A recent front-page story in The Washington Postasked, “Can a Civics Teacher Persuade Her Students to Believe in Democracy?” As someone who’s been part of the movement to prioritize and strengthen K–12 civic education for the past quarter century, it was heartening to see this in-depth reporting that profiled Shannon Salter’s efforts in Allentown, PA, to engage her students in practices of constitutional democracy during a pivotal presidential election year.
Reporter Greg Jaffe wrote:
“Like most civics teachers, Salter wanted her students to believe that their voices and opinions could shape the nation’s future — that their participation in politics was essential to improving their country, their neighborhoods and their lives. A big part of her job, as she saw it, was persuading her students to vote.”
For most students across the United States, civics is a one-shot deal in a semester-long high school course: 37 states require a stand-alone class for graduation and only 6 require a full year (see CivXNow State Policy Scan). Only 10 states require a middle school civics course. Required civics instruction is all but absent in grades K–5.
The status quo is unacceptable: Civics should be woven throughout students' K–12 trajectory.
Moreover, a diverse generation of young people must see themselves in the story of our country and its civic life. The challenge Salter and other civics teachers face is stark: “To these students, American politics (is) an ego-driven, aimless mess.”
However, Salter is right to note, as characterized in The Washington Post article, that:
“Public school is one of the few American institutions where people from all sides of the country’s political, social and cultural divides still come together. In her view, it (is) the place where a new generation — the most diverse in the country’s history — (can) learn the skills needed to revive America’s creaking system of self-governance.”
Voting is but one of many forms of civic engagement. Volunteering, contacting public officials, following the news, discussing current issues with friends and families, and working with neighbors to address community issues are other avenues to participate meaningfully in our constitutional democracy.
Civic engagement also varies over a life cycle, generally starting slowly in early adulthood, increasing as one becomes embedded within a community and assumes career and other responsibilities; and peaking as older adults. Just because some of Salter’s students are reluctant to vote this fall, it does not mean this will always remain the case.
As civic educators and champions, we should heed the recommendations of coalition member CIRCLE, the Center for Information Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University, in their “Growing Voters” initiative:
Provide explicit, nonpartisan instruction on the when, where, and how of voting;
Tap into parent and peer networks, given their influence in students’ lives and prominence as sources of information about elections;
Capitalize on preregistration as prescribed by CivXNow’s State Policy Menu and partnerships with local election authorities for students to serve as elections workers; and
Ensure youth engagement is among your principal strategies in order to broaden civic engagement, voting included.
Our collective work is not a quick fix, but plants the seeds for a lifetime of informed civic engagement. In what has only become a more tumultuous political season since this article was published, we salute Salter and civics teachers throughout the nation for their commitment to students’ civic development. We invite you to share similar stories of trial and triumph as we collectively make the case for stronger K–12 civic education in this teachable moment, Election 2024 and beyond.
Yours in civics,
Shawn Healy
Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy, iCivics
Research Roundup: A Republic if You Can Teach It
Jeffrey Sikkenga and David Davenport claim the “infrastructure of our democracy has decayed,” akin to the collapse of the 12-story condo building in Miami in 2021, in their new book A Republic if We Can Teach It (2024, Republic Book Publishers). The authors rightfully call for more and better civic education:
“While there may be disagreement and even political battles over how civic education is taught, there is real progress to be made by addressing how much is taught. More civic education need not be—indeed should not be—controversial.”
Sikkenga and Davenport suggest K–12 civic education take the form of a “layered cake,” with dedicated instructional time in K–5, a middle school course, and a full year in high school (perfectly aligned withCivXNow’s State Policy Menu). They argue that states are well positioned to ensure these instructional mandates, but should delegate decisions about what’s taught and how it’s taught to districts, schools, and teachers.
The authors label legislation aiming to restrict teaching about race, gender, and identity as a distraction:
“All these controversies tie up state legislatures in further legislative battles rather than the more positive and long-term work of setting appropriate history and civics curricula and requirements for states.”
Moreover, they make teachers’ jobs even more difficult as they “…now must also manage the increasingly political atmosphere and opinions of their own students and their families as they manage classroom discussion and learning.”
Teachers have been unfairly caricatured during these polarized political times, and the authors are correct that “teachers are not about choosing sides or ducking tough issues, but learning how to facilitate honest and deep study of American history and the tough issues facing the American system today.”
We also salute Sikkenga and Davenport’s recognition of the importance of teachers in students’ civic development and the stark need to invest in their professional development. They write, “Teachers are the most important determinant of what and how well students learn, and it is on them that the renewal of civic education will ultimately rest.”
For Sikkenga and Davenport the “what” of civic education “…is the idea that America has a moral essence derived from the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, that America’s purpose is to fulfill those principles, and that our history is the story of our struggle to fulfill them.”
Throughout, the authors call for a national movement to strengthen civic education, a bell we answered at CivXNow in 2018 when we launched with 47 charter members.
We have grown to 340+with a presence in 41 states and counting. Since 2021, 24 states adopted policies to strengthen civic education, and Congress quadrupled funding for American history and civics grants programs.
By the end of the decade, we strive to ensure comprehensive or “layered cake” civic learning opportunities for all students across 50 states and D.C., and secure a generational federal investment in K–12 civic education.
In sum, we’re grateful for Sikkenga and Davenport’s affirmation of our movement’s collective work and appreciate the common ground they establish to strengthen K–12 civic education nationally and across states.
Contribute to Emerging Research!
We need your input: the Council on Civic Strength’s task force on the Value of Experiential Civic Learning seeks to better understand the scope of practice-based civic learning programs within and outside of school settings. They are interested in hearing from programs that include a practice-based component as part of a larger curriculum as well as programs that are fully experience-based.
Please take a few minutes to tell us about your program by filling out this questionnaire. The results will be used to inform a report that seeks to answer when, where, and how experiential learning can be a valuable part of civic education.
In a news ecosystem marked by increasing polarization, our partner AllSides is working to help all people get a balanced diet of news, identify media bias ratings, and access diverse perspectives. This important work extends to the K–12 space with theirAllSides for Schools program, which helps educators and young people alike navigate biases across different media outlets.
Their program Balanced Newsfeed provides opportunities to compare stories side-by-side using media bias resources and offers tools to have difficult conversations in schools.
Interested in collaborating with AllSides? Connect with Alice Sheehan, AllSides COO/CFO, and Director of School Programs atalice@allsides.com.
Earlier this month, iCivics policy team members Shawn Healy and Abbie Kaplan joined over 60 educators and several CivXNow partners in Washington, D.C. at the National Archives for the annual NCSS Summer Leadership Institute. They spoke on a panel with colleagues from the American Historical Association about the state of social studies advocacy in Congress and at the state level, discussing current policy priorities, the outlook for the field in 2025 and beyond, and advice for serving as strong advocates for civics and history education.
Building a NJ Civic Learning Coalition
On July 17, the Maher Charitable Foundation convened educators, school leaders, community partners, and funders to build a New Jersey Civic Learning Coalition. Executive Director Margarethe Laurenzi, pictured below, kicked off a full day of deliberations that defined civic learning and engagement, explored the broader context of civic education and the state coalition model, and concluded by considering the unique context of New Jersey the merits of and necessary next steps to stand up a state coalition in the Garden State.
iCivics Educator Convening
Our newest team member and State Policy Lead, Diana Leo, presented our collective Teachers Advancing Civic Learning (TACL) project to a recent educator convening in Sacramento. Among many topics discussed at the conference, ranging from sharing interdisciplinary collaboration strategies to hands-on civics, Diana helped teachers feel more empowered in telling their stories and sharing the importance of our discipline with decision makers.
Interested in engaging in TACL? If you're a teacher or know teachers,registerand help us spread the word about our next quarterly training on August 22, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. ET. NCHE Executive Director and School Board Chair, Jessica Ellison, will share her insights on how to make the case for civic learning to your school board.
New Voters National High School Voting Summit
On July 8, CivXNow team member, Andrea Benites, attended the National High School Voting Summit at the University of Maryland, hosted by New Voters. Andrea joined 30 other organizations to discuss the ways success can be measured in the field. The group collaborated to form questions for potential research projects that would give us a better understanding of on what methods best improve youth civic engagement.
New Members
CivXNow continues to grow, now officially standing at over 345 member organizations! The latest addition is:
We remain deeply appreciative of member efforts and all that we accomplish together. Our goal is to aggregate and activate large networks of support to expand and re-imagine civic education as a force for civic strength. To our members, thank you for your partnership.
If your organization is interested in joining CivXNow or in learning more, please contact us atCivXNow@icivics.org.
Our Mission
CivXNow is a coalition of partners from diverse viewpoints working to create a culture shift that elevates civic education and engagement as a national priority in order to protect and strengthen America’s constitutional democracy. This includes building a shared commitment to ensure that all young people are prepared to assume their rights and responsibilities to participate in civic life and address the issues facing students, their families, and communities in our increasingly dynamic, polarized, and digital society.
To achieve this goal, CivXNow advocates for bipartisan federal and state legislation that supports implementation of state and local policies that reimagine and deliver relevant, inclusive, and engaging K–12 civic learning, both in- and out-of-school.
A Team Effort
The CivXNow team produces this newsletter each month.
We are grateful for the energy, time, and guidance of the CivXNow Advisory Council and to many, many others who support individual projects.
