Author: icivics

iCivics and National Council for the Social Studies Call for Renewed Focus as New RAND Corporation Report Shows Lack of Infrastructure for K–5 Social Studies

WASHINGTON, DC – March 7, 2023 – With the release of the RAND Corporation’s latest report, “The Missing Infrastructure for Elementary (K–5) Social Studies Instruction,” during today’s opening forum for the first-ever national Civic Learning Week at the National Archives, iCivics and the National Council on the Social Studies (NCSS) call for renewed efforts to prioritize K–5 social studies instructional time and ensure educators receive sufficient support. 

According to the report, most states do not have the infrastructure in place—such as academic standards, accountability policy and assessments—to support high-quality social studies education. Where an infrastructure is in place, there remain large gaps in quality. 

The report was based on an extensive literature review on what is known about state policies for social studies along with nationally representative data from surveys of more than 700 K–5 teachers and 1,600 principals in public schools.

At the local level, infrastructure such as teacher evaluation and professional development for social studies pales in comparison to the more-tested subjects of math and English language arts (ELA). 

“Civic learning and social studies have always been important foundations of a well-rounded education, but they have been marginalized, and social studies instructional time has significantly decreased or been outright eliminated—especially at the elementary level,” NCSS Executive Director Lawrence Paska said. “We hope this report sheds light on why it is so important to ensure a robust social studies K–12 program every day—and support teachers and students in teaching and learning social studies. That is why we are working with many states and organizations to support what we know to be the best approaches for developing, revising and implementing high-quality learning standards and curriculum frameworks across social studies disciplines.“

According to the report, half of elementary school principals report not having published curriculum materials to support social studies, leaving teachers to cobble together materials to support their classes. Combined with decreased instructional time, this means that too many elementary school teachers spend more time planning social studies content than they do actually teaching it.

“The implication that many educators called on to teach social studies have little to no support when it comes to teaching the lessons of our history and the fundamentals of how democracy works in the United States is simply unacceptable,” iCivics Executive Director Louise Dubé said. “Civics and social studies are essential for informed and engaged participation in our self-governing society. That is why we must work to make these subjects a priority and support educators in providing high-quality instruction in these fundamentals.”

The timely report arrives during Civic Learning Week, March 6–10, 2023, when more than 100 organizations, states, and educators are holding scores of in-person and online events across the country to highlight the role of civic learning in sustaining and strengthening constitutional democracy in the United States. 

The events are designed to provide people of all ages with positive and engaging civic learning opportunities, offering mechanisms for parents, educators, students, business leaders, and other community members to connect at the local level and beyond around a shared commitment to civic education.

Civic Learning Week is cosponsored by the Farvue Foundation, iCivics, Microsoft, the National Archives, the National Archives Foundation, the National Council for the Social Studies, and the SN Charitable Foundation. 

For more information:

RAND Report

https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA134-17.html

Civic Learning Week

civiclearningweek.org. 

Celebrating Progress and Continuing Our Work Together

All the work this cross-cutting CivxNow Coalition—standing at 275+ organizations and representing the nation’s diverse demography, geography, and political ideology—is doing to make civic education a nationwide priority is paying off!

Ours is a work of years and generations—it will not happen overnight, but we are making incredible progress. To this end, we are looking forward to celebrating this progress together during the first-ever national Civic Learning Week even as we continue to build on our strong foundation and advocate for bipartisan policies at the national, state, and local levels that reimagine and deliver relevant, inclusive, and engaging K–12 civic learning, both in- and out-of-school.

There is power in featuring civic education not just at election time but at this critical juncture when folks are looking for solutions. We’ve written previously about broad support for civic education and the positive impact it has, but a new report from More in Common importantly identifies a “perception gap” with regard to those with differing political views when it comes to how civics and history should be taught. While rather extreme perceptions are only true for those occupying the far right and left ends of the political spectrum, these perceptions are manipulated by “conflict entrepreneurs” to fuel the culture wars and undermine a relative consensus on teaching a plural, yet shared national history. As the report so simply states, “We feel divided over how to teach history, in significant measure because we feel divided, period.”

More in Common’s recommendations at the conclusion of the report are essential to overcoming this perception gap and institutional distrust. Among them, we must assume greater complexity in our fellow citizens’ beliefs about a range of issues—our shared, yet plural history included. We must also make space for such discussions across difference, and use concrete language in framing civics and history education, accounting for local context that is essential given the premise of local control that governs K–12 education in the country.

These are just some of the reasons we’re so grateful for your partnership as we unite behind providing stronger K–12 civic education opportunities and building bipartisan consensus for policies like the Civics Secures Democracy Act at the national level and those recommended in the CivxNow State Policy Menu. This worthy pursuit of common ground in fostering the civic development of our future generations couldn’t be more important to the ongoing health and strength of our constitutional democracy.

New Funding for Civics

The year-end omnibus appropriations bill just passed by Congress includes a significant increase in funding for K–12 civic education, from the current $7.75M to $23M. This represents a substantial down payment on the historic civic mission of our K–12 schools, moving us closer to ensuring equitable access to high-quality civic learning opportunities for all students.

In addition to maintaining the $3M appropriation for American History and Civics Academies, Congress appropriated $20M for a competitive grant program, “Civics National Activities.” This is more than a four-fold increase from FY22’s appropriation of $4.75M. Eligible recipients for this program include institutions of higher education and nonprofits that use evidence-based practices “…to improv[e] teaching and learning about the history and principles of the Constitution of the United States.”

Evidence-based practices include classroom instruction in civics, government, and history; community service tied to classroom instruction; simulations of democratic processes; student voice in school governance; and media literacy.

We are forever grateful for the relentless leadership of our congressional champions, Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Tom Cole (R-OK), and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and John Cornyn (R-TX). We’re also appreciative of the bipartisan support of 18 additional House cosponsors and 4 Senate cosponsors.

This impressive bipartisan group sought compromise and bravely weathered mis- and disinformation directed at the broader Civics Secures Democracy (CSD) Act. Their resolve and collegiality exemplifies the civic dispositions we seek to develop among K–12 students.

The CivxNow Coalition, made up of 265+ organizational members, led the charge for this deepened federal investment in K–12 civic education. We salute teachers, students, parents, and nonprofit partners across states and congressional districts that helped make the case for the federal Civics Secures Democracy Act throughout the 117th Congress. Since CSD was first introduced in March 2021, hundreds of constituent meetings and contacts were conducted, building strong bipartisan support for a generational investment in K–12 civic education.

Our constitutional democracy has been tested in myriad manners over the past several years, and its continued strength and sustenance is dependent on an informed citizenry. K–12 schools are vital venues for students’ civic development, and Congress just made an important investment in the future of our nation.

As we celebrate the holiday season, we are grateful for the gift of greater federal support for K–12 civic education, and resolve to build upon this success in the new year and next Congress.

It Takes a Coalition to DO Civics FOR Civics

As 2022 comes to a close, we have much to be grateful for in the civic learning community.

Thanks to the leadership of Coalition Engagement Director Ace Parsi, the CivxNow Coalition has grown exponentially since its inception four years ago, boasting 260+ organizational members representative of the country’s geographic and ideological diversity. This year, we launched affinity groups to provide ongoing authentic engagement opportunities for members across a range of activities. Next year’s first national Civic Learning Week in March exemplifies the diverse ways that members are making the case for strengthened civic learning opportunities across the country.

Despite fierce headwinds, state coalition affiliates achieved significant policy successes over the past two years. With State Policy Director Lisa Boudreau now on board to support state efforts more directly, we are poised for even further progress in the 2023 state legislative sessions. (Please note the fast approaching deadline for the third consecutive grant opportunity for state affiliates to propel coalition building and policy advocacy efforts.)

Finally, we salute members across states and congressional districts that helped make the case for the federal Civics Secures Democracy Act throughout the 117th Congress. Thanks to the relentless efforts of Federal Policy Manager Abbie Kaplan, we conducted hundreds of constituent meetings and contacts, building strong bipartisan support for a generational national investment in K–12 civic education.

This collective work begins anew as the calendar turns to 2023. On behalf of the entire CivxNow team, it is our distinct privilege to do this work every day with each of you to ensure students have equitable access to high-quality civic learning opportunities. We are grateful to be in community with you, wish your loved ones a wonderful holiday season, and look forward to strengthening our partnership in 2023!

Celebrate Civics and Its Vital Importance to Our Constitutional Democracy

As we return to work and school from Thanksgiving and turn toward the holiday season, the field of civic education has much to celebrate, including:

  • Mobilizing our 255+ member coalition behind the bipartisan, federal Civics Secures Democracy Act and making a profound case for this generational investment in K–12 civic education; and
  • Producing policy wins — strengthening civic learning requirements, mandating middle and high school civics courses, incentivizing experiential civic learning, and providing necessary public resources to support policy implementation — in 14 states and counting this biennium through our State Policy Task Force.

This work continues through the finish line of the 117th Congress and begins anew in January in Washington, DC, and state capitals across the country.

Last month, we shared results from a national survey of likely voters demonstrating strong, bipartisan support for strengthening civic education and devoting more public resources to its proliferation. Now, additional analysis of the data set from PACE’s (Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement) Civic Language Perceptions Project has been released, including the impact of taking a civics or American government class in high school.

We must ensure that all students, regardless of demography or geography, have access to a high-quality civic education, because its benefits are profound. According to the PACE project, those taking a civics course had a more positive perception of democracy (+13%) and a number of related terms, including bridge building (+14%), citizen (+10%), civility (+26%), common ground (+11%), and liberty (+13%). Moreover, civics courses correlate with respondents being more likely to identify a range of activities that contribute to a functioning democracy and greater news attentiveness across a range of media.

These collective findings further underline the importance of prioritizing civics at the local, state, and national levels now in order to sustain and strengthen our constitutional democracy. When we adopt stronger K–12 civic education policies and invest in their implementation at the classroom, school, and district levels, we rebuild trust in institutions and one another, foster informed patriotism and civility, and equip our youngest members of society to build a more perfect union together.

Likely Voters and Parents of All Stripes Show Strong Support for Investing in K–12 Civics

With Election Day looming, prominent pollster Brent Buchanan and his firm Cygnal gauged public support for stronger K–12 civic education, including the bipartisan federal Civics Secures Democracy Act.

The poll engaged a national sample of 3,002 adults from September 15–26, 2022, including 2,385 likely voters; 1,195 Republican primary voters; and 803 K–12 parents, with substantial overlap across groups. Overall, respondents demonstrated strong support for more emphasis on civics in this pivotal moment for our constitutional democracy:

  • Two-thirds of likely voters think civics in schools should be emphasized more, with Republican primary voters (64%) and parents (59%) registering strong, but slightly lower support.
  • Similar numbers across these three groups see civics as more important now than it was five years ago (likely voters, 69%; Republican primary voters, 66%; and K–12 parents, 66%).
  • Nearly two-thirds of likely voters (65%) support more funding to ensure every child receives an adequate civic education, as do 59% of Republican primary voters and 64% of K–12 parents.

Turning to the Civics Secures Democracy (CSD) Act, specifically, a majority of likely voters support the bill at first blush, and support only increases with additional knowledge of the bill’s provisions.

Post-election, CSD faces its final consideration in a lame duck session with a full congressional plate. Members of Congress must know that likely voters and parents of all stripes prioritize more time and funding for K–12 civics, as embodied by CSD. Help us translate strong public support for K–12 civics into a tangible, generational investment in students, teachers, schools, and districts:

  • Use our online toolkit to contact your senators and representative about the bill, urging CSD’s outright passage or inclusion in a larger legislative vehicle.
  • Use our updated social media graphics and suggested messages that incorporate the recent positive polling data to spread the word.

Stronger Civics an Antidote to “Threats to Democracy”

An NBC News Poll released on August 21 once again found voters across the political spectrum identifying “threats to democracy” as the most important issue facing the country, eclipsing cost of living, jobs and the economy, and immigration.

A subsequent CBS News Poll released on September 1 showed 72% of respondents believe U.S. democracy is “threatened,” versus 28% who see it as “secure.”

These concerns transcend partisan labels. While the NBC poll’s open-ended follow-up question showed a wide range of concerns over threats to democracy, the CBS poll identified some commonalities, from the influence of money in politics to the sense that “most people don’t have a say.”

These collective sentiments—paired with the latest Axios-Ipsos “Two Americas Index” pointing to concerning support across parties for undemocratic norms—must be taken seriously, for they represent existential threats to this nation’s long-standing experiment in constitutional democracy. Solutions are not immediate or singular, but we, the national civic learning community, offer the most promising long-term plan for sustaining and strengthening our democracy and protecting it from threats, both foreign and domestic.

Civic education is a matter of national security, making the bipartisan, bicameral federal Civics Secures Democracy (CSD) Act aptly titled. Stated simply, civic education is key to rebuilding trust in institutions and one another, fostering informed patriotism and civility, and equipping citizens to build a more perfect union.

Civic education’s neglect over the past 50 years coincides with many of the troubling trends surfaced by the recent polls. The Civics Secures Democracy Act presents a key opportunity to reverse this trajectory, making a generational $1B annual investment in civic education to ensure all students experience a robust civic education throughout their K–12 experience.

Let’s ensure that every student in the United States graduates with the civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for informed, effective, and lifelong engagement in our communities, states, and country.

Civics Secures Democracy Act Reintroducted in the Senate with Four New Cosponsors

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators today re-introduced the landmark Civics Secures Democracy Act, which would authorize an historic investment to support K–12 civic education and American history. The reintroduction is the result of strong support by members of both parties over a months-long process to ensure that the bill affords the opportunity for each and every K–12 student in this country to have access to the kind of civic education needed to become informed stewards of U.S. constitutional democracy.

The Civics Secures Democracy Act is the first bipartisan initiative to support states and local school districts in offering the civic education needed to equip youth in the United States with the civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions to become informed and engaged members of society. This comprehensive piece of legislation responds to a crisis in civic education that has seen the subject neglected over the past 50 years. It would  provide a $1 billion annual investment in civic education at the local level, specifically in students, teachers, schools, and districts, as well as an investment in research and data and diversifying the teacher pool.

The bill dramatically increases federal support for civics and American history and is an exercise in federalism in and of itself. With 85 percent of funds directed to states to in turn be passed down to districts, all curricular decisions under the Civics Secures Democracy Act would remain matters of state and local control.The updated bill clarifies and limits the role that the federal government would play in allocating funding and is deficit neutral. 

“As President Lincoln said, ours is a government of the People, by the People, and for the People, but we can’t govern ourselves if we don’t have knowledge of our foundational principles or our history,” said Sen. John Cornyn  (R-TX). “This bill would help our schools inspire the next generation of public servants and teach all young Texans the value of freedom, and I’m glad to work with Sen. Coons on this bipartisan legislation.”

First introduced in both the Senate and the House in 2020 by Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and John Cornyn (R-TX) in the Senate and Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Tom Cole (R-OK), and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) in the House of Representatives, the Civics Secures Democracy Act now has four new cosponsors in the Senate—two  Republicans, one Democrat, and one independent.

“I have long believed that equipping students with robust understandings of their government and history is a critical step toward building a stronger, more resilient America,” said Sen. Coons. “I am particularly heartened that the spirit of this legislation is reflected in the diverse backgrounds and ideologies of the co-sponsors of this bill, and I thank my colleagues for their work to move this effort forward. By making historic investments in the history and civics education of our children, we will help ensure that the next generation of Americans have the tools they need to be good neighbors and citizens.” 

In addition to federal funding to states and localities, the Civics Secures Democracy Act includes resources to institutions of higher education to support research and professional development programs for civics and American history teachers, as well as for qualified nonprofit organizations to expand access to evidence-based curricula. The bill also calls for updating and expanding the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for civics and U.S. history, as well as supports for fellowships to strengthen the nation’s history and civics teaching corps.

The bill is supported by the CivxNow Coalition, a group of more than 215 organizations from across the viewpoint spectrum that advocates for bipartisan federal and state legislation that advances civic education in order to sustain and strengthen U.S. constitutional democracy.

“The bipartisan support for civic education that this bill represents is an incredible feat, and we are grateful to the cosponsors for reflecting the agreement of their constituents throughout the country that what is needed at this time is more high-quality civic education,” said Louise Dubé, executive director of iCivics, which leads the CivxNow Coalition. “We look forward to the passage of this historic piece of legislation and the reinvestment in the civic mission of schools in order to sustain and strengthen our constitutional democracy.”

Appreciating our Teachers, the Foremost Guardians of our Constitutional Democracy

Teachers have weathered two-plus tumultuous years of pandemic and polarized political debates about civics and history content and pedagogy. Nevertheless, they persist, and affirming my claim from a year ago, remain the foremost guardians of our constitutional democracy. May 2-8 is Teacher Appreciation Week, and the CivxNow Coalition wholeheartedly salutes our teachers in the trenches.

I began my career as a civics teacher and learned early on that while what happened in my classroom was of course my top priority, I also had professional obligations to continuously improve my professional capacity and advocate far and wide for the civic mission of schools. Decades later, and fifteen months into my role leading policy and advocacy for the CivxNow Coalition, I have the privilege of partnering with classroom educators from coast to coast to spread the word among policymakers of the wisdom of strengthening state and federal K-12 civic education policies.

iCivics, the CivxNow Coalition’s parent organization, has a national Educator Network with 370+ members from 48 states, touching 229 U.S. congressional districts. Members have regularly partnered with the CivxNow Policy Team in meetings with congressional staff on the federal Civics Secures Democracy (CSD) Act.

Several members of iCivics’ Educator Network are also James Madison Fellows, and our team has engaged this network of more than 1,400 exemplary educators from every state in congressional meetings. The Madison Fellowship stands to benefit from a one-time, $20M investment in its endowment through CSD, allowing it to offer more life-changing graduate fellowships to teachers nationally. The Madison Fellowship would also administer the new Prince Hall Fellowship as part of CSD, which would provide financial incentives to teachers of color during their first five years as civics teachers in an effort to diversify the profession’s pipeline.

Madison Fellows and iCivics Educator Network members have made a compelling case for the broader investments of CSD in local school districts, a full 60% of all funding in the bill. This includes greater access to ongoing professional development centered on both civics content and pedagogy, high-quality, nonpartisan curriculum and materials, and strengthened and expanded student learning opportunities. More than anything, our educators believe deeply that a generational federal investment in the civic capacity of students, teachers, and schools, as represented by CSD, will ensure civics is prioritized alongside other core subjects and our schools will move closer to their original civic mission. 

May is a month of action for the Coalition in its efforts to advance civic education. We pursue this collective work in honor of, and in partnership with, civic heroes from across the fruited plain, K-12 civics and social studies teachers. To all the teachers reading this , we sincerely appreciate you and all that you do each day to foster reflective patriotism among students, the inheritors and future caretakers of our constitutional democracy.

The Three Pillars of CivxNow

In order to foster civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions in our nation’s youth, we must facilitate a shift in public mindset, prioritizing the civic mission of schools. This shift is dependent on the public seeing civics as relevant, and policymakers prioritizing civics through state-level action and student and school accountability measures.

Taken together, these levers, coupled with the research informing them, constitute the organizing pillars of the CivxNow Coalition. Our ever-expanding diverse membership embodies a battle-tested ground game in our perpetual quest to support students’ civic development in partnership with teachers, schools, parents, and community partners. But our longstanding work on the ground must be complemented by a robust “air game,” through which we make the case for civics as a generational investment in the strength and sustainability of our constitutional democracy at a fragile time of foreign and domestic threats to freedom and liberty.

A strong ground game, paired with a sharpened air game, is well-positioned to make the case for and eventually implement a state and federal policy agenda that transcends partisan framing to include standalone civics courses in middle and high school and designated instructional time for civics in grades K–5; integrated instructional practices of constitutional democracy both inside and outside of the classroom; and student and school-based accountability and recognition systems.

The CivxNow Coalition State Policy Task Force has representation from 38 state coalition affiliates working to formalize organizing structures, identify policy priorities from our State Policy Menu, mobilize around positive bipartisan policy proposals, and support implementation of successful policy campaigns with fidelity. The sustainability of this collective work is dependent upon greater public investment, and the bipartisan, bicameral, federal Civics Secures Democracy (CSD) Act is a generational investment in the field, bringing $1 billion annually over the course of five years primarily to school districts, as well as education nonprofits and colleges and universities to strengthen students’ civic learning opportunities and the teaching pipeline.

CSD also supports the third pillar of CivxNow Coalition efforts—research—through scaling the National Assessments of Education Progress (NAEP) in Civics and U.S. History, increasing their frequency, and assessing a larger sample of students to allow for state-level disaggregation of data. Widely known as “the nation’s report card,” NAEP is an invaluable information source on the state of students’ civic knowledge and skills across various demographic groups, but also invites empirical analysis of what content and pedagogical approaches are most impactful. Coupled with research and evaluation requirements of the aforementioned grants in CSD and a designated $50 million annually dedicated to research on K–12 civics, will create a robust cycle of implementation and evaluation, further strengthening the field of civics education.

In the coming months, our team will engage affinity groups structured around these three pillar of CivxNow Coalition efforts: air game (awareness-building); advocacy; and research and best practices. These pillars are mutually reinforcing and essential to achieving our mission to ensure every K–12 student is afforded equitable access to universal, high-quality, innovative civic learning opportunities.