterparts or young people of past decades. As a result, many young Americans may not be prepared to participate fully in our democracy now and when they become adults.

Recognizing that individuals do not automatically become free and responsible citizens but must be educated for citizenship, scholars; teachers; civic leaders; local, state, and federal policymakers; and federal judges, have with the encouragement of the president of the United States, called for new strategies that can capitalize on young people's idealism and their commitment to service and voluntarism while addressing their disengagement from political and civic institutions. One of the most promising approaches to increase young people's informed engagement is school-based civic education.

In late 2002, the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) and Carnegie Corporation of New York, in consultation with the Corporation for National and Community Service, convened a series of meetings involving some of the nation's most distinguished and respected scholars and practitioners in this area to determine, based on solid data and evidence, the components of effective and feasible civic education programs. Representing a diversity of political views, a variety of disciplines, and various approaches, these individuals disagree about some aspects of how civic education should be conducted, but nevertheless share a common vision of a richer, more comprehensive approach to civic education in the United States. This report is a powerful statement of their vision.

GOALS OF CIVIC EDUCATION

Civic education should help young people acquire and learn to use the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that will prepare them to be competent and responsible citizens throughout their lives. Competent and responsible citizens:

1. are informed and thoughtful; have a grasp and an appreciation of history and the fundamental processes of American democracy; have an understanding and awareness of public and community issues; and have the ability to obtain information, think critically, and enter into dialogue among others with different perspectives.

2. participate in their communities through membership in or contributions to organizations working to address an array of cultural, social, political, and religious interests and beliefs.

3. act politically by having the skills, knowledge, and commitment needed to accomplish public purposes, such as group problem solving, public speaking, petitioning and protesting, and voting.

4. have moral and civic virtues such as concern for the rights and welfare of others, social responsibility, tolerance.

WHY SCHOOLS ARE IMPORTANT VENUES FOR CIVIC EDUCATION

It is crucial for the future health of our democracy that all young people, including those who are usually marginalized, be knowledgeable, engaged in their communities and in politics, and committed to the public good.

Encouraging the development of civic skills and attitudes among young people has been an important goal of education and was the primary impetus for originally establishing public schools.

Schools are the only institutions with the capacity and mandate to reach virtually every young person in the country. Of all institutions, schools are the most systematically and directly responsible for imparting citizen norms.

Schools are best equipped to address the cognitive aspects of good citizenship - civic and political knowledge and related skills such as critical thinking and deliberation.

Schools are communities in which young people learn to interact, argue, and work together with others, an important foundation for future citizenship.

Many non-school institutions that used to provide venues for young people to participate in civic and political affairs (such as political parties, unions, nonprofit associations, and activist religious denominations) have lost the capacity or will to engage young people. Schools, as major community institutions, can help reverse this trend and have an impact on other institutions (political, economic, religious, and family), by providing quality education that improves young people's civic knowledge, skills, and intentions to vote and volunteer.

Forty state constitutions mention the importance of civic literacy among citizens, and 13 of them state that a central purpose of their educational system is to promote good citizenship, democracy and free government.

WHY THIS IS AN IMPORTANT TIME FOR SCHOOLS TO FOCUS ON CIVIC EDUCATION

Schools can capitalize on several positive trends related to youth civic engagement, including an increase in the number of young people involved in community service and volunteering and in the percentage of young people who are tolerant and committed to free speech.

Schools can help address disturbing trends related to youth civic engagement, including a decrease in young people's interest in political discussion and public issues; their tendency to be more cynical and alienated from formal politics, more materialistic, and less trusting; and a decline in their voter participation rates.

School-based civic education is in decline. Most formal civic education today comprises only a single semester course on government - compared to as many as three courses in democracy, civics, and government that were common until the 1960s.

Numerous factors work against even the best intentions educators may have to promote civic engagement among young people. These obstacles include fear of criticism and litigation if educators address topics that may be considered controversial or political in nature; pressures to meet the goals of high-stakes testing, which now measures reading and mathematics skills (civic education is rarely included); and budget cutbacks in extracurricular programs that help children gain civic skills and attitudes.

SIX PROMISING APPROACHES TO CIVIC EDUCATION

Research shows that schools can help to develop competent and responsible citizens when they:

1. Provide instruction in government, history, law, and democracy. Formal instruction in U.S. government, history, and democracy increases civic knowledge. This is a valuable goal in itself and may also contribute to young people's tendency to engage in civic and political activities over the long term. However, schools should avoid teaching only rote facts about dry procedures, which is unlikely to benefit students and may actually alienate them from politics.

2. Incorporate discussion of current local, national, and international issues and events into the classroom, particularly those that young people view as important to their lives. When young people have opportunities to discuss current issues in a classroom setting, they tend to have greater interest in politics, improved critical thinking and communications skills, more civic knowledge, and more interest in discussing public affairs out of school. Conversations, however, should be carefully moderated so that students feel welcome to speak from a variety of perspectives. Teachers need support in broaching controversial issues in classrooms since they may risk criticism or sanctions if they do so.

3. Design and implement programs that provide students with the opportunity to apply what they learn through performing community service that is linked to the formal curriculum and classroom instruction. Service programs are now common in K-12 schools. The ones that best develop engaged citizens are linked to the curriculum; consciously pursue civic outcomes, rather than seek only to improve academic performance or to promote higher self-esteem; allow students to engage in meaningful work on serious public issues; give students a role in choosing and designing their projects; provide students with opportunities to reflect on the service work; allow students - especially older ones - to pursue political responses to problems consistent with laws that require public schools to be nonpartisan; and see service-learning as part of a broader philosophy toward education, not just a program that is adopted for a finite period in a particular course.

4. Offer extracurricular activities that provide opportunities for young people to get involved in their schools or communities. Long term studies of Americans show that those who participate in extracurricular activities in high school remain more civically engaged than their contemporaries even decades later. Thus, everyone should have opportunities to join high school groups, and such participation should be valued.

5. Encourage student participation in school governance. A long tradition of research suggests that giving students more opportunities to participate in the management of their own classrooms and schools builds their civic skills and attitudes. Thus, giving students a voice in school governance is a promising way to encourage all young people to engage civically.

6. Encourage students' participation in simulations of democratic processes and procedures. Recent evidence indicates that simulations of voting, trials, legislative deliberation, and diplomacy in schools can lead to heightened political knowledge and interest. The data are not conclusive, but these approaches show promise and should be considered when developing programs and curriculum.

RECOMMENDATIONS

This report concludes with numerous recommendations for schools and school systems, state and national policymakers, colleges and universities, researchers, and private funders. Following are some major recommendations in brief form:

1. Schools should work with state education departments and local school district officials to develop and establish civic education curricula based on combinations of the six promising approaches noted above. These curricula should be parts of every student's school experience at every grade level.

2. School administrators should allow and encourage educators to facilitate discussions of complex and/or controversial current events and issues in the classroom.

3. The federal government should increase the amount of federal funding available to states for civic education. The government should further consider establishing a new federal entity with responsibility for civic education, perhaps a "National Civic Education Foundation," which would commission research on civic education, encourage the development of model programs, help design and implement curricula, and serve as a national clearinghouse on civic education for teachers and schools across the country.

4. Standards should be implemented for civic education. This can be done by 1) more frequently offering the National Assessment of Educational Progress's (NAEP) Civics Assessment, in states as well as nationally, and/or 2) reexamining existing state social studies and civic education standards with a goal of ensuring that the promising approaches and goals of civic education outlined in this report are realized by the establishment of supportive standards and curricular policies.

5. Schools of education should strengthen the civic dimensions of pre-service and in-service education for teachers and administrators. Those who are already working in schools should also be offered the opportunity to acquire continuing education credits related to civic education so that they can become more skilled at inculcating the civic knowledge, skills, and attitudes students need to become responsible and engaged citizens.

6. Researchers should develop and implement more rigorous studies (including longitudinal research) about effective service-learning and other civic education approaches. Researchers should also develop indicators for civic knowledge, skills, and attitudes at each phase of K-12 schooling.

7. Funders should support efforts to build national and state coalitions of educators, policymakers, parents, young people, and community leaders to advocate for better and more civic education in schools.

This report provides a framework for creating more effective civic education programs in our schools and represents, for the first time, consensus about this issue among the nation's leading scholars and practitioners. We hope that the concrete recommendations provided in this report will help us move from rhetorical expressions of concern about youth civic engagement to implementing richer and more comprehensive civic education programs that will not only help schools fulfill their civic missions, but also ensure that young Americans have the tools they need to participate fully in the political and civic processes that are the hallmark of U.S. democracy.

INTRODUCTION

For more than 250 years, Americans have shared a vision of a democracy in which all citizens understand, appreciate, and engage actively in civic and political life - taking responsibility for building communities, contributing their diverse talents and energies to solve local and national problems, deliberating about public issues, influencing public policy, voting, and pursuing the common good. Americans know that it is a rare and precious gift to live in a society that permits and values such participation.

In recent decades, concern has grown about the increasing numbers of Americans who are disengaging from civic and political institutions such as voluntary associations, religious congregations, and community-based organizations. This disengagement extends to political and electoral processes such as voting and being informed about public issues.

In many ways, young people reflect these trends. Americans under the age of 25 are less likely to vote than either their older counterparts or young people of past decades. Surveys have shown that they are not as interested in political discussion and public issues as past generations were at the same point in their lives. In addition, there are gaps in young people's knowledge of fundamental democratic principles and processes. As a result, many young Americans are not prepared to participate fully in our democracy now and when they become adults.

At the same time, young people are volunteering and participating in community activities at high rates. Some experts, in fact, argue that this generation is among the most engaged in history, evidenced by the growing number of young people involved in community-based civic renewal or volunteer projects.

Recognizing that individuals do not automatically become free and responsible citizens but must be educated for citizenship, there has been in recent years a growing call for new strategies that can capitalize on young people's idealism while addressing their disengagement from political and civic institutions so that we can better preserve and enhance America's tradition of citizen involvement. How to achieve this goal, however, has been a matter of considerable debate among experts representing various perspectives and disciplines. Political scientists, for example, focus on the political; educators focus on what happens in or near the classroom; service-learning advocates focus on service and volunteering; and youth development specialists focus on the developmental experience of the young person.

In short, there has been common interest in increasing youth civic engagement but no common ground as to how to do this effectively.

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national conference of state legislatures

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Karl Kurtz, Joyce Johnson, Joy Heiserman

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For more than 250 years, Americans have shared a vision of a democracy in which all citizens understand, appreciate, and engage actively in civic and political life. In recent decades, however, increasing numbers of Americans have disengaged from civic and political institutions such as voluntary associations, religious congregations, community-based organizations, and political and electoral activities such as voting and being informed about public issues.

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Campaign contact, digital outreach, young people engaging their peers, and action on racial justice all contributed to higher youth voter turnout.

Youth electoral participation in 2020 was high and could be even higher if we support young people, who have varied priorities for the new administration.

The full report of our study of civic education in the Commonwealth highlights challenges and recommendations for more inclusive and equitable K-12 civics.

The data suggests outreach to young Black voters worked, and their overwhelming preference for the Democratic candidates may have been decisive.

The runoff elections for both Georgia seats will determine control of the Senate, and mobilizing Black youth in the state may be a decisive factor.

Campaign contact, digital outreach, young people engaging their peers, and action on racial justice all contributed to higher youth voter turnout.

Youth electoral participation in 2020 was high and could be even higher if we support young people, who have varied priorities for the new administration.

The full report of our study of civic education in the Commonwealth highlights challenges and recommendations for more inclusive and equitable K-12 civics.

The data suggests outreach to young Black voters worked, and their overwhelming preference for the Democratic candidates may have been decisive.

The runoff elections for both Georgia seats will determine control of the Senate, and mobilizing Black youth in the state may be a decisive factor.

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Campaign contact, digital outreach, young people engaging their peers, and action on racial justice all contributed to higher youth voter turnout. Youth electoral participation in 2020 was high and could be even higher if we support young people, who have varied priorities for the new administration.

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CivXNow, a project of iCivics, has formed the nation's largest bipartisan Coalition to fuel our democracy through K-12 civic education.

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CivXNow, a project of iCivics, has formed the nation's largest bipartisan Coalition to fuel our democracy through K-12 civic education.

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In this new Private i History Detectives unit, Elementary students analyze primary sources to discover how Constitutional Amendments attempted to address slavery's wrongs, how the courts challenged unfair laws, and how individuals and groups fought for civil rights.

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In this new Private i History Detectives unit, Elementary students analyze primary sources to discover how Constitutional Amendments attempted to address slavery's wrongs, how the courts challenged unfair laws, and how individuals and groups fought for civil rights.

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Civic Holiday

Juneteenth

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending slavery in the United States. Visitors can commemorate this historic event with special tours of the Center's exhibit, Civil War and Reconstruction: The Battle for Freedom and Equality or additional programs highlighting freedom fighters from the Reconstruction era like Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and more.

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The National Constitution Center serves as America's leading platform for constitutional education and debate.

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Educating for Self-Governance. Established in September 1999, the Bill of Rights Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization that works to engage, educate, and empower individuals with a passion for the freedom and opportunity that exist in a free society.

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Home - Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center

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The Martin Luther King Jr Freedom Center Boot Camps in civic engagement offer community based, out of school peer-coaching leadership experience, that strengthens inter-generational, interracial social relationships to increase civic engagement, success in school, and resiliency.

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Educators will find in this section a collection of lesson plans to engage K-12 students in learning about the courts, and other related civics lessons. These resources were developed by California teachers. All lessons were field tested and meet California Content Standards.

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Educators will find in this section a collection of lesson plans to engage K-12 students in learning about the courts, and other related civics lessons. These resources were developed by California teachers. All lessons were field tested and meet California Content Standards.

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There is a two-way relationship between the electoral and civic participation of young people in the United States, and the political, socioeconomic, and community conditions in the places where youth live. Context matters: income disparity, racial segregation, education level, political polarization, and the work of nonprofits-among many others-make up the "civic ecosystem" in which youth do or do not have the opportunities to participate in civic and democratic life, or to build the knowledge, skills, and understandings necessary to do so. At the same time, research has shown that communities where young people vote, volunteer, help their neighbors, and belong to groups or associations can be more prosperous and resilient places. These dynamics are multifaceted and far from straightforward; it is essential to understand them in order to help advanced more and more equitable civic opportunities for youth.

CIRCLE's exclusive data tool, Youth Voting and Civic Engagement in America, offers a unique way to explore the relationships between voting and other forms of civic participation, and some of the conditions that shape such engagement. The tool features more than 40 unique indicators, and it includes data at the national, state, congressional district, and county levels. Users of the tool will find:

Youth voter turnout and vote choice in recent elections for all geographic levels

Rankings of the states and districts where young people may have influenced election results

State-level data on 10 indicators of youth civic engagement, including volunteering, discussing political issues, and contacting public officials

County-level data on youth educational attainment, broadband access, income disparity, residential segregation, the nonprofit sector, and other elements that may influence civic participation

Note: While you can access and explore the tool on tablets and mobile, for the best experience we recommend you use a laptop or desktop computer.

How to Use the Tool

We hope you find our data tool intuitive and easy to use, but here's a quick guide to help you get started:

Which Measures Do You Want to See? There are broadly two types of data in the tool: data on youth voting and civic participation, and data on many community conditions that shape civic engagement. You can select up to three data points from each "side" to visualize. Additionally, for data related to voting and elections, you can select the election year.
Note that not all data is available at every geographic level (i.e., some data points can only be selected for a state but not for a county, or vice versa). Unavailable selections will be grayed out. If you're interested in a particular unselectable data point, switch to a different geographic level. When data is not available at a particular geographic level, there are a few reasons why this could be the case: 1) Sample sizes in the particular dataset that we used do not allow for it or the dataset was not created for that purpose, 2) The dataset that we used did not have the ability to do the calculation at that geographic level (as is most often the case with Congressional Districts), or 3) Reliable data by age is not available (as is the case with several states' election data).

Visualize: The tool will visualize your selected data points. Where available, it will display relevant state and/or national rates for the sake of comparison. You can download the data, share it on social media, or go back and make different selections.

Find More Research; Take Action: Throughout the tool, as you view data at different levels, you'll find additional links and information that link what you're seeing to the rest of our work. That includes related research items so you can read more about the importance of particular data or dynamics, and action ideas that suggest ways you can leverage our data to advocate for and advance stronger youth civic engagement in your own community. We've also created a special resource for teachers with suggestions for how to use the tool for various classroom activities.

On April 2, we hosted a webinar about the tool. You can watch it below:

With more than 30 measures and information about youth voting across multiple elections, this tool provides a more comprehensive perspective on young people's civic engagement in America. That said, we recognize that there are other important indicators that can be used to examine and advance youth participation. Our choices are based largely on data availability and we wish more data was available, especially on issues like the intersection of media and youth engagement. The selected data also reflects our understanding, based on years of research and work with practitioners, of key elements that measure and influence young people's civic engagement:

Youth Voting: While it's far from the only way young people can shape democracy, voting is a fundamental act of civic participation. Because elections happen regularly and everywhere, in theory they provide all youth opportunities to participate and to have an impact on the issues and communities they care about. The fact that young people tend to vote at lower rates than older adults, and that there are racial/ethnic, educational, and other disparities in voting rates among youth, is an essential challenge in creating a more equitable democracy.

Youth Civic Engagement: There are many ways for young people to engage in civic life and contribute to their communities. Volunteering and doing favors for neighbors are ways for young people to develop key civic skills and attitudes while having a tangible impact. Talking about issues with friends and neighbors is crucial for young people to become engaged and informed, and to help promote a culture of interest in political and civic life.

Youth Population: In places where there are a lot of young people, and/or where they make up a relatively high proportion of the population, youth can have an especially strong influence on elections. They may also find it easier to engage in peer-to-peer conversations and organizing that can be crucial to their civic development.

Education: Educational attainment often correlates with access and opportunities to participate in civic life. For example, a lot of youth outreach is conducted on college campuses. On the other hand, young people who have not attended college have historically been marginalized from political life and face additional structural challenges to civic learning and engagement.

Quality of Life*: The socioeconomic conditions in a community inevitably shape the context and opportunities, or too often the lack thereof, for residents to engage in civic life. Our research has previously found systemic issues in access to opportunity as a result of these conditions. For example, there is a correlation between household income and the quality of civic education students receive at school, as well as access to valuable extracurricular activities. Other indicators, like broadband internet access, have direct implications for young people's ability to access information, connect with peers, create media, and engage with an increasingly important online ecosystem for civic participation.

Civic Culture*: Myriad aspects make up a community's civic culture; our data tool highlights just a few relevant indicators. The presence of organizations and nonprofits in a community, especially those that serve youth, provide opportunities for engagement, skill-building, and social impact. Residential stability can influence young people's ability to form important community ties, and residential segregation may affect young people's ability to navigate, learn from, and build networks with people of different backgrounds.

Political Landscape*: Young people vote at higher rates when they feel they have a stake in the outcome of an election-and the capacity to shape that outcome. The partisan makeup of a community, the competitiveness of races can influence youth engagement at the ballot box and beyond. Other factors, like electoral laws and statewide statutes on facilitating voter registration, can also affect the ease and accessibility of the voting process for youth.

*These areas are also important elements of CIRCLE's RAYSE Index, which also has county-by-county information and allows users to look at multiple counties at once and see the relative differences in order to inform decisions on investment in communities.

The data in our Youth Voting and Civic Engagement in America tool comes from a variety of sources. You can learn more about the specific source for each indicator below:
Additional Links:

Have a question about the data or want to learn more about how you may use it? Email us: circle@tufts.edu.

How to Use the Tool

We hope you find our data tool intuitive and easy to use, but here's a quick guide to help you get started:

Which Measures Do You Want to See? There are broadly two types of data in the tool: data on youth voting and civic participation, and data on many community conditions that shape civic engagement. You can select up to three data points from each "side" to visualize. Additionally, for data related to voting and elections, you can select the election year.
Note that not all data is available at every geographic level (i.e., some data points can only be selected for a state but not for a county, or vice versa). Unavailable selections will be grayed out. If you're interested in a particular unselectable data point, switch to a different geographic level. When data is not available at a particular geographic level, there are a few reasons why this could be the case: 1) Sample sizes in the particular dataset that we used do not allow for it or the dataset was not created for that purpose, 2) The dataset that we used did not have the ability to do the calculation at that geographic level (as is most often the case with Congressional Districts), or 3) Reliable data by age is not available (as is the case with several states' election data).

Visualize: The tool will visualize your selected data points. Where available, it will display relevant state and/or national rates for the sake of comparison. You can download the data, share it on social media, or go back and make different selections.

Find More Research; Take Action: Throughout the tool, as you view data at different levels, you'll find additional links and information that link what you're seeing to the rest of our work. That includes related research items so you can read more about the importance of particular data or dynamics, and action ideas that suggest ways you can leverage our data to advocate for and advance stronger youth civic engagement in your own community. We've also created a special resource for teachers with suggestions for how to use the tool for various classroom activities.

On April 2, we hosted a webinar about the tool. You can watch it below:

Have a question about the data or want to learn more about how you may use it? Email us: circle@tufts.edu.

Use the Tool to Take Action

After you explore the tool, check out some suggestions for how educators, policymakers, organizers, journalists, and more can leverage the data to strengthen their work and to promote broader, more equitable youth engagement.

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Youth Voting and Civic Engagement in America

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There is a two-way relationship between the electoral and civic participation of young people in the United States, and the political, socioeconomic, and community conditions in the places where youth live.

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By Judithanne Scourfield McLauchlan | This article discusses the development and implementation of a civics project in an online American government course and explores the challenges and opportunities around managing civic engagement projects in an online format. Data analyzed for this article included 11 semesters of responses to anonymous pre- and post-project surveys, university end-of-course evaluations, Center for Civic Engagement surveys of Citizen Scholar courses, student reflection papers, and discussion board posts. Findings revealed that participation in the civics project increased students' civic knowledge and helped them develop the skills needed to become active citizens. Students indicated that they intended to continue following current events and that they would stay involved in the political process. Lessons learned are applicable to courses in fields seeking to incorporate service-learning, community-based research, or civic engagement in an online context.
Author Note
Judithanne Scourfield McLauchlan, Department of History and Politics, University of South Florida St. Petersburg

An earlier draft of this paper was presented in February 2018 at the American Political Science Association Teaching and Learning Conference in Baltimore, MD, and during a think tank session at the Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement Conference in Anaheim, CA, in June 2018.

The author would like to thank Wayne Nealy, Emily-May Thatcher, Royale Heart-Oakes, Elise Hummel, and Tom Gay for their research assistance with the data collection for this project. The author also wishes to thank the University of South Florida St. Petersburg's Online Learning and Instructional Technology Services (OLITS) department ( http://lib.usfsp.edu/online-learning/) under the leadership of David Brodosi for professional development training and for grant support to develop "American National Government" online. Thanks to Otis Wilder for leading the OLITS professional development workshops. And thanks especially to instructional designers Karla Morris and Steph Fuhr for their help moving my course to an online format.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Judithanne Scourfield McLauchlan, Associate Professor, College of Arts and Sciences, University of South Florida St. Petersburg, Davis 216, 140 7 th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701. Phone: (727) 873-4956. E-mail: jsm2@usfsp.edu

Democracy can survive only as strong democracy, secured not by great leaders but by competent, responsible citizens. Effective dictatorships require great leaders. Effective democracies need great citizens.... And citizens are certainly not born, but made as a consequence of civic education and political engagement in a free polity. (Barber, 1984, p. xvii)

The state of civic literacy and civic engagement has been on the decline in recent decades (National Task Force, 2012; Shaw, 2017). Speaking in terms of "civic illiteracy" (Shaw, 2017), scholars have declared that the United States is in a "civic recession" (National Task Force, 2012 p. xiii) and have lamented the current state of "civic malaise" (National Task Force, 2012 p. 6). The National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement (2012) pointed to specific indicators of this "anemic U.S. civic health," such as low voter turnout rates (the U.S. ranked 139 th in voter participation out of 172 world democracies), low rates of interaction with elected officials (only 10% of U.S. citizens contacted a public official), and low levels of proficiency in civics (only 24% of graduating high school seniors scored at the proficient or advanced level in civics). Indeed, a recent survey conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (2016) found that only one quarter of Americans could name the three branches of government, and a Newsweek poll found that less than one third of Americans knew that the U.S. Constitution was the supreme law of the land (Shaw, 2017).

The nation's civic illiteracy crisis is especially grave in Florida, where I teach at a state university. A recent study of Florida's civic health concluded that "Florida Millennials have the depressing distinction of being the most disengaged group in one of the most civically disengaged states in the nation" (Knuckey & Collie, 2011, p. 5). For example, in 2010, less than half of millennials in Florida were registered to vote, and of those who were registered, only one in five actually voted. Non-electoral political action was almost non-existent (e.g., only 3% contacted or visited a public official), and Florida's millennials had one of the lowest rates (ranked 48 th in the nation) of participation in any type of civic, community, school, sports, or religious group. In addition, Florida was ranked among the bottom 10 states for community engagement-such as volunteering, attending public meetings, and working with neighbors in the community-among millennials. (See Table 1.)

Table 1
Snapshot of Millennial Civic Engagement in Florida
Note. Source: 2011 Florida Civic Health Index (Knuckey & Collie, 2011, p. 4).

While the activism of the Parkland shooting survivors, for instance, is inspiring (National Public Radio, 2018) and the dramatic increase in youth voter turnout (to 30% [CIRCLE, 2018]) in the 2018 midterm elections is encouraging, there is still much work to be done to improve civic literacy and civic participation among younger citizens.

The Florida Legislature has taken steps to strengthen civics education in the state. In passing the Sandra Day O'Connor Civics Education Act in 2010, for instance, the legislature mandated civic education (via language arts programs) in K-12, including a mandatory civics course for seventh graders that includes an end-of-course assessment. In 2017, the legislature extended the civic literacy requirement to Florida colleges and universities, mandating that, beginning in the 2018-2019 academic year, entering students must demonstrate competency in civic literacy (see Florida Statute 1007.25). One way that Florida higher education institutions are attempting to meet this requirement is through the "American National Government" course described in this article. However, while these new state legislative mandates are encouraging, it should be noted that the data analyzed in this article-from the online American National Government course (2012-2018)-precedes their implementation.

Bolstering this generation's civic literacy is vital to maintaining and strengthening the foundation of democracy. At the same time the need to improve civics education, civic literacy, and civic health among today's college students is becoming more urgent, higher education institutions are under rising pressure to increase the number and variety of online course offerings on campuses. Thus, there is a need to increase civic literacy and civic engagement in online, as well as face-to-face, courses.

After teaching American government for many years, I have found that students "lack basic political knowledge, most are not interested in politics, do not feel motivated to participate, and do not know how to participate should they want to do so" (Colby, Beaumont, Erlich, & Corngold, 2007, p. 3). How can educators best develop the civic capacity of their students? How can educators help students develop the skills necessary to be active and engaged citizens in an online format?

Skeptics may assume that there are too many challenges and roadblocks to developing the civic skills of students in an online format; however, some scholars have found that online learning can facilitate, rather than inhibit, community-engaged pedagogies (Guthrie & McCracken, 2012; Purcell, 2017; Waldner, McGorry, & Widener, 2012). Indeed, one study concluded that "e-service-learning-the marriage of online learning and service-learning-holds the potential to transform both endeavors by freeing service-learning from geographical constraints and by equipping online learning with a tool to promote engagement" (Waldner et al., 2012, p. 145).

This article discusses the development and implementation of a civics project in an online American government course, and explores the challenges and opportunities of managing civic engagement projects in an online format. During each of the 11 semesters that I have taught American National Government online (from 2012 to 2018), I have administered anonymous pre- and post-test surveys and collected reflection papers and discussion board posts about each of the civics projects in the course. In addition, USFSP has administered anonymous end-of-course evaluations, and the Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) has administered anonymous student surveys of this Citizen Scholar course. The survey data, along with the content of the student reflection papers and discussion board posts, have been analyzed in order to determine the impact of the civics projects on students' civic learning and engagement in the online course delivery format.

The lessons learned from the data presented and the experiences discussed in this article, while related specifically to American government and politics, would be applicable to courses in any field that seek to include service-learning, community-based research, or civic engagement within an online context.
The Course: POS 2041: American National Government
POS 2041: American National Government is now a state-mandated general education course in the Florida higher education curriculum. Prior to the general education mandate, the course was required of many majors at USFSP in the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Business, and the College of Education. The course is intended to introduce students to the theories institutions, and processes of American government and politics. In addition to teaching fundamental information about the American political system, the course is designed to help students think critically about American government and politics. Topics include an introduction to American government, the Founding and the U.S. Constitution, Federalism, civil liberties, civil rights, interest groups, political parties, campaigns and elections, Congress, the presidency, bureaucracies, the Supreme Court, and the American judiciary.

I have taught this course for more than 25 years. I enjoy teaching the class because it is a veritable smorgasbord of American politics. I warn my students on the first day that the university's History and Politics Department offers at least one full-semester course offering for each of the weekly topics, so the students will succeed only in scratching the proverbial surface of each topic. Still, we cover a lot of ground. I treasure working with my students in the face-to-face classroom, and I was skeptical at first about using online pedagogy. How would I ensure that my course was rigorous? How could I know that my students were becoming well-versed in American government and politics? How could my course be as engaging online as it is in person? How could I best incorporate a civic engagement component in the online format?

After attending professional development workshops offered by my university's distance learning team, I decided to develop American National Government online. The team and I were able to use technology creatively so active learning components in the course could be retained (such as using Blackboard Collaborate Ultra for the synchronous simulations and substituting an interactive crossword puzzle for the "U.S. Citizenship Bingo" icebreaker I had created for the first day of class). In addition to the active learning components, I wanted to include a civic engagement component that would get students out from behind their computer screens and into the community, learning about American government first-hand.
Online Course Design and the Quality Matters National Certification
I would never have considered moving my course online were it not for the professional development workshops and trainings organized by the Online Learning and Instructional Technology Services department at my university. As part of the professional development programming, I participated in workshops related to the national Quality Matters (QM) certification. After learning more about the QM rubric, I designed my online course with its rigorous standards in mind. I was delighted when American National Government online received the Quality Matters certification in July 2016.

Quality Matters bills itself as a "non-profit quality assurance organization" that has developed a method for certifying the quality of online courses ( https://www.qualitymatters.org/). As the USFSP distance learning department explains, "Quality Matters is a nationally recognized program that examines course design to assess the quality and alignment of an online course through a peer-review process using a rubric of evidence-based practices." This process is designed to recognize online courses that meet the highest standards of quality course design. A team of three certified peer reviewers conduct a formal review of the course based on QM's rigorous and research-based rubric for online course design.

The rubric includes eight standards: course overview and introduction, learning objectives, instructional materials, learner support, course technology, accessibility and usability, course activities and learner interaction, and assessment and measurement. For each of these standards, there is a rubric for evaluating whether the standard is being met. For example, QM reviewers will evaluate the instructions for getting started in the course, whether the learning objectives describe measurable outcomes, whether there are a variety of instructional materials used in the course, and whether the assessments measure the stated learning objectives or competencies.

At USFSP, the distance learning team works with the individual faculty member on an internal review. Once the internal review process is complete, the faculty member's application is referred to the external review process. The external QM review team consists of a master reviewer, who chairs the team, a subject-matter expert, and another experienced peer reviewer. Once the review is complete, the applicant receives a detailed report with extensive feedback, along with the scores in each category. If successful, the applicant also receives a certificate.

Designing the American National Government course with the QM rubric in mind, I developed a module for each unit that includes a description of the learning outcomes, the assigned readings, lecture outline, PowerPoint presentation to accompany the lecture, a video of the recorded lecture, and additional resources for further study. After completing the readings and watching the lecture, students take a quiz to complete each module. The textbooks assigned also include study guides for the students to practice before taking the quiz for credit. It is helpful to track students' progress on a module-by-module basis, rather than wait for the midterm and final exams for assessment (as when I taught the course face-to-face). Tracking the students' progress module-to-module also made me more comfortable with the online format. Between the quizzes and the discussion board posts, I found that, in many ways, I gave more feedback to and had more interactions with the students in my online class than I did with students in my face-to-face classes.
The Civics Project
In the face-to-face American National Government class, my civics project assignment required campaign internships. I would host a campaign internship job fair (open to all faculty, staff, and students on campus) during our class period, inviting all of the candidates and campaigns in order to assist students in securing campaign internships. However, when deciding how to adapt the civics project to the online classroom format-so that students could complete it wherever and whenever they were taking the course-I realized that I would need to take a different approach. Specifically, I developed the civics project assignment as a series of hands-on activities.

As part of their final course grade, students have the opportunity to deepen their understanding of American government, politics, and political culture by completing a series of civics assignments and writing short reflection papers (four pages each). In these papers, students describe what they did for their project, and then they relate what they learned from the experience with the material covered in lectures and in the assigned readings. The assignment also requires that students participate in discussion boards using the USFSP learning management system (Canvas) to post about their civics projects and to respond to others. Students must complete three different assignments (i.e., no two assignments can be of the same type; e.g., only one city council meeting). Only one of those civics projects can be "online" (e.g., watching a Florida Supreme Court oral argument online or watching a Sunday morning political TV show).

A civics project worksheet was developed as the first in a series of civics assignments (see Appendix A). While this civics project is well-suited for a course in which students are geographically dispersed (especially since the course is taught online during the summer, when students are spread across Florida, the United States, and abroad), students often need help identifying civics projects-and figuring out when and how they will complete them. In order to complete the civics project worksheet, students need to identify their state representatives and state senators, their members of Congress and U.S. senators, their county commissioners (and when/where the commission meets), their school board members (and when/where the school board meets), how and where to register to vote, the contact information for their Democratic and Republican party offices, etc. By completing the civics project worksheet, students develop their own customized civic engagement reference guide. Though students still do send me e-mail messages claiming that there is "nothing to do" near where they live, by using their completed worksheet, I can more easily help them identify projects that work with their schedule, wherever they reside.

The civics project worksheet has become a useful companion to the civics projects. The worksheet guides the students on a path to develop their own "database" of officials in their area so that they know how to become more actively engaged. In conjunction with the content covered in the lectures and readings, students learn more about what level of government and what government agency (or agencies) might be responsible for the issues with which they are concerned, and they learn how to reach out to those officials. The civics project worksheet and the civics projects themselves play an important role in skill building and increasing students' sense of political efficacy.

The "menu" of potential civics projects includes activities such as attending a city council/school board/county commission meeting, attending a homeowner's association meeting, volunteering for a community agency, visiting a federal or state courthouse and watching a proceeding, volunteering for a political campaign, and contacting an elected official about an issue of interest. The syllabus and the weekly materials include suggestions for civics projects related to each module. Students verify their completion of the civics projects by including an appendix with photos of them at the events and/or scans of business cards, meeting agendas, or other artifacts of the civic engagement activity.

Additionally, there is a cover page for the assignment included in the civics project assignment handout. On this cover page, students indicate what they did for the assignment, what units the assignment relates to, and whether the assignment was in person or online. The same cover sheet is used for civic projects 1, 2, and 3, so that all of the civics projects completed by that student are listed in one place

When introducing students to this civics project assignment, I encourage them to think about issues that interest them and then to think about how they can tie what they are learning in class about how government works to designing a civics project (or series of projects) related to those issues. For example, one student was concerned about the speed of traffic on the street outside his home because his young children played in the front yard. This became the focus of his first civics project. He was shocked that after calling City Hall, someone came out to study the traffic patterns on his street to determine whether there should be a speed bump. (Students don't tend to anticipate that they can "fight City Hall" and win.) For other students, issues might relate to the environment, gun safety, or reproductive health. Whatever issues students are concerned about or whatever their career goals or major field of study, a civics project plan can be developed to cater to those interests.

As Table 2 illustrates, the two most popular civics projects are those that can be completed online: watching a Florida Supreme Court oral argument and watching a Sunday morning political talk show. Every semester, it seems that students procrastinate on the first civics project. In their anonymous surveys, they have expressed their reluctance about getting out into the community and their feeling that they do not know how to engage. In order to complete their assignment on time, many students end up doing one of those online assignments at the last minute. However, as the semester progresses, they are "forced" to do the face-to-face projects. Students report that once they get out there, they find that it is not as difficult to get involved as they had imagined.

Table 2
Student Civics Projects (2012-2017)
In addition to completing the civics project and writing a reflection paper-integrating what they learned in the lectures and reading assignments with what they learned by doing their civics project-students participate in discussion boards associated with each of the assignments. For each civics project, students post about their own project and to also respond to at least one other student's project. Surprisingly, the discussion generated through the online discussion board posts regarding the civics projects is more robust (and much more extensive) than what was achieved in my face-to-face classes. It was not until I actually started grading the discussion board posts that I realized the magnitude of the student engagement. While I have long prided myself on delivering engaging lectures with active student participation, there is simply not enough class time available for each student to participate and for each student to respond to every other student. The format of the online discussion board made me appreciate the ways in which online courses can be even more vigorous and engaging than traditional face-to-face delivery formats.
Method Participants
The participants in this study were the students enrolled in American National Government online at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg (USFSP) during the following 11 semesters from 2012 through 2018: summer 2012, fall 2012, summer 2013, fall 2013, fall 2014, spring 2015, summer 2015, summer 2016, summer 2017, fall 2017, summer 2018. From 2003 through 2012, I taught this class face-to-face at USFSP. (Previously I taught American government face-to-face at Rutgers University.)

USFSP is a separately accredited campus of the University of South Florida system, enrolling approximately 5,000 students (approximately 700 of whom are residential). The demographics of the student population have changed during the 16 years I have taught at the university-from a 100% commuter campus with primarily nontraditional students to a campus with residence halls and first-time-in-college students of traditional college age. The first residence hall opened in 2006, the second opened in 2012, and a third is now under construction. The gradual increase in the number of first-time-in-college, traditional-age, residential students was taking place during the study period.
Materials and Procedure
During each of the 11 semesters, three different types of surveys were administered to obtain feedback about the course in general and about the civics project in particular: the pre- and post-civics project surveys, the Center for Civic Engagement Citizen Scholar student surveys, and the university end-of-course student evaluations.

Pre- and post-civics project surveys. During the semester, I administer pre- and post-civics project surveys to the students. These are administered within Canvas (the university's learning management system) as a quiz. Students are asked how much American government or civics coursework they have completed prior to taking the class, how much they like studying American government or civics, and how much they believe that having elections makes the government pay attention to what people think before it decides what to do. Another series of questions asks students whether they have participated in activities similar to the civics projects before taking the course (e.g., whether the student ever contacted an elected official or ever attended a city council meeting). The survey also asks the students whether they are registered to vote and how often they have voted in the past. There questions pertain to the student's level of community engagement, such as whether the student has ever volunteered for a community service organization or for a political campaign. The survey also asks whether the students (prior to taking the class) have followed current events and activities related to local government. There are also open-ended questions, such as "What does it mean to be a 'citizen'?"; "What are your expectations going in to the civics project assignment?"; "What do you hope to learn from your civic engagement experience?"

Center for Civic Engagement, Citizen Scholar course student surveys. At the end of the semester, the CCE sends a representative to administer a survey of students enrolled in courses coded as "Citizen Scholar." Citizen Scholar courses are those in which students get out of the classroom and into the community, working on projects with community partners that are tied to the learning outcomes in the course. These courses include those with service-learning, civic engagement, and experiential learning opportunities for students. For online Citizen Scholar courses, the CCE uses a survey created in Google Forms and asks the instructors of Citizen Scholar courses to share the survey link with their students. A link to the survey is posted for students in Canvas.

In the Citizen Scholar course survey, students are asked how many hours they worked on the service-learning project (including direct service hours and reflection hours). The survey includes binary questions that address the following issues: whether the service activities enhanced understanding of the course content, whether the student was able to make a meaningful contribution to the community through the service-learning experience, whether the student believes that he or she could have learned more from the course if more time had been spent in the classroom rather than in the community, whether the student feels more comfortable participating in the community after taking the course, whether the student developed skills in the course that can be used in a future career, whether the student plans to continue serving with the community program after completing the course, and whether the student would recommend a course with this civic engagement component to future students. There are also a number of learning outcomes that are assessed using a 5-point scale (1 = "no change"; 5 = "increased significantly"): communication skills, critical thinking, understanding community needs, ability to apply concepts of one's academic discipline to the local community, understanding and appreciating diversity, ability to lead a group effectively, and the likelihood of participating with community organizations/issues.

University end-of-course student evaluations. At the end of the semester, the university administers end-of-course student evaluations of their instructors. These are administered online (i.e., students receive a link via their university email) using the eXplorance Blue assessment system, and faculty can access the results in Faculty Academic Information Reporting (FAIR), the annual review tracking system for faculty. Faculty can access their overall instructor rating as well as view all student comments to the open-ended questions about the course and the instructor.
Results Pre- and Post-Civics Project Surveys
Eight semesters of survey responses were compiled (fall 2012, summer 2013, fall 2013, fall 2014, spring 2015, summer 2015, summer 2016, and summer 2018): 225 students responded to the pre-civics project survey and 214 responded to the post-civics project survey. Eighty-five percent of the students who responded had taken at least one semester of American government or civics courses prior to taking the American National Governmentcourse. An overwhelming majority of students had not participated in civics projects before taking the class: 16% (36 students) had contacted a federal or state legislator about an issue; 10% (22 students) had attended a city council meeting; 8% (19 students) had attended a school board meeting, 3% (six students) had attended a county commission meeting, 5% (12 students) had written a letter to the editor; 20% (45 students) had watched a Sunday morning political talk show; 16% (35 students) had volunteered for a political campaign; and 26% (59 students) had volunteered for a community service organization in their neighborhood. After completing the course and the required three civics projects, 100% of the students had become civically engaged.

After participating in the civics project assignment, completing three projects from the earlier examples, students reported feeling better informed about how American government works. Sixty-two percent (133 students) reported that they paid more attention to activities related to local government in their town since taking the course, and 50% (100 students) reported that they paid more attention to current events since taking the course (see Figure 1)

Figure 1. Student interest in current events and local government post-civics projects.

In their responses to the open-ended questions, students admitted that they had not initially looked forward to the civics assignments; however, in the post-civics project surveys, students reported that they found the projects to be a valuable addition to the curriculum. Typical responses include the following: "I learned to go outside my comfort zone, and to dive deeper into the subject to make sure I really understood what I was learning" and "I always find it difficult to get involved even though I always want to. These projects forced me and helped me see I could find the time." Particularly when I taught the course in non-presidential election years, students expressed an interest in local government and in local elections: "I learned that politics is much more than who is running for president and that government is more than just what is happening in DC." Moreover, students reported that they left the course feeling like they could make a difference after having participated in the civics project: "I learned that we could all be a part of our community and have a say in what government does," "I actually learned how easy it was to get involved," and "I learned MY part in government and how crucial it is that I participate."

Regardless of the type of civics project selected from the menu of options (or designed by the student), students reported that getting out into the community and getting involved in the process helped them to understand the course content and to feel more connected with their community. Table 3 includes sample student reflections about lessons learned though the various types of civics projects.

Table 3
Student Reflections

"I was able to view 'government in action' in a way I had never done before."

"I realized that I helped citizens begin the process of exercising their right to vote. By participating in these activities, I also gained a sense of respect for the people who work hard to get others registered to vote. I understand more about how our government is run."

Center for Civic Engagement, Citizen Scholar Course Student Surveys
Four semesters of data were compiled (spring 2015, summer 2015, summer 2016, and summer 2017), comprising 68 student survey responses. Students spent an average of 6.8 hours of direct service (65 students reported 441 hours) and 4.3 hours of reflection (65 students reported 277 hours)-an average of 11 hours spent on the civics project assignments during the course of the semester. Overwhelmingly, students agreed that the civics projects enhanced their understanding of course content (63 out of 64, or 98.4%). Only 17% of the students (9 out of 52) believed that they would have learned more from this course if more time had been spent in the classroom instead of doing service in the community. Moreover, students reported that they felt more comfortable participating in the community (58 out of 60, or 96.7%) and that they believed they could make a meaningful contribution by doing so (53 out of 58, or 91%). More than 80% of the students (49 out of 61) reported that they would continue their work on the civic engagement projects after completing the course. Additionally, 92% of the students (61 out of 66) enrolled in the course indicated that they would recommend the civic engagement component to future students. (See Table 4.)

Table 4
Center for Civic Engagement Student Surveys of Citizen Scholar Courses (2015-2017), Binary Question Responses
Students were also asked to rate the impact of the civic engagement component of their Citizen Scholar course using a 5-point scale, with 1 indicating "no change" and 5 indicating "increased significantly." The learning outcome which saw the most significant change was "Likelihood of Future Participation/Engagement with Community Issues and Organizations." Thirty-two percent of students rated this outcome with a 5 ("increased significantly"). Other learning outcomes that saw a significant change were "Understanding Community Needs" and "Understanding of/Appreciation for Diversity" (see Table 5). Not surprisingly, the learning outcome that saw the least amount of change was "Ability to Lead a Group" since there were no group projects that were part of the civics assignment. (The highest percentage of students-33%-reporting 1 ("no change") was in response to this question about working in groups.)

Table 5
Center for Civic Engagement Student Surveys of Citizen Scholar Courses (2015-2017), Impact of Civic Engagement on Learning Outcomes, 5-Point Scale University End-of-Course Student Evaluations
As a result of the university moving from administering paper copies of end-of-course student evaluations in class to an online system whereby students access the evaluations at home, student response rates have decreased significantly. (I do not have an exact figure, but this development is widely discussed in faculty meetings and is an issue that I tried to address while serving as chair of the College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Council.) Table 6 illustrates the rates of response to the end-of-course student evaluations in American National Government from 2014 through 2018. The response rates were higher than anticipated, given the widespread concern about low responses to student course evaluations on my campus since the evaluation system moved online. Another pleasant surprise represented in Table 6 was the overall rating of the instructor. I had heard that, generally, student evaluations of instructors for online courses tend to be lower than for face-to-face courses. The overall instructor rating, between 4 and 5, was still above average. Given the student responses to the open-ended questions about the course and the instructor, it seems that the civics project contributed to overall student satisfaction with the course.

Table 6
Rates of Student Response to the University End-of-Course Evaluations (2014-2018)

Overall Instructor Rating
(5-point scale)

Open-Ended Comments:
Instructor (Comments that Mention Civics Project/Total Number of Comments)

Open-Ended Comments: Course (Comments that Mention Civics Project/Total Number of Comments)

Table 6 also illustrates the number and percentage of students who referenced the open-ended questions about the course and about the instructor in the evaluations. Between 13% and 24% of students referenced the civics project when commenting on the instructor, and between 33% and 67% of students referenced the civics project when commenting on the course. The student comments on the civics project were positive, praising the value of the civic engagement opportunity. There were no complaints about the difficulty of completing the projects. The civics project worksheet helps students think through what they can do for their projects, and it helps me assist those who may be struggling. Even students who were at first reluctant to complete this assignment reported that, once they were out in the community, they were pleasantly surprised by their experiences. Tables 7 and 8 list sample comments from the evaluations.

Table 7
Student Responses to Open-Ended Questions on University End-of-Course Evaluations (2014-2018), Instructor Comment
Table 8
Student Responses to Open-Ended Questions on University End-of-Course Evaluations (2014-2018), Course Comment Discussion Implementation of the Civics Project in the Online Setting: Observations
Throughout this article, I have discussed the lessons learned from adapting the civics project to the online format; however, I would like to share more about the unintended consequences of incorporating the civics project in the online classroom. One side benefit of the civics projects was that they often gave me the opportunity to meet students in my online class in person (e.g., at campus events like mayoral/gubernatorial/presidential debate watch parties or at candidate forums that I was moderating). I would send a message to students through Canvas with ideas for events and activities that would "count" as civics projects (and where I would be in attendance). Students who were interested in meeting me in person had ample opportunities, and I welcomed those opportunities.

Another unanticipated outcome of the civics projects was the "ripple effect." Students tended to bring a spouse, friend, or parent with them to their civics projects. In the reflection papers and discussion board posts, students revealed that those additional participants not enrolled in the class also became engaged as a result of the civics assignments. For example, one student who brought a parent to a homeowner's association meeting for the first time reported that her mother ultimately became an officer of the organization. Perhaps since the students were not sitting next to each other in a physical classroom, they relied instead on friends and family to accompany them on civics projects. Of course, my primary intended "audience" is the students enrolled in my classes, but it was heartening to learn that so many others-friends, family, and roommates-had become civically engaged as well.

An additional unintended benefit was the impact that designing the online course had on my face-to-face courses. As it turned out, the lessons learned during the professional development trainings and the online course development process were helpful to me in improving my face-to-face courses. Indeed, I made changes to my course syllabi and other course materials using the standards, rubrics, pedagogies for the online course. For example, I revised several of the student learning outcomes included in my "U.S. Constitutional Law" and my "Introduction to Law and Politics" course syllabi after participating in a workshop devoted to Bloom's taxonomy (a workshop I attended only because it was a part of the online course development training).
Implementation of the Civics Project in the Online Setting: Recommendations
The lessons learned from incorporating the civics project into my online American National Government course over the last several years could be applied to courses in any discipline. For example, students will need very specific guidance. This is always the case with a service-learning assignment, but it is especially important when students are not physically present to ask questions before or after class-and when they are geographically dispersed (and working on projects in areas where the instructor may not have as many connections). It is also necessary to develop tools for managing and tracking students completing the assignments (partly because students are likely to be geographically dispersed and partly due to the larger enrollments in online courses). Also, ultimately, one must be more flexible due to the constraints and challenges inherent in managing an experiential learning project like this in an online course.
Conclusions: Online Learning and Political Engagement
While I was initially skeptical of the online format, I found that, after developing and evaluating the course, students left with a better understanding of American government and, as a result of the hands-on civics projects, with greater confidence that they could make a difference in the community. During the course of the semester, my students reported that they became better informed about political issues and that this increased knowledge (and the self-confidence that followed) made them feel more comfortable voting. Students also reported that they were encouraged "to get off the sidelines and to get involved."

Weber State University developed a rubric for assessing civic engagement within the dimensions of civic knowledge, civic skills, civic values, and civic motivation (Murray, 2013). Table 9 demonstrates how the civics project aligns with these four dimensions and helps students to become more effective citizens.

Table 9
Weber State University Civic Engagement Rubric Applied to the American National Government Civics Project

Civic Knowledge

"involves the process of applying discipline specific knowledge to civic engagement"

Lectures and reading material increase students' knowledge of American government and politics; assessed in quizzes and exams

Hands-on learning in civics projects helps students apply knowledge in their daily lives

Civic Skills

"involves the demonstration of engaging in a process to solve and increase the awareness of some civic problem"

Hands-on projects develop skills as students volunteer for campaigns and community organizations

Civic Values

"involves having a disposition to the world that understands the need for civic engagement"

Students report greater appreciation for diversity

Civic Motivation

"involves continued commitment to engaged citizenship"

Students report motivation to continue to be engaged citizens

The civics project, in conjunction with the content delivered in the American National Government course, increases students' civic knowledge. The civics projects, beginning with the civics project worksheet, for which students create their own civic engagement reference guide, help the students to develop the skills they need to become effective citizens. The survey data demonstrated that the students leave the course with a greater sense of political efficacy, greater understanding of community needs, and a greater appreciation for diversity. An overwhelming number of students (more than 80%) indicated that they planned to stay involved after the semester was over-strong evidence of civic motivation.

The findings in this study are particularly exciting given the demographics of the course. My classes are filled with entry-level students, primarily non-political science majors who often take the course only because it is required, not because they have an interest in learning more about American government and certainly not because they are eager to complete a series of civics projects. Improving students' civic literacy in a required general education course and developing a sense of political efficacy among freshmen, may be the best way to improve civic health. As the National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement (2012) found, "only one third of college students strongly agreed that their college education resulted in increased civic capacity" (p. 6). Incorporating assignments such as this civics project into required general education courses should improve this disappointing statistic.

One avenue for future research would be to conduct a longitudinal study analyzing the impact of the civics project over time. My students professed that they would continue to be curious, to follow current events, to reach out and do something if they saw an issue that should be addressed. I hope that the students are more likely to stay informed, more likely to vote, and more likely to volunteer. Certainly, after completing the civics projects, the students will have the skills needed and the basic knowledge of how government works, and will know why and how to stay involved in the political process.
References
American Association of State Colleges and Universities. Political Engagement Project (PEP). Retreived from http://www.aascu.org/programs/adp/PEP/

Annenberg Public Policy Center. (2016). Americans' knowledge of the branches of government is declining. Retrieved from http://cdn.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/Civic_knowledge_survey_Sept_2016.pdf

Barber, B. (1984). Strong democracy: Participatory politics for a new age. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. (2018). Young people dramatically increase their turnout to 31%, shape midterm elections. Retrieved from https://civicyouth.org/young-people-dramatically-increase-their-turnout-31-percent-shape-2018-midterm-elections/

Clawson, R., Deen R., & Oxley, Z. (2002). Online discussions across three universities: Student participation and pedagogy. PSOnline, 35(4), 713-718.

Colby, A., Beaumont, E., Erlich, T., & Corngold, J. (2007). Educating for democracy: Preparing undergraduates for responsible political engagement. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Guthrie, K., & McCracken, H. (2014). Reflection: The importance of making meaning in e-service-learning courses. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 26(3), 238-252.

Hoover, K., Casile, M., & Hanke. R. (2008). How discussion boards drive course concept mastery in service e-learning. In A. Dailey-Hebert, S. Donnelli, & L. DiPadova (Eds.), Service-eLearning: Educating for citizenship (pp. 58-73). Charlotte, NC: IAP.

Knuckey, J., & Collie, T. (2011). 2011 Florida civic health index: The next generation. Retrieved from http://floridacivichealth.org/files/next-generation.pdf

McLauchlan, J. (2013). Learning citizenship by doing: Integrating campaign internships into political science coursework. In A. McCartney, E. Bennion, & D. Simpson (Eds.), Teaching civic engagement: From student to active citizen (pp. 279-296). Washington, DC: American Political Science Association. Retrieved from http://web.apsanet.org/teachingcivicengagement/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2016/10/TeachingCivicEngagementBW.pdf

Murray, L. (2013). Effectively using Facebook to foster civic engagement. Paper presented at the 2013 American Political Science Association Teaching and Learning Conference.

National Public Radio. (2018, June 16). Parkland students launch tour to register young voters and get them out in November. Weekend Edition Saturday. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2018/06/16/620486174/parkland-survivors-launch-tour-to-register-young-voters-and-get-them-out-in-nove

National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement. (2012) A crucible moment: College learning and democracy's future. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.

Purcell, J. (2017). Community-engaged pedagogy in the virtual classroom: Integrating eservice-learning into online leadership education. Journal of Leadership Studies, 11(1), 65-70.

Shaw, M. (2017, May 25). Civic illiteracy in America. Harvard Political Review. Retrieved from http://harvardpolitics.com/culture/civic-illiteracy-in-america/

Waldner, L., McGorry, S., & Widener, M. (2012). E-service-learning: The evolution of service-learning to engage a growing online student population. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 16(2), 123-150.
Additional Resources
Becnel, K., & Moeller, R. (2017). Community-embedded learning experiences: Putting the pedagogy of service-learning to work in online courses. Open Learning, 32(1), 56-65.

Bennion, E., & Laughlin, X. (2018). Best practices in civic education: Lessons from the Journal of Political Science Education. Journal of Political Science Education, 14(3), 287-330.

Fleck, B., Hussey, H., & Rutledge-Ellison, L. (2017). Linking class and community: an investigation of service learning. Teaching of Psychology, 44(3), 1-8.

Forestiere, C. (2015). Promoting civic agency through civic-engagement activities: A guide for instructors new to civic-engagement pedagogy. Journal of Political Science Education, 11, 455-471.

Galston, W. (2007). Civic knowledge, civic education, and civic engagement: a summary of recent research. International Journal of Public Administration, 30, 623-642.

Glazier, R. (2016). Building rapport to improve retention and success in online classes. Journal of Political Science Education, 12(4), 437-456.

Graham, B., & Hand, C. (2017). America, the owner's manual: You can fight city hall-and win (new edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: CQ Press.

Guthrie, K., & McCracken, H. (2010). Teaching and learning social justice through online service-learning courses. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 11(3), 78-94.

Hamann, K., Pollock, P., Smith, G., & Wilson, B. (2016). Online teaching and assessment. PS: Political Science and Politics, 49(1), 107-110.

Jackman, J. (2012). When virtuality and reality meet: Online courses, experiential learning, and political engagement. Paper presented at the 2012 American Political Science Association Conference on Teaching and Learning.

Schweiger, D. (2015, September). Using a balance scorecard approach to evaluate the value of service learning projects in online courses. Information Systems Education Journal, 15(5), 4-11.

Strait, J. (2008). Constructing experiential learning for online courses: Two models of service e-learning. In A. Dailey-Hebert, S. Donnelli, & L. DiPadova (Eds.), Service-eLearning: Educating for citizenship (pp. 45-58). Charlotte, NC: IAP.

Appendix A: Civics Project Worksheet

American National Government

POS 2041
CIVICS PROJECT WORKSHEET
Name: _________________________________________________________________

U-Number: _____________________________________________________________

(1) neighborhood/condo/homeowner's association (if applicable): contact information?

And when does the neighborhood/condo/homeowner's association hold regular meetings?

(2) I am registered to vote (Yes/No)

My Supervisor of Elections website is:

(3) My town/municipal government website:

The leadership of my town is (include Mayor, City Council names), if applicable:
Mayor:
City Council/City Commission:

Using the local government website, when/where does your town hold meetings (City Council/City Commission)? What is the process for public comment? What is the contact information for your municipal officials?

When are my municipal officials next up for election?

(4) My County Commission website:

Members of the County Commission:

Using the County Commission website, when/where does your County Commission hold meetings? What is the process for public comment?

In what Commission district do I reside? When are my Commissioners next up for election?

(5) My county School Board website:

Members of my School Board:

Using the School Board website, when/where does your School Board meet? What is the process for public comment?

In what School Board District do I reside? When do I next vote on School Board positions?

(6) My State Representative is

My State Representative's website is

My State Representative's contact information is (include Tallahassee and District Office)

My State Representative is holding a town meeting or office hours (day/time/location):

(7) My State Senator is

My State Senator's website is

My State Senator's contact information is (include Tallahassee and District Office)

My State Senator is holding town meetings or office hours (date/time/location):

When is my State Senator up for re-election?

(8) My Member of Congress is

My Member of Congress' website

My Member of Congress' contact information (include Washington, DC and District Office)

My Member of Congress is holding town meetings or office hours (Date/time/location):

(9) My U.S. Senators are

(1) Senator ________________________________ website is

And his/her contact information is (Washington, DC and nearest office)

(2) Senator _________________________________ website is

And his/her contact information is (Washington, DC and nearest office)

When are my US Senators up for re-election?

(10) The Governor is

The Governor's website is

The Governor's Contact information is

The Lieutenant Governor is

The Lieutenant Governor's website is

The Lieutenant Governor's contact information is

(11) For courtroom observations, in what Florida Judicial Circuit do you reside
http://www.flcourts.org/florida-courts/trial-courts-circuit.stml
My Judicial Circuit website is

When/where can I watch trial court proceedings?

In what Florida Judicial District Court of Appeal do you reside
http://www.flcourts.org/florida-courts/district-court-appeal.stml
My Judicial District Court of Appeal website is

When/where can I watch appellate court proceedings?

The Florida Supreme Court website is

This is how I can watch Florida Supreme Court Oral Arguments online:

The U.S. Supreme Court website is:

This is how I can listen to US Supreme Court Oral Arguments online:

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida website:
https://www.flmd.uscourts.gov/
When/where can I watch federal civil and federal criminal trials in Tampa?

(12) The contact information (office hours, address, phone, website) for the local Democratic Party is

Local Democratic Party (Democratic Executive Committee, DEC) Meetings are held (when/where):

Contact information for the Young Democrats and/or other Democratic Clubs in my county:

The contact information (office hours, address, phone, website) for the local Republican Party is

Local Republican Party (Republican Executive Committee, REC) Meetings are held (when/where)

Contact information for the Young Republicans and/or other Republican clubs in my county:

(13) Upcoming elections for my town/county/district/state:

(14) Candidates and campaign websites (for candidates you may be interested in meeting, attending a campaign event, volunteering for the campaign):

(In 2018 these may include candidates for US Senate, Governor, Members of Congress, Florida House of Representatives, Florida Senators, Florida Attorney General, Florida Chief Financial Officer, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, judicial races, County Commission, School Board)

(Note: You can learn more about how to reach the candidates when you visit the Democratic and Republican Party HQs. Also, your Supervisor of Elections website will have the listing of the candidates who will be on your ballot.)

(15) Is there a community agency for which you are interested in volunteering? For more about local community agencies, attend the USFSP Center for Civic Engagement's Civic Engagement Fair and/or consult the USFSP CCE's Community Partner and Service Learning Placement Directory.
(16) Issues that are of interest to me. Problems that I would like for my elected officials to address include the following: (17) Some Ideas for what I would like to do for my Civics Projects. (And days/times that I am available to participate in a Civics Project activity - my plans for how to fit this assignment in my schedule): Author
Dr. Judithanne Scourfield McLauchlan is an Associate Professor of Political Science and the Founding Director of the Center for Civic Engagement at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.

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Civic Engagement in the Online Classroom: Increasing Youth Political Engagement in an Online American Government Course

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By Judithanne Scourfield McLauchlan | This article discusses the development and implementation of a civics project in an online American government course and explores the challenges and opportunities around managing civic engagement projects in an online format. Data analyzed for this article included 11 semesters of responses to anonymous pre- and post-project surveys, university end-of-course [...]

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Dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic is an unprecedented challenge for our education system and our democracy. Members of the Teaching for Democracy Alliance are working to create and elevate resources...

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Rather then create new curriculum and resources as part of this initiative, our goal is to assist teams in better utilizing the resources and tools readily available to them. The links and resources listed here represent a small slice of what is available to teachers and schools interested in promoting civics and civic engagement in their classrooms.

Check back often, as the links and resources here will be updated regularly.

If you would like to suggest a resource to be included on this page, email Frank Pisi at fpisi@scoe.net.

Helpful Resources

Documents and Reports

Project Based Learning Components (319k PDF)
Resource from the Buck Institute for Education

K-12 Service-Learning Standards for Quality Practice (173k PDF)
National Youth Leadership Council

Youth Civic Development & Education (953k PDF)
Center on Adolescence, Stanford University
Center for Multicultural Education, University of Washington, Seattle

Revitalizing K-12 Civic Learning In California: A Blueprint For Action (2.2 MB PDF)
Report of the California Task Force on K-12 Civic Learning

Tools from the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE)

LACOE is currently implementing a large scale Civics initiative,
also funded by the Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation. These
tools we created through their project:

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Rather then create new curriculum and resources as part of this initiative, our goal is to assist teams in better utilizing the resources and tools readily available to them. The links and resources listed here represent a small slice of what is available to teachers and schools interested in promoting civics and civic engagement in their classrooms. Check back often, as the links and resources here will be updated regularly.

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Equity & Access
in Democratic Education

Housed at UCLA and UC Riverside, the Leveraging Equity and Access in Democratic Education (LEADE) initiative works to ensure students have access to high quality civic learning opportunities. LEADE partners with key stakeholders to identify civic learning priorities, develop tools to collect data on equity and access, contribute to public deliberation and strategic planning, support professional development efforts, and aid in district reform efforts that promote democratic education.

To learn more about how districts can take a systemic approach to integrating civic learning, you can read "Fulfilling the Democratic Aims of Education" in the September 2020 edition of the School Administrator magazine.

Also, watch these videos to learn why civic engagement is important and see two examples of how teachers in Oakland Unified School District are integrating civic learning into their classrooms:

Civic Engagement in the Digital Age

Encouraging Students to Take Action

LEADE is a partnership between

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Leveraging Equity and Access in Democratic Education (LEADE) - UCLA Center X

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Equity & Access in Democratic Education Housed at UCLA and UC Riverside, the Leveraging Equity and Access in Democratic Education (LEADE) initiative works to ensure students have access to high quality civic learning opportunities.

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The California Democracy School Project, funded by the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, is designed to institutionalize civic learning in high schools to prepare ALL students for college, career, and citizenship in the 21st century. The project strengthens existing initiatives including the Common Core State Standards, the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards, Partnership for 21st Century Learning, and the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools.

For more information, please contact Michelle M. Herczog, Ed.D., Coordinator III,
at (562) 922-6908 or atHerczog_Michelle@lacoe.edu

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The California Democracy School Project, funded by the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, is designed to institutionalize civic learning in high schools to prepare ALL students for college, career, and citizenship in the 21st century.

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The Power of Democracy Steering Committee is charged with overseeing the implementation of the Chief Justice's Civic Learning Initiative, including related recommendations of the Commission of the Impartial Courts.

The award program, co-sponsored by Chief Justice and California State Superintendent of Public Instruction, identifies models in public schools that engage youth in civics learning. The application period for the 2021 Civic Learning Award is now open.

Find a lesson plan for your class developed by California teachers to engage K-12 students in learning about the courts, and other related civics lessons. All lessons were field tested and meet California Content Standards.

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The Power of Democracy Steering Committee is charged with overseeing the implementation of the Chief Justice's Civic Learning Initiative, including related recommendations of the Commission of the Impartial Courts. The award program, co-sponsored by Chief Justice and California State Superintendent of Public Instruction, identifies models in public schools that engage youth in civics learning.

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Use these resources on voting, media literacy, polarization, and bias to talk about US elections with your high school and middle school students.

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Civic Learning Awards - civics_education

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After a political season shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, nationwide protests for racial justice, sharp partisian divisions, and questions about the integrity of the electoral process itself, there was a great deal to discuss after the 2020 election. Listen to a lively community conversation featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof, 300th Anniversary University Professor and former Harvard Law School dean Martha Minow, educator and Facing History alum Janae McMillan, and legal scholar and Harvard Law School professor Randall Kennedy to examine what's next for US democracy, the role of teachers and education, and the future of youth civic participation.
Resource List

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After the Election: What's Next for US Democracy?

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After a political season shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, nationwide protests for racial justice, sharp partisian divisions, and questions about the integrity of the electoral process itself, there was a great deal to discuss after the 2020 election.

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How teachers can help their students become informed, engaged, and active leaders in the world around them.

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Civics Outreach Program

The ACBA, in conjunction with the Alameda County Bench, is creating age-appropriate civics programs to present to 4th/5th, 8th, and 11th/12th grade students throughout Alameda County. Two person teams consisting of a judge and an ACBA member attorney will be formed to present 30 to 50 minute programs on a variety of topics, including how to become an attorney or judge, and voting in the United States.

Due to COVID-19 and current social distancing requirements, the programs initially will be presented using an online platform. When allowed, the programs will move into the classroom. Currently, school districts are being informed of the programs.

This program is a great opportunity for judges and attorneys to give back to the community by sharing their knowledge with students and, hopefully, inspire many of the students to learn more about the legal profession. We will cover topics such as:

How to become a judge/attorney

Intro to voting and the electoral college

The three branches of government + the Fourth Estate

Right to protest and civil disobedience

Mock Trials

100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment

Bill of Rights

To ensure that course content is consistent among the teams, a 45 minute information session regarding the various programs offered will be held on two dates. Anyone who wishes to participate in this program is asked to attend the virtual meeting.

If you have questions please contact ACBA Deputy Director Hadassah Hayashi at hadassah@acbanet.org or (510) 302-2200.

Information Session

Come to the info session on 10/16 to learn more. RSVP here

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Civics Outreach " Alameda County Bar Association

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The ACBA, in conjunction with the Alameda County Bench, is creating age-appropriate civics programs to present to 4th/5th, 8th, and 11th/12th grade students throughout Alameda County. Two person teams consisting of a judge and an ACBA member attorney will be formed to present 30 to 50 minute programs on a variety of topics, including how to become an attorney or judge, and voting in the United States.

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New!  Just Released State Seal of Civic Engagement Guidelines

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On September 10, 2020, the State Board of Education (SBE) adopted criteria and guidance to award a State Seal of Civic Engagement (SSCE) to California students who demonstrate excellence in civics education and participation, and an understanding of the United States Constitution, the California Constitution, and the democratic system of government. By adopting these criteria, California joined a small but growing number of states that formally recognize and promote student civic engagement with seals to affix to student transcripts, diplomas, or certificates of completion.

Additional resources will be posted to this web page as they become available. Follow us on Twitter for updates.

The California Department of Education (CDE) is curating resources to support local implementation of the SSCE on the California Educators Together SSCE Group . Create a free account to join and gain access to expanding collections of resources aimed at developing local SSCE programming and supporting civic learning and engagement for all students.

Overview and Participating Educational Agencies

In October 2017, then-Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 24 into law. The law required the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI), on or before January 1, 2020, to recommend to the SBE criteria for awarding a SSCE to pupils who have demonstrated excellence in civics education and participation and an understanding of the United States Constitution, the California Constitution, and the democratic system of government. The law also required the SSPI to consider, among other criteria, the successful completion of history, government, and civics courses, including courses that incorporate character education and voluntary participation in community service or extracurricular activities.

A hallmark of the SSCE is its accessibility to all students, regardless of their backgrounds, communities, and experiences. This includes taking into consideration how local educational agencies (LEAs) can support California's most underserved students in earning the seal in ways that may not always mirror traditional student paths to civic engagement and learning. As civic engagement may look different from community to community, the CDE encourages LEAs to work with local and statewide organizations to develop local criteria and to design and implement impactful civic engagement programs and pathways that reflect community interests, needs, and resources.

The CDE is deeply thankful to the following organizational partners that helped to develop the SSCE criteria. These organizations are also gathering resources to support local implementation efforts:

The CDE especially thanks the APT Work Group, which designed and contributed the image used for the SSCE insignia.

Participating Local Educational Agencies

Additional reports will be added to this list annually, as they become available.

2021-22 List of Participating LEAs (XLSX)
List includes participating districts and schools by county for the 2021-22 school year. Each tab on the Excel spreadsheet represents a different participating county.

2020-21 List of Participating LEAs (XLSX)
List includes participating districts and schools by county for the 2020-21 school year. Each tab on the Exel spreadsheet represents a different participating county.

State Seal of Civic Engagement Criteria

The five criteria presented below are meant to provide local educational agencies (LEAs) with a framework for making determinations of student qualifications required to earn the SSCE, based on their own local contexts. The criteria are written to ensure that no student is excluded from an opportunity to earn the SSCE based on academic ability, alternative school settings, or unique or unconventional expressions of civic engagement.

The student must:

1. Be engaged in academic work in a productive way;

2. Demonstrate a competent understanding of United States and California constitutions; functions and governance of local governments; tribal government structures and organizations; the role of the citizen in a constitutional democracy; and democratic principles, concepts, and processes;

3. Participate in one or more informed civic engagement project(s) that address real-world problems and require students to identify and inquire into civic needs or problems, consider varied responses, take action, and reflect on efforts;

4. Demonstrate civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions through self-reflection; and

5. Exhibit character traits that reflect civic-mindedness and a commitment to positively impact the classroom, school, community and/or society.

State Seal of Civic Engagement Criteria Development

To learn about the development of the criteria, please visit the SSCE Criteria Development web page.

Per the State Board of Education adoption of the criteria, the CDE is exploring ways to integrate civic engagement and the SSCE into the College and Career Indicator of the California School Dashboard. This work has been paused due to a large-scale re-architecture of the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System. Collection of any additional data, including data related to civic engagement, will be delayed until the 2022-23 school year.

State Seal of Civic Engagement Implementation Guidance

Pursuant to California Education Code sections 51470-51474 , the California Department of Education (CDE) is responsible for developing and publishing criteria for students to earn the SSCE, and also for overseeing the process for developing and disseminating the insignia to LEAs. In addition to ongoing updates to its web pages, the CDE will provide additional guidance to LEAs through technical assistance webinars. These will include an overview of the SSCE, implementation supports, and guidance for ordering the insignia. When ordering insignias, districts will self-certify that students earned the SSCE based on locally-created criteria.

The SSCE Implementation Guidance for each criterion offers ideas and considerations to structure local requirements to award the SSCE, using the criteria set forward by the CDE as a foundation. Each LEA should develop criteria considering its own local context to ensure maximum accessibility for all students, at all grade levels, including those in alternative school settings. Local governing boards are encouraged to approve or adopt their own policies regarding implementation of the SSCE criteria.

Implementation Resources

Procedures and Forms for Awarding the State Seal of Civic Engagement

Additional technical assistance and knowledge-building resources to support local educational agencies (LEAs) in ordering SSCE insignias will be posted under this tab as they become available.

2022-23 SSCE Insignia Request Form
LEAs seeking insignias for the 2022-23 school year should use this link to request insignias at least four weeks before they are required. LEAs that need to request additional insignias, or make corrections to 2022-23 insignia requests, should also use this link.

Overview of the SSCE (PPTX)
This presentation provides a general overview of the SSCE Program, including historical information and next steps for LEAs.

Local Programming (PPTX)
Suggestions for LEAs beginning to implement the SSCE locally.

Frequently Asked Questions
Responses to the most frequently asked questions about the SSCE.

External Websites Dedicated to State Seal of Civic Engagement Implementation

The websites listed below have been developed by organizations that are supporting LEAs implementing the SSCE.

Resources to Support General Student Civic Engagement

Guidance and resources for student civic engagement are available on the CDE Resources to Support Student Civic Engagement web page.

Statewide Civics Recognition Opportunities

Many LEAs that offer the SSCE also participate in other statewide civics recognition opportunities.

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Information and resources regarding the State Seal of Civic Engagement.

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The First Amendment protects both students and teachers in schools.
NCAC presents the following collection of materials on the topic of censorship in schools for the use of students, educators, and parents everywhere. This information is not intended as legal advice. If you face a censorship controversy, the resources below can offer guidance. If you need additional assistance, please NOTE: Guide for Student Protesters available here . We will keep your information confidential until given permission to do otherwise. Introduction: Free Speech, Public Education, and Democracy
Table of Contents

The First Amendment and Public Schools
A. The First Amendment
B. The Public Schools
1. School Publications: Student Newspapers and Yearbooks
2. Off-Campus Publications
3. Hair, Dress, and Appearance
4. Gang Symbols and Insignia
5. Off-Campus Speech

Censorship
A. Understanding Censorship
B. Distinguishing Censorship from Selection
C. Consequences of Censorship

How Big a Problem Is Censorship?
A. The Numbers
B. What Kind of Material Is Attacked?
C. What Does "Age Appropriate" Mean?
D. Who Gets Censored?

Roles and Responsibilities
A. School Officials, Boards and State Mandates
B. Principles Governing Selection and Retention of Materials in Schools
C. Complaint Procedures

Censorship Policies
National Education Association (NEA)
The National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association (NCTE/IRA)
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)
American Library Association (ALA)
National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP)
National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC)

Introduction: Free Speech, Public Education, and Democracy

Purpose of the Resource Guide: The First Amendment safeguards the rights of every American to speak and think freely. Those rights are central to the educational process and are equally important to educators and students.

For teachers and administrators: The First Amendment protects teachers when they exercise their judgment in accordance with professional standards, making it possible for them to create learning environments that effectively help young people acquire the knowledge and skills needed to become productive, self-sufficient, and contributing members of society.

For students: The First Amendment protects students' ability to think critically and learn how to investigate a wide range of ideas. Students have the right to express their beliefs, just like any other citizen. Protecting students' rights to read, inquire and express themselves is critical to educating informed, engaged citizens.

This guide describes in practical terms what the right to freedom of expression means for students, teachers and administrators in public schools.

Free Speech, Public Education, and Democracy: Our founders considered public schools to be one of the vital institutions of American democracy. But they also knew that education involves more than reading, writing, and arithmetic. Education in a democratic society requires developing citizens who can adapt to changing times, decide important social issues, and effectively judge the performance of public officials. In fulfilling their responsibilities, public schools must educate students on core American values such as fairness, equality, justice, respect for others, and the right to dissent.

Rapid social, political, and technological changes have escalated controversy over what and how schools should teach. References to sexuality, profane language, descriptions of violence and other potentially controversial material have raised questions for generations of parents and educators. Addressing those questions is even more complicated now, when most school communities are made up of individuals with differing backgrounds, cultural traditions, religions, and often languages. With students and parents bringing a range of expectations and needs to the classroom, educators are challenged to balance the educational needs of an entire student body while maintaining respect for the individual rights of each member of the school community.

The First Amendment can help resolve this tension. It defines certain critical rights and responsibilities of participants in the educational process. It both protects the freedom of speech, thought, and inquiry, and requires respect for the right of others to do the same. It requires schools to resort to " more speech not enforced silence " in seeking to resolve our differences.

The First Amendment and Public Schools
A. The First Amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.-First Amendment of the United States Constitution ratified December 15, 1791

The first provision of the Bill of Rights establishes the rights essential to a democratic society and most cherished by Americans: the right to speak and worship freely, the right to assemble and to petition the government, and the right to a free press. Although most countries purport to guarantee freedom of expression, few provide the level of protection for free speech that the First Amendment guarantees.
B. The Public Schools
The potential for tyranny by the state and abuse of government authority particularly worried framers of the Bill of Rights. Thus, the language of the First Amendment begins by prohibiting certain government conduct -i.e., "Congress shall make no law respecting...." Like most of the Constitution, these limitations control only what the government may do, and have no effect on private individuals or businesses. Although the Bill of Rights originally limited only the power of the federal government, the Fourteenth Amendment extended the limits imposed by most of the Bill of Rights to state and local governments as well. Since public schools and public libraries are part of state and local government, they must follow the First Amendment as well as many other provisions of the Constitution. However, as this manual will make clear, the First Amendment applies somewhat differently to schools than it does to many other public institutions.

Public schools are institutions which in some respects most embody the goals of the First Amendment: to create informed citizenry capable of self-governance. As many commentators have observed, a democracy relies on an informed and critical electorate to prosper. As Noah Webster observed in 1785: "It is scarcely possible to reduce an enlightened people to civil or ecclesiastical tyranny." And on the eve of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Benjamin Rush stated that "to conform the principles, morals, and manners of our citizens to our republican form of government, it is absolutely necessary that knowledge of every kind should be disseminated through every part of the United States." Not surprisingly, universal access to free public education has long been viewed as essential to democratic ideals.

America's public schools are the nurseries of democracy. Our representative democracy only works if we protect the "marketplace of ideas." This free exchange facilitates an informed public opinion, which, when transmitted to lawmakers, helps produce laws that reflect the People's will. Schools, however, can sometimes limit students' right to free speech and expression when necessary to achieve legitimate educational goals. As the Supreme Court put it in Mahanoy Area School District v. B. L. (2021):

Schools have many responsibilities: They must teach basic and advanced skills and information; they must do so for students of different backgrounds and abilities; they must teach students to work independently and in groups; and they must provide a safe environment that promotes learning.

Given these multiple responsibilities, school officials have wider discretion than other state actors in regulating certain types of speech. For example, they can forbid profane speech on campus (according to Bethel School District v. Fraser (1986 )) and can punish students for advocating illegal drug use (as in Morse v. Frederick (2007)). They can also censor student speech in school publications, such as school newspapers and yearbooks, see Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988). More importantly, schools can censor student speech which is likely to substantially disrupt school operations ( Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969)). Therefore, speech is not quite as free inside schools as it is outside.
1. School Publications: School Newspapers and Yearbooks
However, the limits on student speech are quite narrow, and in general, students and teachers do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." (Tinker v. Des Moines ) See below for examples of how the First Amendment applies to schools in specific ways .

The Supreme Court has ruled that student journalists have very limited rights when they write for school-sponsored publications such as school newspapers and yearbooks. The school can censor articles for many reasons, including because school officials think that the subject is inappropriate. Some courts have even said that schools can censor editorials because school officials disagree with the views expressed in them.
2. Off-campus Publications: "Underground' Newspapers, Websites, Etc.
However, several states have laws which give greater protection to student journalists. A list of those states and links to descriptions of their legislation can be found .

Concerns about censorship in "official" school papers may prompt students to publish material produced outside of school, or on websites maintained privately without use of school facilities. Some schools have attempted to censor these publications and suppress off-campus speech they find offensive, disturbing, or unflattering. However, courts have been willing to uphold school censorship of off-campus speech only in unusual circumstances in which the speech has a very high likelihood of substantially disrupting school (such as by publishing answers to tests) or harming particular persons (such as by harassing or threatening them).

Unlike student speech in school, student speech off campus cannot be punished just because it includes profanity, or advocates illegal drug use, or for any reason other than it is very likely to substantially disrupt school. In particular, schools have limited ability to punish or censor off-campus speech about politics or religion. If an independent student publication is distributed on campus, school officials have a bit more power to confiscate or ban it, but only if there is a risk that it will cause substantial disruption of the school.

Student rights can often be limited if students use school resources (such as school computers or the school's internet service) to create or distribute publications. Students can help avoid conflict with school officials by ensuring their unofficial publications are produced and maintained separately from any school course and without school materials or teacher assistance.

Also, it is important for students who use their school's technology to know their school's "Acceptable Use Policy" (AUP). An AUP, which is often found in district guidelines or in a student handbook, sets out the rules and regulations governing student use of school computer networks. Some sample acceptable use policies can be found , but your school's policy might be different in some ways.

Since the Tinker case in 1969, students, school administrators, and courts have struggled with the boundaries and limits of student dress and grooming requirements. Beginning in the early 1970s, the courts were inundated with cases that confronted the issue, and have found few clear answers. The circuit courts remain split over the control school administrators can exercise with respect to student dress and grooming. The issue often is complicated by gender and guidelines that reinforce rigid binaries. In one case, a school disciplined a boy for wearing an earring, although earrings are permitted under the dress code for girls. Other examples are hair length restrictions for boys but not girls, or dress requirements designed to enforce notions of modesty for girls but not boys. Some public schools have required uniforms, but this has hardly solved the problem, as strict dress codes of this sort are often challenged. In contrast, gender-neutral guidelines about appropriate dress rarely result in challenges.

Since gang members often identify themselves through clothes and insignia, principals have often turned to dress codes in an effort to discourage gang membership and activities. Courts have generally held that these codes are valid.

In recent years, there s been an increasing number of cases involving off-campus student speech which has effects on-campus. Often, that speech takes place on social media. Schools cannot punish students for profane speech that takes place off-campus (except during a field trip, which courts consider part of the school). Nor can they punish students for off-campus speech which advocates illegal drug use. However, schools can sometimes punish students for off-campus speech which has a strong chance of coming on campus and disrupting school, such as racist speech when the school has a history of racial conflict. And, schools can of course punish students for off-campus speech that harasses students or school employees, or which threatens violence against the school.

A. Understanding Censorship
Censorship

Censorship is the suppression of speech or other expression that the censor (a person or institution with the power to suppress speech) does not like.

Parents and community groups often try to remove school materials that discuss sexuality, religion, race, or ethnicity-whether directly or indirectly. For example, some people object to the teaching of Darwin's theory of evolution in science classes because it conflicts with their own religious views. Others think schools should not allow discussion about sexual orientation or gender identities, and other people call for eliminating The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the English curriculum because they think it is racist.

As these examples show, demands for censorship originate across the entire spectrum of religious, ideological, and political opinion.

When people ask schools to censor materials, schools must balance their First Amendment duties against other concerns, such as maintaining the integrity of the educational program, meeting state education requirements, respecting the judgments of professional staff, and addressing deeply held beliefs in students and members of the community. In dealing with challenges to materials, educators are on the strongest ground if they are mindful of two fundamental principles that the Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized: 1) schools have broad power to decide what and how to teach, as long as their decisions are based on sound educational principles and are aimed at improving student learning; and 2) the decisions that are most vulnerable to legal challenge are those that are motivated by hostility to an unpopular or controversial idea, or by the desire to force acceptance of a particular viewpoint.

Pursuant to these principles, when someone claims in a lawsuit that a school's actions violate the First Amendment, courts generally defer to the professional judgments of educators. That means that courts will often uphold a decision to remove a book or to discipline a teacher, if the decision serves legitimate educational objectives, including administrative efficiency. However, it is equally true that schools which demands for censorship are on equally strong or stronger grounds. As the Supreme Court stated in its 2021 decision, schools have a strong interest in protecting unpopular expression, in exposing students to a wide range of views, and in giving students the opportunity to discuss those views.
B. Distinguishing Censorship from Selection
Therefore, it is extremely unlikely that a school official who relied on these principles and refused to accede to pressures to censor something with educational value would ever be ordered by a court of law to do so.

Schools make decisions all the time about which books and materials to include in or exclude from the curriculum. Hence, they are not violating the First Amendment every time they cross a book off a reading list. However, they could be acting unconstitutionally if they decide to remove a book solely because of hostility to the ideas it contains.

For example, administrators and faculty might agree to take discussion of evolution out of the second grade curriculum because the students lack sufficient background to understand it, and decide to introduce it in the fourth grade instead. As long as they are not motivated by hostility to the idea of teaching about evolution, this would not ordinarily be problematic. The choice to include the material in the fourth grade curriculum tends to demonstrate this was a pedagogical judgment, not an act of censorship.

However, not every situation is that simple. For example, objections to material dealing with sexuality or sexual orientation commonly surface in elementary schools and middle schools when critics claim that such material is not "age appropriate" for those students. Often, it becomes clear that their concern is not that students will not understand the material, but that they simply do not want the students to have access to that type of information. If professional educators can show a legitimate pedagogical rationale for maintaining such material in the curriculum, it is unlikely that an effort to remove it will be successful.
C. Consequences of Censorship
Moreover, while individual parents have considerable control over their own child's education and can request their child be given a different book, they have no right to impose their preferences on other students and their families.

Censorship based on individual sensitivities and concerns restricts the world of knowledge available to students. Based on personal views, some parents wish to eliminate material depicting violence, others object to references to sexuality, others to speech about racial issues or images that offend them. Some parents oppose having their children exposed to fiction that doesn't have a happy ending, teach a moral lesson, or provide positive role models. If these and other individual preferences were legitimate criteria for censoring materials used in school, the curriculum would narrow to including only the least controversial and probably least relevant and interesting material. It would hardly address students' real concerns, satisfy their curiosity, or prepare them for life.

Censorship also harms teachers. By limiting resources and flexibility, censorship hampers a teacher's ability to explore all possible avenues to motivate and "reach" students. By curtailing ideas that can be discussed in class, censorship takes creativity and vitality out of the art of teaching. Instruction is reduced to bland, formulaic, pre-approved exercises carried out in an environment that discourages the give-and-take that can spark a student's enthusiasm for learning. To maintain spontaneity in the classroom setting, teachers need latitude to respond to unanticipated questions and discussion, and the freedom to draw on their professional judgment and expertise, without fear of consequences if someone objects, disagrees, or takes offense.

School censorship is particularly harmful because it prevents young people with inquiring minds from exploring the world, seeking truth and reason, stretching their intellectual capacities, and becoming critical thinkers. When the classroom environment is not open and inviting, honest exchange of views is replaced by guarded discourse, and teachers lose the ability to reach and guide their students effectively.

A. The Numbers
How Big a Problem Is Censorship?
B. What Kind of Material Is Attacked?
The American Library Association (ALA), which tracks and reports censorship incidents, reports that there are hundreds of challenges in schools and public libraries every year. ALA estimates that roughly four or five times as many go unreported.

ALA offers an instructive analysis of the motivation behind most censorship incidents:

The term censor often evokes the mental picture of an irrational, belligerent individual. Such a picture, however, is misleading. In most cases, the one to bring a complaint to the library is a concerned parent or a citizen sincerely interested in the future well-being of the community. Although complainants may not have a broad knowledge of literature or of the principles of freedom of expression, their motives in questioning a book or other library material are seldom unusual. Any number of reasons are given for recommending that certain material be removed from the library. Complainants may believe that the materials will corrupt children and adolescents, offend the sensitive or unwary reader, or undermine basic values and beliefs. Sometimes, because of these reasons, they may argue that the materials are of no interest or value to the community.

C. What Does "Age Appropriate" Mean?
While demands for censorship can come from almost anyone and involve any topic or form of expression, most incidents involve concerns about sexual content-specifically LGBTQ+ content-religion, profanity, or racial slurs. Many incidents involve only one complaint, but nonetheless trigger a review process that can become contentious. Parents who support free expression do not step forward to participate in public discussions as frequently as those seeking to remove materials, leaving school officials and teachers relatively isolated. It is then their task to assess the pedagogical value of the materials carefully. If they give in to viewpoint-based demands, they can undermine educational objectives, as well as encourage more challenges.

One of the most common demands for censorship involves the claim that certain school materials are not "age appropriate."

Educators generally use the term "age appropriate" when they mean the point at which children have sufficient life experience and cognitive skills to comprehend certain material. For example, educators may decide that detailed scientific information about human reproduction may not be age-appropriate for six-year-olds but would be understood by 12-year-olds who have been introduced to basic biology.

However, when censors complain that a book is not "appropriate," they often mean that students shouldn't be exposed to the material for reasons of personal ideology or belief. The objection usually occurs when the material concerns sexuality and often reflects a fear that exposure to it will undermine moral or religious values. Acceding to the pressure to censor in this situation can be tantamount to endorsing one moral or religious view over another.
D. Who Gets Censored?
Responding to questions about age appropriateness, the National Council of Teachers of English noted that "materials should be suited to maturity level of the students," and that it is important to "weigh the value of the material as a whole, particularly its relevance to educational objectives, against the likelihood of a negative impact on the students... That likelihood is lessened by the exposure the typical student has had to the controversial subject."

The books targeted by censors include both popular and classic titles, affecting choices made by almost every age group. The of most challenged books in 2020 includes:
E. The Chilling Effect
Some of these titles appear on the ALA's list of most challenged works year after year. For example, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian has made the list eight times since 2010; has been on the list every year since 2016, and has been the most challenged book each of the last three years. To Kill a Mockingbird , Of Mice and Men, and The Bluest Eye have appeared periodically on the list for two decades or more.

Censorship often leads directly to self-censorship. It occurs every day. Sometimes it's obvious even if no one uses the "c" word. Sometimes it is more insidious (and less justified)-for example, when a teacher decides not to use a particular story or book or a librarian doesn't order a particular magazine because of fears about possible complaints. It is impossible to quantify the damage that self-censorship does to education. But it is common enough to have its own name: "the chilling effect." This is the idea that restricting access to information based on particular viewpoints will discourage the use of potentially controversial (or even complicated) material in the future, that teachers, for example, will avoid teaching a book just because they don't want to risk the disruption a formal complaint would cause, even if they truly believe that book would be an excellent educational choice.

A. School Officials, Boards, and State Mandates
Roles and Responsibilities: Promoting First Amendment Values at School

The school board's role is to define an educational philosophy that serves the needs of all its students and reflects community goals. In this process, most districts see a role for parents and other community members. Educational advisory boards can also assist educators in discerning the needs and perspectives of the community. Open school board meetings can keep the public informed about the school district's educational philosophy and goals, encourage comments, questions and participation, and increase community support for the schools. Although public debate about the educational system provides opportunities for community input and can assist educators in developing materials to meet students' needs and concerns, actual curriculum development and selection are tasks uniquely suited to the skills and training of professional educators. Hence, school boards should defer to the judgment of review committees composed of educators when making decisions about curricular materials.
B. Principles Governing Selection and Retention of Materials in Schools
While curriculum development relies heavily on the professional expertise of trained educators, it is also controlled by state education law and policy. Educators' choices are influenced by factors such as competency standards, graduation requirements, standardized testing, and other educational decisions made at the state level.

School officials have the constitutional duty to ensure that curriculum development and selection decisions are made without attempting to advance any particular political or religious viewpoint. School districts otherwise have broad discretion when selecting classroom instructional materials.

In contrast, policies governing school libraries and classroom resource materials place a priority on including a wider range of materials. The ALA Library Bill of Rights (1948) recognizes the library's essential role in providing resources to serve the "interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community." With minor modifications, these principles also apply in the school setting.

The considerations specifically relevant to school libraries are identified by National School Board Association guidelines:

To provide materials that will enrich and support the school's curricula;

To provide materials that will stimulate knowledge, growth, literary appreciation, aesthetic values, ethical standards, and leisure-time reading;

To provide information to help students make intelligent judgments;

To provide information on opposing sides of controversial issues so that students may develop the practice of critical reading and thinking; and

To provide materials representative of the many religious, ethnic, and cultural groups that have contributed to the American heritage.

C. Complaint Procedures
The ALA believes that library materials "should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval."

All school districts should adopt formal policies and procedures for responding to complaints about materials. Formal policies clarify how the complaint process works; help faculty, staff, and administration fulfill their legal obligations; let parents and students know what criteria are used for removing materials and how they are applied; ensure that all voices are heard and considered; and protect the academic freedom of teachers.

When materials are challenged, schools with a well-articulated process for handling complaints are more likely to resist viewpoint-based censorship pressures than districts without one. Having a policy in place, and following it scrupulously, ensures that complainants will receive due process, and that challenged materials will be judged on their educational merits rather than personal opinions. It is important for teachers and administrators to be familiar with these policies and understand their importance. Armed with this knowledge, school officials are less likely to submit to pressure or react with unilateral decisions to remove books.

The most effective complaint procedures provide that:

Complaints must be made in writing.

Complainants should identify themselves both by name/address and by their interest in the material (i.e. as a parent, student, religious leader, etc.).

Complainants must have read/seen the entire work objected to.

The complaint must be specific about the reasons for the objection.

Complaints should request a specific remedy (i.e., an alternative assignment for a student, or removal/exclusion affecting the entire school community).

Complaints, standing alone, will not be considered grounds for disciplining teachers or librarians.

Complaints are adjudicated by a diverse committee of stakeholders, including teachers, administrators, parents, and students.

Challenged materials remain in the curriculum/library until the challenge is adjudicated and all appeals are completed.

A list of model policies is available here.

It is advisable for policies to contain a statement supporting intellectual and academic freedom, and an explanation of the importance of giving students access to a wide variety of material and information, some of which may be considered controversial. The policy should also specify that viewpoint-based concerns - disagreement with a specific idea or message, and personal objections to materials on religious, political, or social grounds - do not justify removal of a book or other material. Such concerns may, however, justify a parent's request that his or her child be assigned alternate material. These principles, if uniformly and consistently implemented, protect students' right to learn. They also make it possible for educators to exercise their professional judgment, and help insulate them and the school district from legal challenge and community pressure.

In order to prepare for challenges, educators should do all of the following:

School administrators and teachers should work together to develop an understanding about how they will respond if material is challenged, recognizing that it is impossible to predict what may be challenged.

Educators should have a rationale for the materials they use, especially when they think some of it is potentially controversial.

In approaching material that may be controversial, keep parents advised about what material students are using and why it has been selected.

Encourage parents with questions about curricular materials to address them to their child's teacher, and encourage teachers to be willing and available to discuss concerns with parents.

Schedule regular meetings for parents. In one innovative program in South Carolina, librarian Pat Scales invited parents to the library once a month, without students, to discuss contemporary young adult books that their children might be reading, to understand how the books helped their children grow intellectually and emotionally, and to encourage parents to use the discussion of books to spark conversation with their children. As a result, she never had a censorship problem, and she became a resource for parents seeking books to help their children address troublesome issues. (Pat Scales' book, Teaching Banned Books (ALA, 2001) describes this program in detail.)

Involve members of the community in any debate over challenged materials. Broadening the discussion usually reveals that only a small number of people object to the same book at the same time.

Support the value of intellectual and academic freedom. Conscientious teachers who are caught in a censorship dispute deserve support from their colleagues and the community. Otherwise, teachers will stick to the tried and true or the bland and unobjectionable.

For more advice on how teachers can safeguard their selection of instructional materials from successful challenges, see NCAC resources for teachers and administrators .

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Major Educational Organizations Take a Stand for the First Amendment
Censorship Policies

Many national and international organizations concerned with elementary and secondary education have established guidelines on censorship issues. While each organization addresses censorship a little differently, each is committed to free speech and recognizes the dangers and hardships imposed by censorship. The organizations couple their concern for free speech with a concern for balancing the rights of students, teachers, and parents. Many place heavy emphasis on the importance of establishing policies for selecting classroom materials and procedures for addressing complaints. The following summarizes the censorship and material selection policies adopted by leading educational organizations.

National Education Association (NEA)

The NEA is America's oldest and largest organization committed to advancing the cause of public education. Its 2.5 million members work at every level of education. Elected representatives from across the country are responsible for setting policy, which includes resolutions on selecting and developing education materials and teaching techniques. The resolutions embody NEA's belief that democratic values are best transmitted free from censorship and deplore "pre-publishing censorship, book burning crusades, and attempts to ban books from the ... curriculum." The NEA encourages its members to be involved in developing textbooks and materials and to seek the removal of laws and regulations that restrict selection of diverse materials.

The National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association (NCTE/IRA)

An 80,000-member organization devoted to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts, the NCTE offers support, advice, and resources to teachers and schools faced with challenges to teaching materials or methods. The NCTE has developed a Statement on Censorship and Professional Guidelines recognizing that English and language arts teachers face daily decisions about teaching materials and methods.

The IRA has 90,000 members worldwide, working in a variety of educational capacities. Its goal is to promote high levels of literacy by improving the quality of reading instruction and encouraging reading as a lifetime habit. The IRA supports "freedom of speech, thought, and inquiry as guaranteed by the First Amendment."

The NCTE and IRA have issued a joint statement on intellectual freedom:

all students in public school classrooms have the right to materials and educational experiences that promote open inquiry, critical thinking, diversity in thought and expression, and respect for others.

Their mutual policy sets out four principles aimed at translating the ideals of the First Amendment into classroom reality: (1) to actively support intellectual freedom; (2) to foster democratic values, critical thinking, and open inquiry; (3) to prepare for challenges with clearly defined procedures; and (4) to ensure educational communities are free to select and review classroom curricula to meet student needs.

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)

The ASCD is an international organization of professional educators committed to excellence in education. Its mission is to "forge covenants in teaching and learning for the success of all learners." The ASCD recognizes the importance of balancing the rights and needs of students, teachers, and parents with freedom of expression:

When challenges arise, school officials should bear in mind that education is governed by the public . . . [Educators] should recognize the value of citizen participation and respect the right of parents to shape their children's schooling. At the same time, educators should insist that, as in other fields, professional judgment must not be completely subservient to the popular will. Educators' primary allegiance must be to the integrity of knowledge and the welfare of students.

The ASCD stresses the importance of establishing complaint procedures and affirms that materials are never to be restricted for the purpose of suppressing ideas.

American Library Association (ALA)

The ALA, "the voice of America's libraries," is dedicated to providing leadership for the "development, promotion and improvement of library and information services...in order to enhance learning and access to information for all." The ALA has a widely emulated Bill of Rights affirming all libraries as forums for information and ideas. The ALA's policies stipulate that libraries should provide materials from all points of view; challenge censorship; cooperate with free speech groups; grant access to all regardless of origin, age, background, or views; and provide exhibit space on an equitable basis. Drawing on the United Nation's Declaration of Human Rights, the ALA emphasizes the importance of free speech: "We know that censorship, ignorance, and limitations on the free flow of information are the tools of tyranny and oppression. We believe that ideas and information topple the walls of hate and fear and build bridges of cooperation and understanding far more effectively than weapons and armies."

National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP)

Dedicated to supporting elementary and middle-level principals and other education leaders in their commitment for all children, NAESP sets policy on curriculum and instruction. In its statement on censorship and academic freedom, "NAESP affirms the right of the student and teacher to use a wide variety of curriculum and literary materials and to explore divergent points of view." NAESP also emphasizes the importance of establishing procedures to address selection of materials and challenges to selections. These procedures are to be carried out "professionally and equitably," according to established professional criteria and the values and needs of the community.

National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC)

Founded in 1974, NCAC is an alliance of over 50 national non-profit organizations-including literary, artistic, religious, educational, professional, labor, and civil liberties group-united in their support of freedom of thought, inquiry, and expression. NCAC works with teachers, educators, writers, artists, and others around the country dealing with censorship debates in their own communities; it educates its members and the public at large about the dangers of censorship and how to oppose them; and it advances policies that promote and protect freedom of expression and democratic values. For specific advice on strengthening your book selection procedures and resisting censorship, submit a Censorship Report to NCAC at ncac.org/report-censorship.

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The First Amendment protects both students and teachers in schools. NCAC presents the following collection of materials on the topic of censorship in schools for the use of students, educators, and parents everywhere. This information is not intended as legal advice. If you face

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Resources, Inspiration And Expert Advice For Making A Difference On And Off Campus
Student activism has surged in the last decade, with young campaigners calling on leaders both on and off campus to right wrongs, erase inequalities and secure the future of our planet. But this is nothing new: Student activists led the charge during the Civil Rights Movement and were early adopters of environmentalism. While peaceful protests and petitions are still important parts of their toolbox, today's student activists are expanding by bringing activism to the web and social media. The following guide explains what it means to be a student activist and where to find support for certain causes. It also provides tools and guidance on how to create goal-oriented, effective rallies for change.
How to Become a Student Activist

While you may already have causes you're passionate about, gathering supporters and developing a thoughtful plan to enact change are just as important as the initial idea. The timeline below can help budding activists develop a measured approach to achieving their goals.

Take Action: Common Methods of Student Activism

Iconic scenes of protestors taking over a square or marching down a busy road pop into most people's minds when they think of activists, but there are several other methods of taking action to make a change.

Campus Activism by Cause: Examples & Resources

Student activists are on the forefront of championing many issues. Whether opting to tackle sexual health and safety, gender discrimination, religious freedom, or another issue, they can draw inspiration and clarify their purpose by using the resources outlined in this section.

Diversity & Racism

Although the Civil Rights Movement began more than half a century ago, racism and lack of diversity continue to be issues both on college campuses and across the country. In the context of higher education, poor race relations can fester, eventually manifesting in learning distractions or threats to student safety. Although these issues have greatly improved in recent decades, there is still much work to be done.

Resources

Black Lives Matter - Created in 2012, BLM has hundreds of chapters throughout the U.S., including on college campuses.

Dismantling Racism Works - dRworks is a group of organizers and trainers who help activists reverse racial inequities.

History of Diversity, The - This timeline of racial equality at Sarah Lawrence College is an example of something student activists can ask their college to create. It highlights strides as well as work still to be done.

Race, Equity & Diversity - The University of Washington Tacoma provides this resource page and stance on supporting diversity on campus - an excellent example of something student activists can push for on their campus.

Rada Films Group - The mission of Rada is to celebrate diversity by telling compelling stories about multiculturalism.

Real-life examples

Reclaim Harvard Law School. - Reclaim Harvard Law is an ongoing call for racial equality in education. The group has used demonstrations, social media campaigns and speaker series to raise awareness.

Woolworth's Sit-in - In 1960, college students in Greensboro, North Carolina, staged the first lunch counter sit-ins at a Woolworth's to protest the restaurant's "whites only" policy. By doing so, they spurred the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a major player within the Civil Rights Movement.

Environmentalism & Sustainability

The concept of "going green" - or enacting environmentally friendly and sustainable policies - has been discussed on hundreds of college campuses in recent years. Whether pushing for more recycling receptacles, encouraging faculty to shift from paper essays to online ones, or installing water stations for refillable bottles, there are many ways to promote the preservation of natural resources in higher education settings.

Resources

350.org - Don't know how to facilitate a training, structure a workshop or start a petition campaign? 350.org has a database of activities activists can use, plus primers on fossil fuel divestment, offshore drilling and other environmental flashpoints.

EcoLeaders - The National Wildlife Federation has developed step-by-step student guides to designing environmental projects on campus. Just as importantly, its web portal encourages students to connect and implement projects on their own campus.

Environmentalism at the Crossroads: Green Activism in America - This piece by the Foundation for Economic Education discusses how to move the conversation on sustainability forward.

UIC Office of Sustainability - Lots of campuses now have sustainability departments that student activists can partner with to affect change. The University of Illinois' efforts are particularly expansive. Look to the Campus Resources section for ideas that can be implemented on campus, or connect with the Office of Sustainability at your school.

Real-life examples

Brown University Environmental Justice Track - In 2014, Brown University students began gathering signatures for the Environmental Studies and Sciences Department to add an academic track exploring how different groups of people are unequally affected by environmental changes and policies. The university responded by creating the environmental justice track.

Fossil Free Stanford - In 2013, Stanford University activists created this group to protest the university's investments in 200 fossil-fuel extraction businesses. It used demonstrations, petitions and pledges to make its point. One year later, the institution divested from all coal companies.

LGBTQ & Gender Equality

The first widespread LGBTQ activism efforts began in the late 1960s and stemmed from wider issues surrounding second-wave feminism and the Civil Rights Movement. Student activists were on the frontlines of this movement, and many campuses' LGBTQ groups started during that time. Some of the issues directly affecting students include equal access to housing and transgender bathrooms.

Resources

Campus Pride - Campus Pride offers an array of resources and helpful information for students who want to address inequalities on their campus.

Gay-Straight Alliance - GSA represents a network of student-run clubs that provide safe places for discussions and push back against homophobia and transphobia.

LGBTQ Student Groups at University of Michigan - The University of Michigan lists the LGBTQ student groups that fight against campus-based discrimination. It's a good starting point to see what national organizations are out there looking for local chapters.

Out for Work - This nonprofit works with LGBTQ students and their allies as they prepare to join the workforce.

Top 10 Factors LGBTQ Youth Look for in Choosing a College Campus - In addition to helping prospective students find a welcoming campus, this article also helps student activists identify areas where their campus may need work.

Real-life examples

Anti-HB2 protests - In 2016, North Carolina passed a law mandating that people must use the bathroom of the biological sex they were born with, regardless of the gender they identify with. The University of North Carolina system announced it would adhere to the state law in April, resulting in waves of protests at appearances by the university president as well as sit-ins at campus bathrooms and administration buildings. By May, the university said it would not enforce the law.

University of Georgia lawsuit - In 1972, a group of LBGTQ students sued the University of Georgia after it refused to let gay and lesbian students fully participate in social functions. The courts ruled in their favor, and later that year the plaintiffs held a dance for LGBTQ students on campus.

Politics & Government

Decisions made within the political arena by government officials have long been scrutinized by student activists, with examples ranging from local government intervention in education to national issues like the Vietnam War. Many student-led political groups originated from other student clubs focused on conservative and liberal platforms.

Resources

Activism & Politics - Organized through the Swarthmore College's Peace & Conflict Studies program, this is an excellent resource for student activists passionate about political issues.

Democracy Matters - Democracy Matters works with college students on initiatives that ensure democracy for generations to come.

Mobilize - This nonpartisan organization encourages students to participate in politics and civic engagement to change political systems.

The Project on Student Debt - Student activists looking for research and talking points on the student debt crisis can find ample resources via this project from the Institute for College Access & Success.

Real-life examples

Pay It Forward Tuition Plan - In 2012, students at Portland State University called for legislators to create a plan for students to graduate from public institutions without massive debt. In response, the Oregon legislature passed a bill allowing students to finish their degrees without paying in exchange for a 24-year payment plan tied to their income. Other states are now considering this option.

Student Strike of 1970 - As part of the largest student strike in American history, more than four million students protested the military's invasion of Cambodia and the killing of student protestors at Kent State University. Students at more than 450 secondary and postsecondary campuses held protests over two months.

Sexual Health & Safety

Student activists run the gamut on issues surrounding sexual health, with some working to expand abstinence programs in high school and others seeking to increase access to birth control. Sexual harassment is an area where most people come together to lessen the number of incidents by providing greater campus security and educating men and women about anti-harassment policies.

Resources

Amplify Your Voice - Amplify focuses on empowering students to advocate for positive and realistic approaches to sexual health. Its toolkits for youth activists and condom campaigns are particularly useful.

National Partnership for Women and Families - NPWF champions sexual health and safety and helps student groups push for comprehensive sex education in their schools.

No More - With a focus on ending domestic violence and sexual assault, No More provides a range of campus resources for student activists, including a free toolkit with branded advocacy materials.

Our Bodies, Ourselves - This nonprofit offers evidence-based research on reproductive health and sexuality for girls and women.

SAFER - This organization works with student-led groups who are fighting against interpersonal and sexual violence on college campuses.

Real-life examples

Boston College's Students for Sexual Health - Students at BC gained national coverage when, after petitioning the school for a sexual health referendum to provide greater access to birth control and sex education, the school threatened to discipline the students.

Carry that Weight - After Columbia University found a male student not responsible for the sexual assault of a female student, she began carrying a mattress around campus to protest the school's handling of the case and draw attention to the emotional burden survivors of rape bear.

Social Justice Movements

A wide ranging concept, social justice is concerned with any mistreatment of an individual by society. In the case of student activism, this may relate to student mistreatment by the school administration. Issues span from racism and sexism to access to healthcare or education, and students often join with larger activism groups to amplify their collective voice.

Resources

5 Approaches to Social Justice Activism - EdChange offers five ideas on how to create meaningful social justice campaigns.

5 TED Activists that Are Fighting for Social Justice - Students looking to be inspired by the work of other social justice activists can tune into these five motivating TED Talks.

9 Ways to Make Social Justice Movements Less Elitist and More Accessible - This is a great read for student activists looking to appeal to the masses.

Social Justice Activism Is Forming a More Just (and Enduring) Union - The National Education Association wrote this op-ed on the importance of working for social justice.

Responsible Endowments Foundation - Focused on getting universities to use their money ethically, REF has basic guides on what endowments are and how to lead a divestment campaign, as well as tools to push administrators toward alternative investments.

Real-life examples

Rethink - Rethink is youth activist organization formed in 2007 to raise awareness via multimedia about issues important to young people, such as bullying. One of its biggest projects is Rethink Violence, a call for restorative justice for young people.

Seattle Pacific University activists push for social equality - After forming the SPU Justice Coalition in 2015, student activists created a website, engaged social media and protested on campus to address what they perceived to be racist and sexist hiring policies.

Tips for Safe & Effective Student Activism

As they saying goes, "Learn to walk before you run." The same holds true for student activism. Students can fall into some common pitfalls if they rush to deploy their plans. Use these tips and tricks to increase your chances of success:

Before taking up the fight for any cause, it's important for students to understand their rights. While all Americans are entitled to free speech under the First Amendment, some colleges dictate where free speech - be it handing out leaflets, gathering signatures for a petition or picketing - can be done on campus. Some schools may even threaten students with suspension or expulsion for engaging in certain types of activism. Students must know their rights. The American Civil Liberties Union provides a comprehensive guide on First Amendment rights and what students should do if they feel their rights have been violated.

Ideas & Inspiration: Small Acts of Activism

Although securing a change to the law or getting the President to create a new anti-discriminatory task force may make the news, smaller acts of civic engagement can make an incremental difference in your school community and the world. Here are some examples of what students of all ages are doing:

For Educators & Parents: Benefits of Student Activism

Student activists have been at the heart of social progress for decades, serving as instrumental participants in movements against sexism and racism and for more civil rights and freedoms. College campuses often serve as incubators of these movements, providing a setting where students discover their passions and develop skills to combat prejudice and inequality. While parents and educators may worry about these activities, there are several benefits of student activism for students, schools, communities and the nation.

Advice from the Expert: Activism on Campus and Online

Eddie Thompson is no stranger to activism. His parents started attending rallies when Eddie was young, and he's worked on numerous grassroots initiatives in Florida. He has mobilized voters to elect like-minded candidates while also promoting specific public policy changes. He plans on raising his children to be vocal and passionate activists.

Additional Resources for Student Activists

Campus Activism - Students looking to address issues and fight for change can find a one-stop-shop for tools and resources at Campus Activism.

Do Something -This resource allows users to explore recent campaigns to find ideas and inspiration - and even join.

Student Nation - The Nation magazine features a section highlighting activism efforts on college campuses throughout America.

Youth Activist's Toolkit - Advocates for Youth publishes a holistic manual covering how activism works and how to get the best results.

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Student Activism In School Getting Your Voice Heard | Accredited Schools Online

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Resources, Inspiration And Expert Advice For Making A Difference On And Off Campus Student activism has surged in the last decade, with young campaigners calling on leaders both on and off campus to right wrongs, erase inequalities and secure the future of our planet.

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by Cleary Vaughan-Lee

What are some qualities of citizenship essential for sustaining democracy in troubled times? I can't think of a better question to ask at this moment in history. It challenges us to consider how we define "citizen," how we actively value and build community, and how we relate to "place."

This is also a question at the core of Parker Palmer's work. Palmer is an author, activist and educator, admired by teachers for his challenge to embrace one's own deepest questions. He has written numerous books, including The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life and Healing the Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit.

What I appreciate about Palmer's work is that he focuses on what unites us rather than what divides us. His article "The Five Habits to Heal the Heart of Democracy" describes attitudes and actions we can develop individually and in our communities to strengthen shared responsibilities and empower us as citizens. The article and accompanying lesson plan , originally published on the Global Oneness Project , are also available on Share My Lesson.

Palmer encourages people, young and old, with what he calls the "five habits of the heart." These themes get straight to the core of what he believes can rebuild democracy. They include an understanding that we are all in this together, an appreciation of the value of "otherness," an ability to hold tension in life-giving ways, a sense of personal voice and agency, and a capacity to create community.

He also encourages us to reclaim the power of public spaces as an arena for discovering democratic ideals. Palmer asserts that "We the People" called American democracy into being more than 200 years ago, and today we need that same sense of unity to repair a "threatened" democracy. He quotes Bill Moyers who identifies "money, faction and fear" as culprits, and suggests that the answer to these eroding powers could be found in a place close to us all: the human heart.

American author and activist Terry Tempest Williams (whom Palmer quotes in his own work) concisely articulates this same message. She writes, "The human heart is the first home of democracy. It is where we embrace our questions. Can we be equitable? Can we be generous? Can we listen with our whole beings, not just our minds, and offer our attention rather than our opinions?" These questions raise powerful points- responsible communication and listening skills are the building blocks of citizenship.

Educators know that these activities are also the building blocks of effective learning, which is why the classroom is such an important place for exploring and enacting the many facets of democracy. Why is it so important to create meaningful, positive discussions both inside and outside of the classroom to help students navigate our currently uncharted American political landscape? I've explored this question with a few educators over the last few months and was inspired by their thoughtful responses, their innovative curriculum ideas, their dedication to understanding history and how it affects the future, and their motivation to inspire students.

Kate Harris, a former history teacher and education coach for the Smithsonian Learning Lab , says she loves the above quote by Tempest Williams. She describes that "it's imperative that we engage with one another in real conversations, that we seek to understand what others fear and love, what drives their actions, and what helps them grow." Harris wrote a "Reader Idea" on this subject for The Learning Network at The New York Times -"Thinking Critically About How We Engage With News Events Online and in Social Media."

Harris' lesson embeds ways to support students with thoughtful inquiry. Mike Dunn, a college and career counselor at AIM Academy in Pennsylvania, agrees with this line of thinking."We as educators must encourage our students to address their hearts and listen-to reflect on their core values and solidify a set of beliefs that is equitable to an all-inclusive view for everyone."

Dunn links these sentiments to John Dewey, a 20th-century American philosopher and education reformer, who stated in 1916 that student choice and reflection are key to a well-educated, thoughtful society. With continued learning, dialogue and public exchange through their school experience, students will grow into adults ready to meet the demands of participating in a democratic society, Dunn says. "This must be our primary responsibility as educators and must be at the fore of our vision for our students."

Harris responds to this need by encouraging and supporting genuine dialogue with students, and she suggests that teachers start in their own classrooms with clear and open conversations. "Students need to see that their own classrooms and schools are places where we can work as a team for improvement, where diversity is acknowledged and appreciated, and where points of tension are explored, not ignored." These lessons from Share My Lesson and The Learning Network at The New York Times do just that.

But, it's not always easy. "This is sometimes a tough road to walk," says high school social studies teacher Tim Smyth from Pennsylvania. Some topics are tough to broach with students and when comments are taken out of context, he occasionally gets calls from parents. "The teacher has to create a comfortable space where students feel respected and opinions are free to be shared," Smyth says. He uses comic strips as a learning tool to teach about our changing democratic society and how it is reflected in this form of literature. Students can develop critical thinking and writing skills while making personal connections through a new medium. "I firmly believe that we can't move forward until we expose issues to the light and examine them," he says. Addressing complex gender, social, cultural and political issues in the classroom is a must if we want students to explore their curiosities, make thoughtful choices, and learn to give and receive feedback.

On the first day of school this year, instead of handing out textbooks and rule sheets, Smyth screened " We Are America , " in which professional wrestler John Cena redefines patriotism. Before viewing the video, Smyth discussed with his students the meaning of patriotism and what we, as Americans, have in common. He then asks students to close their eyes and picture the average American, including physical details and items. Smyth explains that after watching the video, all the students had emotional responses that came directly from the heart.

What does it mean to live in a democratic society? Harris offers one answer, "Living in a democratic society means having a healthy respect for each person's voice; it means approaching difference with a sense of openness and appreciation; and it means recognizing that despite the emphasis on individuality and the variety of perspectives available to us, we are all interconnected."

At this time in history, students need opportunities to develop and practice positive and life-affirming behaviors. The classroom is a place that can support deep reflection and encourage students to explore life beyond their comfort zone. It is a perfect place to reconsider and practice the democratic ideals that are becoming increasingly obscured in the public arena.

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Teaching What Unites Us: The Values of Democracy

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What are some qualities of citizenship essential for sustaining democracy in troubled times? I can't think of a better question to ask at this moment in history. It challenges us to consider how we define "citizen," how we actively value and build community, and how we relate to "place."

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In this lesson, students develop an awareness of the Constitution by exploring what it is and why it is important. Students examine their classroom rules poster as an introduction to the concept of rules and learn that the Constitution is the law of the United States. Check out the Center for Civic Education at www.civiced.org for many more free resources for teachers, including additional Constitution Day lesson plans for students in grades K-12.

Want more resources like this Constitution lesson?

Check out the Share My Lesson's Constitution Day Activities Collection.

This resource is a part of the following collections:

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In this lesson, students develop an awareness of the Constitution by exploring what it is and why it is important. Students examine their classroom rules poster as an introduction to the concept of rules and learn that the Constitution is the law of the United States.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In this lesson, students develop an awareness of the Constitution by exploring what it is and why it is important. Students examine their classroom rules poster as an introduction to the concept of rules and learn that the Constitution is the law of the United States. Check out the Center for Civic Education at www.civiced.org for many more free resources for teachers, including additional Constitution Day lesson plans for students in grades K-12.

Want more resources like this Constitution lesson?

Check out the Share My Lesson's Constitution Day Activities Collection.

This resource is a part of the following collections:

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In this lesson, students develop an awareness of the Constitution by exploring what it is and why it is important. Students examine their classroom rules poster as an introduction to the concept of rules and learn that the Constitution is the law of the United States.

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This engaging Constitution Day lesson on fundamental principles presents a series of quandaries that represent many great ideas and principles that have shaped our constitutional heritage. In each exercise, students apply principles and ideas to a contemporary issue and then take a position and defend their judgments. Visit the Center for Civic Education at www.civiced.org for many more free resources for teachers of grades K-12, including additional Constitution Day lesson plans.

Enjoy this lesson on fundamental principles?

Check out the Share My Lesson collection, Constitution Day Activities.

This resource is a part of the following collections:

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What Does Returning to Fundamental Principles Mean?

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This engaging Constitution Day lesson on fundamental principles presents a series of quandaries that represent many great ideas and principles that have shaped our constitutional heritage. In each exercise, students apply principles and ideas to a contemporary issue and then take a position and defend their judgments.

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This Constitution Day activity and lesson introduces the study of authority. Students learn two very important concepts: authority and limited government. Students also learn the importance of examining and choosing people for positions of leadership. Visit the Center for Civic Education at www.civiced.org for many more free resources for teachers of grades K-12, including additional Constitution Day lesson plans.

Want more resources like this Constitution Day activity?

Check out the Share My Lesson collection, Constitution Day Activities.

This resource is a part of the following collections:

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What Is Authority? - Constitution Day Activity

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This Constitution Day activity and lesson introduces the study of authority. Students learn two very important concepts: authority and limited government. Students also learn the importance of examining and choosing people for positions of leadership. Visit the Center for Civic Education at www.civiced.org for many more free resources for teachers of grades K-12, including additional Constitution Day lesson plans.

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Watch how California high school students benefit from engaging civic learning programs that equip, empower, and encourage them to grow into active citizens. The Power of Democracy Steering Committee is working to support robust civic learning experiences for all California students.

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Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education

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Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education

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Civic Education Chapter in the Appendices

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History-Social Science Framework - History-Social Science Framework (CA Dept of Education)

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The State Board of Education adopted the History-Social Science Framework on July 14, 2016. This is the final digital version of the Framework.

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Lesson Plans and Resources - civics_education

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Policy & Administration> Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye> Civic Learning Initiative>Lesson Plans and Resources

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Teachinghistory.org is designed to help K-12 history teachers access resources and materials to improve U.S. history education in the classroom. With funding from the U.S. Department of Education, the Center for History and New Media (CHNM) has created Teachinghistory.org with the goal of making history content, teaching strategies, resources, and research accessible.

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A Vision for 21st Century Citizenship The ways in which Americans, as citizens, engage in their communities, their country and the world are changing and

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The Mikva model assumes that young people deserve a voice in our democratic process, and it challenges educators and public officials to invite, and meaningfully include, youth in civic decision-making.

Mikva's three main program areas, Youth Policy Making, Electoral Engagement and Community Problem Solving involve young people in civic engagement through hands-on, project-based learning that deeply transforms students' civic attitudes, skills, and sense of agency. We've grown over the years to now impact over 10,000 youth in Chicago and its suburbs, LA, Washington D.C.
All our programs are grounded in the principles of Actions Civics and we adhere to these four core goals in all our work:

Provide youth with authentic and transformative democratic experiences

Develop agency and future commitment to civic action

Provide youth with skills and knowledge to be effective citizens

Increase exposure, demand, and access to action civics

See the Action Civics Theory of Change

The Mikva Challenge seeks to move beyond 'your grandmothers' civics' to what it calls 'action civics' by placing high school students in Chicago polling places, having them volunteer in political campaigns, letting them host candidate forums, and advocating on student issues with local politicians.
- Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education

What is Action Civics?

"Action Civics" is an educational model that builds on the project-based, democratic learning philosophies established by John Dewey and Jane Addams. We believe that the best training of young people for their roles as citizens and leaders is to actually allow them a chance to participate in authentic democratic activities - from elections to advocacy, from public debates to the creation of new civic media.

Why Action Civics?

Youth who miss out on civic learning opportunities are more likely to be students of color and low-income. The consequence of unequal civic learning experiences is not only that disadvantaged students lack civic skills, but they also suffer academically.

Only a quarter of young people reach "proficient" on the NAEP Civics Assessment, and white, wealthy students are four to six times as likely as hispanic or black students from low-income households to exceed that level. Additionally, current policies do not have a significant effect and are not sufficient.

Just over half of Chicago public high school students graduate from high school, and less than 10 percent of students who enter a Chicago public high school will receive a bachelor's degree by the age of 25.

Read more about the challenges our civic education is faced with today.
Discover the Impacts of Action Civics

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The Mikva model assumes that young people deserve a voice in our democratic process, and it challenges educators and public officials to invite, and meaningfully include, youth in civic decision-making. Mikva's three main program areas, Youth Policy Making, Electoral Engagement and Community Problem Solving involve young people in civic engagement through hands-on, project-based learning that deeply transforms students' civic attitudes, skills, and sense of agency.

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2 How To Use Optimism To Defeat Adversity

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1 How Poverty Affects Classroom Engagement

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Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education

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Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education

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Teams participating in the Action Civics Initiative have access to free professional development opportunities throughout the term of the grant. These opportunities are available to teams and individuals not currently participating in the initiative, on a cost recovery basis. Professional development opportunities are listed on the calendar below.

If you are not part of the initiative, but wish to participate in one of these sessions, please contact Frank Pisi at fpisi@scoe.net to discuss options available.

Action Civics Site Team Professional Development Sessions

November 15, 2014

December 13, 2014

February 28, 2015

Pre-work: Please complete the following PRIOR to the PD session:

One article: Please read the article 8 Essentials for Project Based Learning (352k PDF)

Two Videos: Please select one video from the PROJECT BASED LEARNING category and one video from the COMMUNITY SERVICE category:

PROJECT BASED LEARNING:

COMMUNITY SERVICE:

Three Reflection Questions:

What do you KNOW about the differences between Community Service, Simulations, Project Based Learning, and Service Learning?

What three things would you WANT TO KNOW about Community Service, Simulations, Project Based Learning, and Service Learning?

When engaging in projects with students, are you more prescriptive (by the book) or allowing of student choice in topic, direction, and outcome?

Zip file of materials used during session

April 18, 2015

Action Civics
Summer Institute
July 20-24, 2015

Monday, July 20 (36.1 MB Zip file)

ACSI Day ONE

Action Civics Process Guide

Babies in the River Service v Advocacy

Digital Issues to Action

Summer Institute Speakers with Contact Info

YELL Curriculum

YELL Presentation - Public

YELL Youth Leadership Model 2007

Tuesday, July 21 (15.1 MB Zip file)

ACSI Day TWO

California State Government Org Chart

The Government of the United States

UC Davis CCEP Policy Brief

Wednesday, July 22 (19.5 MB Zip file)

ACSI Day THREE

About California Courts

California Judicial Branch

Courts System

New Three Strikes Law

Sacramento County District Attorney's Office Org Chart

Thursday, July 23 (33 MB Zip file)

ACSI Day FOUR

City of Sacramento Org Chart

City-wide Volunteer Program General Short Slide Show

Sacramento County Org Chart

Youth Volunteer Directory 2014

Friday, July 24 (46.6 MB Zip file)

ACSI Day FIVE

Sacramento Region Foundation NGOs

What Are the Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards?

October 3, 2015

November 14, 2015
8:45 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Natomas High School Library
3301 Fong Ranch Rd.
Sacramento, CA 95834

January 23, 2016

March 12, 2016
McGeorge School of Law

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Action Civics - Professional Development

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Teams participating in the Action Civics Initiative have access to free professional development opportunities throughout the term of the grant. These opportunities are available to teams and individuals not currently participating in the initiative, on a cost recovery basis. Professional development opportunities are listed on the calendar below.

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History Day has been the vehicle that creates an understanding and appreciation of history while developing the necessary 21st-century tools, skills and aptitudes for my diverse student population.

‑Martin Marrin, Teacher

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History Day has been the vehicle that creates an understanding and appreciation of history while developing the necessary 21st-century tools, skills and aptitudes for my diverse student population. ‑Martin Marrin, Teacher

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Does this sound even vaguely like what is now understood to be the purpose of higher education?

Wisdom, and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of the people, being necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties; and as these depend on spreading the opportunities and advantages of education in the various parts of the country, and among the different orders of the people, it shall be the duty of legislatures and magistrates, in all future periods of this commonwealth, to cherish the interests of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries of them; especially the university at Cambridge.

In fact, this mission is still binding on Harvard, whose distinguished alumnus, John Adams, A.B. 1755, wrote it into the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780.

When was the last time anyone, politician or university president, echoed what Noah Webster said in 1788?

It is an object of vast magnitude that systems of education should be adopted and pursued which may not only diffuse a knowledge of the sciences but may implant in the minds of the American youth the principles of virtue and of liberty and inspire them with just and liberal ideas of government and with an inviolable attachment to their own country.

What strikes us about these passages is not their antiquity, but their wisdom. Today, many Americans have lost pride in their government. At a time when universities trumpet their place in the world-and within Facebook-but say little about their place in the Republic, these calls to educate citizens who will sustain the nation have new and vital meaning. It is time to reimagine higher education's civic mission.

Higher education is now justified almost entirely by economic returns and the concomitant social returns. To be sure, as a government website proclaims, "Education Pays." But the public purposes of education go beyond aggregated benefits to individuals. Colleges and universities are repositories of culture as well as wellsprings of creativity. They are positioned not only to foster innovation, which is essential to national prosperity, but also to teach the public responsibilities associated with invention and entrepreneurship. They should give students the skills they need for personal success as well as the values, ideals, and civic virtues on which American democracy depends.

The need for civic education is urgent because so many aspects of our civic life have become dysfunctional. "A Republic, if you can keep it," as Benjamin Franklin described our form of government, will not persist through momentum alone. What might colleges and universities do to reinvigorate their commitments to their public mission? As Harvard celebrates its 375th year, what might this great university do to breathe new life into civic education?

In what follows, we frame the problem and suggest approaches to a solution. As former Harvard deans, we hope to spark a conversation across the University's schools and departments and, beyond Harvard, among colleagues at other institutions of higher education.

We see civic education as the cultivation of knowledge and traits that sustain democratic self-governance. The synergistic components of civic education in American colleges and universities are a tripod of intellect, morality, and action, all grounded in a knowledge base of American history and constitutional principles. Intellect means the capacity to analyze public problems with the dispassion of the scholar-curious about current events and able to subject them to rational analysis. Morality is the capacity to make and explain value judgments about concepts such as fairness, social justice, freedom, and equality, conceived as both democratic ideals and lived commitments. Finally, civic education instills the willingness and competence to take effective action on matters of public concern. Civic education cannot flourish if intellect is privileged over morality and action, as is usual today. The time has come for universities again to embrace all sides of their public mission.

The Inadvertent Decline of Civic Education

At old colleges like Harvard, moral philosophy, with civic education a major component, was once a capstone course required of all seniors. But the subject went into decline after the Civil War, as science became ascendant and universities gave pre-eminence to research. As science either marginalized or helped transform other subjects, citizens' responsibilities for the public good were squeezed out of the mission of higher education. Moral philosophy became a marginal specialty within philosophy departments. At Amherst College, for example, the president still taught moral philosophy to all seniors in 1895; by 1905, it was but a single elective offering.

At the same time, professionalization in the academic disciplines splintered formerly unified interests in social problems. Sociologists might study the neighborhood origins of poverty, while economists investigated ways to measure it. Social science also became increasingly separate from social work, the former being reserved for (usually male) scholars, the latter for (usually female) field workers. In the academic pecking order, deliberately amoral scientific fields dominated deliberately altruistic service fields. In a university of specialized professors, nobody was left to instill in students a sense of the common good.

As knowledge fragmented, professional expertise empowered the professoriate. Faculty members came to identify less with their institutions and more with their academic guilds. Their disciplinary specialization trumped their educational roles. Even when colleges like Harvard tried to push back by fostering teaching centers and small seminars, the real rewards were for subject-centered expertise, not for civic mentoring. As national and international networks of academics developed, professors' power rivaled that of presidents and trustees. A market for top talent developed as professors became mobile. By the late 1960s, American higher education had become the envy of the world, preeminent in science and invention-but at a price: colleges no longer met or even recognized their once central responsibility for the moral development of their students.

Four Reactions to the Civic-Education Vacuum

During the past century, four very different movements have reasserted civic ideals in academia.

General education was intended to advance common values and defend liberal learning in the face of demographic diversification and academic professionalization. Distinct models developed, first at Columbia, then at the University of Chicago, and, after World War II, at Harvard, all involving the study of "great books" or synthetic approaches to the humanities, sciences, and social/behavioral sciences.

The student movement of the 1960s-although on the surface antagonistic to "general education"-expressed alienation widely felt among young people about injustice and commercialization in American society. Students found their university education shallow and soulless. Its antiauthoritarian agenda and tactics notwithstanding, the student movement sought to reassert the educational importance of common values and social mission.

The so-called culture wars began with publication of Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind in 1987. Bloom, a philosopher at the University of Chicago, and critics on the right, notably Lynne Cheney (then chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities) and Dinesh D'Souza (a journalist and policy analyst), argued passionately that preoccupations with diversity and academic fads had eclipsed old values and traditions of learning. From the left, philosopher Martha Nussbaum, historian Lawrence Levine, and others faulted the evidence and logic of these defenders of "the canon," claiming that college curricula should co-evolve with American culture. Gerald Graff of the University of Illinois, in his influential book Beyond the Culture Wars, may have carried the day when he urged teaching the conflicts themselves as a means to foster an "informed citizenry."

In the mid 1980s, yet another movement to promote civic engagement began to appear on campuses across the country. Service learning flourished mostly as an extracurricular encouragement to civic activity among undergraduates. Organizations such as Campus Compact, which supports community service at more than a thousand institutions, and City Year, which offers volunteer work before or after college, have helped build a strong culture of youth volunteerism.

Each of these movements embodied admirable commitments to public purposes. Some, such as the "culture wars," faded quickly. Others were overwhelmed by the very forces they were intended to oppose. General education continues in its classic form at Columbia and St. John's, but elsewhere devolved into distribution requirements under pressure from faculty disciplinary priorities. Service learning helped recruit a large number of undergraduates into volunteer work, but professors continue to occupy a parallel universe largely untouched by calls to service. And the immediacy of service experience may not always result in a lasting, thoughtful commitment to social progress, as this incident, reported in a 2003 Carnegie Foundation study, suggests:

A student volunteering at a soup kitchen...very much enjoyed the experience and felt that it had made him a better person. Without thinking through the implications of his statement, he said, "I hope it is still around when my children are in college, so they can work here, too."

Finding a Way Forward

How can civic education be given new life? We propose no course syllabus; we pitch no new campus civic center. In fact, universities may already be over-supplied with ad hoc gestures toward civic enlightenment. Neither designated courses in ethical reasoning, nor presidential bromides when freshmen arrive and seniors graduate, suffice to "inspire them with just and liberal ideas of government." Indeed, such episodic nods to civics may only foster cynicism. Instead of a prescription, we offer a framework for conversation about the intertwined roles of intellect, morality, and action. We hope this framework will be useful at a variety of institutions, including Harvard.

Intellect. Colleges and universities are defined by their commitment to study. Although extracurricular and residential experiences can be highly valued, activities with an academic dimension are most respected in academic circles. They "count." Nor can effective civic education be relegated to a corner of students' academic experience. To be embraced as a primary purpose of the college experience, civic education needs to be spread across the curriculum.

Natural opportunities arise everywhere. Every academic, professional, or vocational field of study can stimulate reflection on issues of political or social importance. Every sociology course raises questions about the nature of civil society. The dramatic arts have always had a role in fostering and criticizing national ideals. Every class in biological science points toward questions of human welfare and destiny. The politics of the Roman republic still offer lessons for our own. Without compromising the mechanisms that ensure scholarly excellence, universities can reward professors for nourishing the practical, applied, "relevant" dimensions of their subjects.

Morality. Outside our houses of worship, the subject of morality causes discomfort on most college campuses. Academic professionalization drove the subject out of the portfolio of professors. Although every college and university has standards (academic and behavioral), transgressions are likely to be treated legalistically, rather than as teachable moments. Institutional leaders avoid discussing difficult matters of principle, where values come into conflict. For an official to favor one side of an issue when the community is divided could, it is said, discourage free speech on the other side. But in the interest of graduating fewer scoundrels and having to discipline fewer faculty members, colleges need to find ways to bring their standards (written and implicit) to life. They should talk openly and repeatedly about what kinds of people they want as members of their community-and also which institutional values take precedence in cases of conflict among them.

Action. Civic learning is about the effect of human decisions on other people and on society at large. The so-called outside world will become a natural laboratory for civic concepts discussed in classrooms. This already happens regularly in professional schools-faculties of public health, medicine, and law all run clinics, schools of education offer internships and outreach programs, and engineering and business schools engage their students in practica.

Universities are themselves important agents in American society. University leaders can use announcements of important policies and decisions as vehicles for civic education. Students should be as important an audience as alumni, donors, the media, and Washington when universities explain what they are doing and why. Moreover, universities can teach by commenting openly on institutional news that is being discussed anyway-even when it is embarrassing. Silence signals that a university can't tell right from wrong, or doesn't care which it is advancing; awkward spin control suggests that academic speech is no more credible than commercial or political advertising.

As we have indicated, we do not believe there is "one best way" forward. However, we offer three suggestions to begin restoring civic education as a central purpose of higher education.

* Integrate civic education into core requirements and concentrations or majors. In every field, faculty members care most about the subjects in which they were trained and are expert-and the university's culture of expertise is far too valuable to compromise. Professors will best offer civic education when it is fused into the courses about their specializations. That is where they can speak from experience about the relation of their work to the problems of the world. Senior members of departments might explore and model for their junior colleagues the integration of academic and civic teaching within their field. Like any other educational reform, this one will not be successful without adjustments to the incentive and reward system for faculty in order to recognize their contributions to the institution's civic mission.

* Long-term, global thinking as a university-wide aim. It is not enough for great universities to talk grandly of a "global mission." Students today, especially undergraduates, are focused on next steps, especially getting a job and paying off student loans. Without trivializing those concerns, universities can balance them with frequent university-wide and department-specific lectures, discussions, exhibitions, and credit-bearing classes that teach one clear lesson: You are responsible not only for your own future, but also for the future of the world. A grand challenge to higher education today is to give powerful, personal meaning to the clichés rephrasing that lesson. How can colleges and universities translate "Think globally, act locally" into terms that will move every graduate?

* Modeling civic engagement throughout the institution. Institutions teach through their policies and practices, their governance and organization-through everything they do, every day. No college will be successful in renewing its civic mission unless its operations embody its values. At Harvard, this would entail scrutiny of accountability mechanisms for administrative centers, from the governing boards through Massachusetts Hall to the allied offices. Decision-making can be made more educational by making it more transparent, for everything from endowment management to wage structures, promotion decisions, and disciplinary procedures. Discrepancies between and among schools and departments that suggest priorities at odds with stated values will teach lessons if they are acknowledged, and either explained or remedied.

Implementing these recommendations would be contentious. Legal liabilities can limit institutional transparency. Secrecy is necessary sometimes, if not nearly as often as it is practiced. More often than not, open discussion of the difficulties would be constructive. The arguments about specifics would expose to healthy debate latent disagreements about the ultimate purposes of a university.

Failing to reinvigorate the civic mission of our colleges and universities carries a high price: it will put at risk the well-being of our nation and the world, perhaps not tomorrow but in decades to come. We believe that like-minded people among us, at Harvard and elsewhere, can come together to mobilize change. With the support and example of higher education, current dismay over political polarization and skepticism about human progress can give way to the civic idealism that has always characterized the American experiment at its best.

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Does this sound even vaguely like what is now understood to be the purpose of higher education?

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There are 5.5 million opportunity youth in the United States between the ages of 16 and 24 who are disconnected from school and work. Research suggests that quality relationships with adults are particularly essential for young people during times of transition, when new environments, obstacles, and uncertainties leave young people more vulnerable to falling off track. While there are programs offering structured, tactical supports to low-income youth seeking employment, we also know how important it is that these young people receive dedicated support in building a network of quality relationships. Lacking this network or web of support, far too many young people fall off the path to success in adulthood.

The Opportunity Youth Thriving Project (OYTP) is a collaboration between the Schultz Family Foundation, America's Promise Alliance, and MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership to develop and implement programming that will support opportunity youth in their transition to employment. The initiative is aiming to build the capacity and resources in communities to provide young people with the web of quality relationship supports and social capital they need to develop the skills necessary to successfully navigate the workplace and secure and sustain employment.

Through this partnership, America's Promise, MENTOR and its affiliates will apply their research-based understanding of the power of relationships and on-the-ground field work to develop a community-based approach that increases the number of adults engaged with low-income young people in or entering the workforce. A core focus of the initiative is to strengthen what happens in formal and informal mentoring relationships to keep youth on track to achieving greater economic opportunity and thriving adulthood(s).

We believe there is a compelling opportunity to complement and augment the numerous efforts underway nationwide to connect young people with jobs by expanding the web of support that young people can access. The Opportunity Youth Thriving Project is currently in its pilot phase having just launched in May in Minneapolis, Minnesota and in June in Seattle, Washington.

In year one, we will work with our two pilot sites to supplement, improve and expand existing efforts to help young people transition into the workforce. At the heart of the work will be the evaluation of trainings and practices rooted in supporting worksite supervisors, workforce development programs and mentors in practicing relational behaviors that are mentor-like and developmental with a critical lens.

As the work progresses, we expect to see:

Relationship-building approaches embedded into more existing programs designed to increase youth employment.

New mentoring models and approaches that purposefully activate relationships and webs of support for young people seeking employment.

An increase in people, organizations, and employers intentionally using relationship webs to increase job entry, experience, and retention.

An increase in the number and capacity of caring adults supporting young people.

Providing quality opportunities for work and career advancement to opportunity youth requires an examination of corporate work structures, the leveraging of community assets, and adopting a culturally competent, strength-based lens of the abilities and potential contributions of Opportunity Youth themselves. By developing trainings that engage community organizations, supervisors and opportunity youth, we begin to gain insight into how to best partner with Opportunity Youth to ensure their success at work. We invite you to consider the following next steps as ways to invest in a relationship-based approach to supporting opportunity youth:
Dudney Sylla is a Program Manager for MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership. About MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership is the unifying champion for quality youth mentoring in the United States. MENTOR's mission is to close the "mentoring gap" and ensure our nation's young people have the support they need through quality mentoring relationships to succeed at home, school, and ultimately, work. To achieve this, MENTOR collaborates with its network of affiliate Mentoring Partnerships and works to drive the investment of time and money into high impact mentoring programs and advance quality mentoring through the development and delivery of standards, cutting-edge research, and state-of-the-art tools. Connect with MENTOR on , , and .

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Grads of LifeVoice: The Power Of Relationships: Mentoring Youth For Workforce Success

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There are 5.5 million opportunity youth in the United States between the ages of 16 and 24 who are disconnected from school and work. Research suggests that quality relationships with adults are particularly essential for young people during times of transition, when new environments, obstacles, and uncertainties leave young people more vulnerable to falling off track.

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In this new Private i History Detectives unit, Elementary students analyze primary sources to discover how Constitutional Amendments attempted to address slavery's wrongs, how the courts challenged unfair laws, and how individuals and groups fought for civil rights.

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In this new Private i History Detectives unit, Elementary students analyze primary sources to discover how Constitutional Amendments attempted to address slavery's wrongs, how the courts challenged unfair laws, and how individuals and groups fought for civil rights.

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Constitutional Rights Foundation (CRF) is a non-profit, non-partisan, community-based organization. CRF seeks to instill in our nation's youth a deeper understanding of citizenship through values expressed in our Constitution and its Bill of Rights and to educate young people to become active and responsible participants in our society.

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Teacher-created and classroom-tested lesson plans using primary sources from the Library of Congress.

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Constitution Day and Citizenship Day Resources - Instructional Materials (CA Dept of Education)

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Resources and excerpts from related History-Social Science content standards.

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Background

The United States Congress and the President have enacted a provision of law requiring every educational institution receiving federal funds to "hold an educational program" on September 17 of each year in observance of "Constitution Day and Citizenship Day."1

"Educational institution" is a broad term that includes preschools; elementary, middle, and high schools; and institutions of higher education.

The requirement applies to all public educational institutions in California.2

The requirement also applies to any private educational institution that receives federal funds.

Private educational institutions that do not receive federal funds are nonetheless encouraged to conduct an observance.

When September 17 falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday - as is the case in 2005 and again in 2006 - the observance may be held at any time during the preceding or following week. Each educational institution may individually select the specific date.3

The specific nature of the "educational program" is left to the discretion of each educational institution.4

The observance is to commemorate the signing of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787.

1 Section 111 of Division J of Public Law 108-447, the "Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005," December 8, 2004; 118 Stat. 2809, 3344-45 (Section 111).

2 Technically, the observance requirement does not apply to a public educational institution that receives no federal funds. However, to the best of our knowledge, every public educational institution in California does receive federal funds of some type.

3 When September 17 lands on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday, a local governing body, such as a school district's board of education, may select an appropriate date for observance that will apply to all of schools under its jurisdiction.

4 Here, too, a local governing body may set criteria or guidelines for the educational program that apply to the schools under its jurisdiction.

Non-Binding Recommendations

To assist educational institutions in complying with the requirement to observe "Constitution Day and Citizenship Day," the California Department of Education (CDE) offers the following non-binding recommendations:

The opportunity created by the educational program should be used to deepen students' understanding of the U.S. Constitution and the responsibilities of citizenship.

As many students as possible should participate in the educational program, recognizing that practical limitations may preclude some students from participating.

The educational program should be aligned with and reinforce California's History-Social Science Content Standards. (Please see the Constitution Day and Citizenship Day Resources page.)

The educational program may be integrated within the day's normal instructional activities.

Faculty in appropriate courses (e.g., history-social science and English-language arts) may point out the significance of the day and incorporate a related lesson, discussion, or assignment.

There is no need to incorporate references to the U.S. Constitution and responsibilities of citizenship in every class. A "force fit" of such references in classes where they are out of context is unnecessary.

The educational program may be in the form of an assembly or other gathering (or perhaps multiple gatherings) of students. If an educational institution's decision is to approach the educational program in this way, the CDE provides the following recommendations:

The assembly or gathering should be coordinated, as appropriate, with subjects or themes that are being studied by some or perhaps all of the students.

The assembly or gathering should take advantage, as appropriate, of students' efforts and talents.

The information presented is accurate, recognizing, for example, that some complex concepts may be simplified for age-appropriateness and that respected literary works may take dramatic license with historical events or characters.

There should be some accountability for the time spent in the assembly or gathering, perhaps through follow-up discussion, homework, or assessment.

A significant amount of money need not be expended to prepare or implement the educational program. In fact, the federal law specifically does not authorize funds to carry out the observance requirement. Moreover, instructional materials and other resources useful in learning about the U.S. Constitution and the responsibilities of citizenship generally are plentiful at virtually every educational institution.

In future years, appropriate advisory groups should be consulted in developing the educational program, such as advisory groups composed of teachers, administrators, support personnel, parents and guardians, and/or students.

Maintaining some record (even if informal) of each year's observance may be advisable, even though there is no specific requirement to do so.

Because of the particular timeframe for this observance, consideration should be given to incorporating in the educational program, as appropriate, references to the California Constitution (originally developed and adopted during September-November 1849) and California's admission to the Union (September 9, 1850).

Questions: Curriculum Frameworks and Instructional Resources Division | CFIRD@cde.ca.gov | 916-319-0881

Last Reviewed: Tuesday, December 24, 2019

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Background The United States Congress and the President have enacted a provision of law requiring every educational institution receiving federal funds to "hold an educational program" on September 17 of each year in observance of "Constitution Day and Citizenship Day."1 "Educational institution" is a broad term that includes preschools; elementary, middle, and high schools; and institutions of higher education.

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dashboard:  six proven practices for civic education

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Dashboard: Six Proven Practices for Civic Education

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PROVEN PRACTICE #4: Offer extracurricular activities that provide opportunities for young people to get involved in their schools or communities. Long-term studies of Americans show that those who participate in extracurricular activities in high school remain more civically engaged than their contemporaries even decades later.

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The Center for Civic Education is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational corporation dedicated to promoting an enlightened and responsible citizenry committed to democratic principles and actively engaged in the practice of democracy in the United States and other countries.

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Founded in 1992, KIDS (Kids Involved Doing Service-Learning) Consortium is a non-profit organization that strengthens service-learning collaborations by preparing and connecting students, educators, and community partners.

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Newseum ED is provided as a free educational resource and contains copyrighted material. Registration is required for full access. Signing up is simple and free.

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The Library of Congress offers classroom materials and professional development to help teachers effectively use primary sources from the Library's vast digital collections in their teaching.

Getting Started with Primary Sources

Explore short videos on using resources and teaching strategies for using primary sources in the classroom.

Teaching with the Library of Congress Blog

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About This Program | Teachers | Programs | Library of Congress

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The Library of Congress offers classroom materials and professional development to help teachers effectively use primary sources from the Library's vast digital collections in their teaching. Getting Started with Primary Sources Explore short videos on using resources and teaching strategies for using primary sources in the classroom.

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Civics for All of US Civics for All of US is the new education initiative from the National Archives that promotes civic literacy and engagement. DocsTeach Teach with documents using our online tool. Explore primary sources. Discover fun and engaging teaching activities. Create your own online or print activities for your students!

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When I was about 10, a classmate in my small-town school in Latvia liked to tell me in between classes that he hated Jews. I was the only Jewish kid in school, and one day as I walked home I heard steps behind me. My eyes caught his, and we stood there for a moment. I still remember his face-hazel eyes, closely cropped blond hair-and his navy uniform jacket over a white shirt. Suddenly, I heard a crunch as his fist landed on my left cheekbone, and I fell backward on a sidewalk damp with melting snow. I still remember the hollow ringing in my left ear. I looked around to scream for help, but the streets were empty. I've never felt more terrified and alone.

"There is nothing we can do to change him," my father said in our garage the next day. He wore a large black boxing glove on his left hand that he made me practice hitting late into the night. "You have to throw the punch from your shoulder, and pack the weight of your entire body into it," he said. "As soon as you show any fear, you've already lost."

My mother and I eventually left Latvia, and bullying was a big reason for me. It's been 22 years since I've thought about this particular incident-but the recent surge of media reports about xenophobic language and harassment across the United States brings those old fears roaring back. And now that we have an administration that has welcomed into the White House advisers with a long history of promoting Islamophobia and boosting white nationalists, I find myself wondering what that means for today's bullies and their victims.

In a 2015 survey, 1 in 5 Muslim students in California said they experienced discrimination by a school staff member.

Extreme views can be socially contagious, especially among young people, who are more susceptible than adults to being influenced by their peers. As a journalist, I report on schools, and teachers have been telling me that violent rhetoric is more common, and that they're struggling to find the right approaches to root it out. But some educators are also part of the problem. In a 2015 survey, 1 in 5 Muslim students in California said they experienced discrimination by a school staff member. According to a complaint filed by the American Civil Liberties Union last year, when a Muslim sixth-grader from Somalia raised his hand to answer a question, a teacher at a school in Phoenix snapped, "I can't wait until Trump is elected. He's going to deport all you Muslims...You're going to be the next terrorist, I bet." (The school denies these allegations.)

Such behavior is a far cry from the ideals of American public schools, which were founded to maintain a pluralistic democracy and protect citizens against the tyranny of the majority. Advocates for the public education system argued that the unique American experiment wouldn't work without it-that schools were the most effective mechanism for instilling civic values such as abandoning unrestrained self-interest and opposing bigotry.

Until the late '60s, three different courses in civic studies were common in American high schools, and they often focused on helping students apply the dry mechanics of government to solving problems in their own communities. Many social studies classes also aimed to highlight the fragility of the democratic process and the historic importance of civic engagement.

True, these classes were often heavy on jingoism and light on people of color, women, and LGBT communities, but that in itself prompted a civics lesson: a powerful movement for ethnic and gender studies that continues to expand.

From 2001 to 2007, 36 percent of districts decreased elementary classroom time spent on social studies, including civics.

But all that changed most notably in the 1980s, when, in addition to earlier cuts in civic studies, policymakers began shifting the focus from social studies toward easily testable subjects like math and reading. As Stanford University's David F. Labaree argued in his intellectual history of American education, Someone Has to Fail, schools abandoned their civic mission in favor of preparing a new generation of skilled workers. The No Child Left Behind Act later accelerated this push, drawing on the work of a Reagan-era commission that postulated (with scant evidence) that test scores in reading and math would predict college and workplace performance.

In 2011, all federal funding for civics and social studies was eliminated. Some state and local funding dropped, too, forcing many cash-strapped districts to prioritize math and English-the subjects most prominently featured in standardized tests. A study by George Washington University's Center on Education Policy found that between 2001 and 2007, 36 percent of districts decreased elementary classroom time spent on social studies, including civics-a drop that most affected underfunded schools serving working-class, poor, rural, and inner-city kids.*

In Detroit, for example, a veteran teacher named William Weir has struggled to keep civic education alive amid mandatory tests and funding cuts. Over the last three years, Weir's school has lost its music, arts, and gym classes, as well as its teaching aides. Even though Weir is a social studies teacher, the principal asked him to teach English because it's a tested subject. (The gym teacher became the new social studies teacher.) Meanwhile, Weir's classes grew from 25 students to as many as 36.

Despite all this, Weir-who previously worked as a police officer-says teaching is the best job he's ever had because he finds meaning in helping his students develop a sense of agency and confidence. Last year, Weir taught a course called "Take a Stand." Students read about Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Cesar Chavez, and after a few weeks he assigned them a research project he had designed himself. "What would you like to take a stand on?" he asked a packed room of third- and fourth-graders. "I really miss our music and gym classes," one student replied. "Why don't we have them anymore?" asked another.

So Weir's students read studies about the cognitive, physical, and emotional benefits of music and gym classes. They researched their school district's financial woes, budget cuts, and emergency managers. Then they held a protest in front of the school and wrote letters to their federal, state, and local officials. With additional funding and a reduced testing burden, Weir told me, he could incorporate many more hands-on, relevant civics lessons like these.

1 in 6 now say it would be fine for the "army to rule," up from 1 in 16 in 1995.

The good news is that help may be on the way: The ideology of how to teach American history and civics might vary, says Ted McConnell, executive director of the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools, but there is strong bipartisan support for expanding social studies. If recent research is any indication, that support couldn't come a moment sooner. When, in 2011, the World Values Survey asked US citizens in their late teens and early 20s whether democracy was a good way to run a country, about a quarter said it was "bad" or "very bad," an increase of one-third since the late 1990s. Among citizens of all ages, 1 in 6 now say it would be fine for the "army to rule," up from 1 in 16 in 1995. In a different national survey, about two-thirds of Americans could not name all three branches of the federal government or which party controlled the House of Representatives. In a third study, almost half of the respondents said the government should be permitted to prohibit a peaceful march.

Educator, author, and civil rights activist Jonathan Kozol has spent the past five decades writing about public schools. "Civic education should be empowering young people to ask discerning questions, and to feel that it's okay to challenge the evils and injustices they perceive," he said. But "civic engagement is being beaten out of kids by this tremendous emphasis on authoritarian instruction, and part of it is [the emphasis on] one right answer on the test. We need to empower young people to understand that the most important questions we face in life have limitless numbers of answers and that some of those answers will be distressing to the status quo."

I've seen that work firsthand, at some of the country's most diverse and equitable schools. I spent four years observing classes at San Francisco'sMission High School, a destination for immigrants from more than 40 countries. There, civics is an integral part of instruction not only in history, economics, and ethnic studies classes, but also in literature classes, where students are asked to consider how people from different eras and cultures interpreted the meaning of empathy, courage, and collective responsibility.

Mission High students are also encouraged to practice civic engagement skills by serving on the youth advisory council that helps the principal make decisions about course offerings and the budget, and by meeting with school board members to provide feedback on how to make the city's classrooms more effective for all students.

On countless occasions, I saw students show me, their peers, and other adults what it means to derive power from a sense of community, moral generosity, and an ability to integrate multiple perspectives-instead of via competition, threats, or exclusion.

"My parents were telling me to stay away from black students. But African Americans were all really nice to us."

One winter morning I watched students discuss a film based on the 1968 protests of thousands of Latino public school students in East Los Angeles. While the class went over the movie's themes-courage to take a stand, commitment to collective goals, the importance of community support-a girl named Brianna jumped in.

"Speaking of stereotypes," Brianna told her classmates, "I was in the bathroom with five other black girls, and we were fixing our hair. Two Asian American girls come in and they run out right away, thinking that we are going to bully them. I want to fix that. I'm a nice person!"

Brianna's social studies teacher, Robert Roth, turned to another student and asked, "Rebecca, you were talking to me about this kind of stereotype the other day. Do you mind sharing what you said?"

"When we moved to St. Louis from China," Rebecca said, "we went to an all African American school. My parents were telling me to stay away from black students. But African Americans were all really nice to us."

She paused. "A lot of times, it's coming from parents. But they just don't know. My parents never met any black people in China."

"Most parents," George, a recent immigrant from China, said quietly. Then, in a slightly more confident voice, he added, "It's not about the ethnicity. It's about the person."

"I love George," Brianna said with a hand on her heart, as students shifted to the next activity.

When I observed moments like these, I felt a sense of regret that I was often the only white person in those classrooms. Kozol has long warned us about what's lost when opportunities for learning mutual understanding disappear through resegregation. By most measures, our public schools today are more racially segregated than they were shortly after Brown v. Board of Education was decided, according to the Century Foundation, and white children are growing up in incredibly homogeneous environments: The average white kid goes to a school where 77 percent of students are white, and she is less likely than a student of color to interact with students from different racial or ethnic backgrounds.

Even three years after I finished my reporting at Mission High, these manifestations of deeper understanding burned in my memory more than any lessons of diversity and tolerance from lectures, history books, and pop culture. They can't be conveniently translated into grades, test scores, and acceptance letters to elite colleges. But for many people like me, who left our homes, our best friends, our grandparents' graves to be in a country that has a history of struggle for freedom and opportunity for all, their value is obvious.
*This sentence has been corrected to more accurately reflect the data available on classroom time spent on civics.

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America's schools aren't up to the task of fighting back Trump-fueled hate. Here's a fix.

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When I was about 10, a classmate in my small-town school in Latvia liked to tell me in between classes that he hated Jews. I was the only Jewish kid in school, and one day as I walked home I heard steps behind me. My eyes caught his, and we stood there for a moment.

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The Civics Education Initiative, sponsored by the Joe Foss Institute, requires high school students to pass the test as a requirement for graduation. This sets the very basic standard for civic knowledge.

Study Videos & Resources
Click on the question to view study video.

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The Civics Education Initiative, sponsored by the Joe Foss Institute, requires high school students to pass the test as a requirement for graduation. This sets the very basic standard for civic knowledge. Click on the question to view study video.

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Beyond the Ballot is an initiative of Generation Citizen to turn the unprecedented negativity and frustration caused by the 2016 presidential election into meaningful and passionate participation. We want to begin a path to rebuild the foundations of our democracy. Our initiative is meant to teach, inspire, and empower the next generation to engage with-and lead-the political system.

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Generation Citizen | Empowering Young People

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Beyond the Ballot is an initiative of Generation Citizen to turn the unprecedented negativity and frustration caused by the 2016 presidential election into meaningful and passionate participation. We want to begin a path to rebuild the foundations of our democracy. Our initiative is meant to teach, inspire, and empower the next generation to engage with-and lead-the political system.

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INDIA - Anitha Bijesh and Kamal Preet, Delhi Public School Bangalore South, Rooting for Change

The project ROOTING FOR CHANGE facilitated exploration of the relationship between different cultures and the environment through fables/traditional stories/religious texts. Students conducted research identifying local communities practicing sustainable living with small carbon footprint. They identified effective practices followed by indigenous communities and conducted an audit find how green our schools really are(air quality, energy-water consumption, waste segregation-waste disposal, green cover). Traditional and indigenous knowledge that can be adapted to address current environmental crises with peers across the globe was shared and workable solutions were developed leading towards a greener environment and sustainable living at school, home & community level. Environmental problems common across geographies were analyzed and recommendations were made for corrective action after seeking support of students from the legal studies department in the home school. An online petition on change.org was started that gathered momentum and created awareness amidst the general public to become carbon neutral.

CANADA - Laurie Clement, Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board, The Amazing Student Race

Students were invited to travel the world and visit virtual pit stops. Students and/or teachers in each respective location have created pit stops designed to educate visitors about where they live. Pit stops were all unique but typically featured a short video, facts about each location and a Google Form/Quiz consisting of approximately three to five questions and a brainteaser. Once students completed the Google Form, they received an email containing the correct answers as well as a stamp for their virtual passport.

Mathematics is the universal language, but we all have different dialects in speaking in that language. High school math students from Wisconsin collaborated with high school math students from the Czech Republic to explore how each culture approaches mathematical problems. Students shared and learned from each other how to solve algebraic math problems. Students presented those methods synchronously and asynchronously. We also shared similarities and differences of our cultures during major events in each culture.

USA - Dr. Reynaldo L. Duran, Ector County ISD / Alternative Education Center (TX) High School, International Junior Writers Club

International Junior Writers Club (IJWC) was an initiative that provided Alternative Education students of Odessa, TX and their partner international students with opportunities to collaborate with each other in writing projects and assignments. The goal was to produce at least one collaborative writing project (any genre) or conduct at least one revising and editing activity using shared international writing outputs every three weeks. As its core mission, IJWC has sought to promote middle/high school students' global collaboration, cross-cultural understanding, and global competence.

Students made kites to fly as a massive tribute dedicated to advancing the cultural and social dialog, a symbol of bridging the gap and understanding the "other." This will hopefully become a continuous tradition of flying kites with personal and group images of our dreams for a better world, a world of co-existence, tolerance, acceptance of the "other" and peace. Kites were flown on the March Equinox on and around March 21, 2017. The project is dedicated to Janusz Korczak, who advocated for the rights of children.

MOROCCO - Omar Titki, Sidi Ahmed Bennacer High School, Different But The Same

In this project, students engaged in a series of activities and meaningful exchanges with partners from different countries. They discussed ideas they have about those countries so as to debunk the stereotypes and promote understanding of other cultures. They exchanged letters, cards, cultural aspects such as greetings and recipes, traditional games and women situation with their partners from Uruguay, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. They also wrote, exchanged, and acted out scripts about the environment.

Students gained many skills throughout the project. They learned how to make and edit videos and brochures, take photos, use online platforms for collaboration, in addition to developing many problem-solving and drama skills. They have created videos, brochures, Power Point presentations, posters, and plays as final products.

All in all, the project was interdisciplinary and global. Besides English language, students used the skills gained in Geography and History, Physical Education, Islamic Education, Arts and ICT. They developed a clear understanding of different countries and debunked many stereotypes. They concluded that people are similar despite the differences that exist between them. They all like peace, love, joy, respect and to be understood, not judged.

Note that Omar used Chalkup for this project and there is a special code needed to view the project. Contact him for further information by following him on Twitter.

Three hundred and fifty year 3-5 students from 5 schools across the USA and Australia participated in a 10 week project focusing on the creation of poetry. Mixed teams of 10 students were created across the schools. They used Edmodo to meet each other and then Google Docs, where they shared scaffolded poems and wrote new versions. The scaffolding ensured everyone experienced success. This work culminated in the co-creation across schools of new multimedia poems using a variety of programs such as Powtoon, iMovie, MovieMaker, Google slides. A real poet shared her ideas and announced the winning poems. All work related to this project, including the students final poems can be found at www.poetrypp.weebly.com

This purpose of this project was to investigate reasons why young people want to study other languages and to compile a list of favorite language learning apps and websites. A total of 28 schools from various countries participated by completing surveys and sending videos explaining their passion for language learning. A website was created to feature the project results at http://whystudyalanguage.weebly.com/participating-schools.html.

The objective of this project was for high school students to create a multimedia presentation in the form of a digital story. Students' stories contained some mixture of computer-based images, text, recorded audio narration, video clips and/or music. The project started in September 2016 and ended officially in April 2017.

Students who participated in this project were able to:

Understand the process of storytelling

Meet international students and become a part of a global community ( Skype sessions)

Share their voice on the global stage to become powerful communicators

Become proficient with capturing and manipulating digital image, sound, and video

Understand properties and characteristic of different software -Integrate different media (text, images, sound, video) into an online environment

Develop critical skills to explore digital media

Use a variety of digital tools in an effective way

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The Great Global Project Challenge Grant - Global Education Connections - Medium

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The project ROOTING FOR CHANGE facilitated exploration of the relationship between different cultures and the environment through fables/traditional stories/religious texts. Students conducted research identifying local communities practicing sustainable living with small carbon footprint. They identified effective practices followed by indigenous communities and conducted an audit find how green our schools really are(air quality, energy-water consumption, waste segregation-waste disposal, green cover).

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The ISTE Student Standards guide educators toward student-driven learning practices that prepare students to thrive in an evolving technological landscape.

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Article about what other counties are doing around Civics Education

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Watch how California high school students benefit from engaging civic learning programs that equip, empower, and encourage them to grow into active citizens. The Power of Democracy Steering Committee is working to support robust civic learning experiences for all California students.