Civic Mission of Schools Underscored at the Third Annual Congre

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VOLUME 18, NUMBER 1
CENTER FOR CIVIC EDUCATION
Spring 2006
Civic Mission of Schools Underscored
at the Third Annual Congre s s i o n a l
Conference on Civic Education
D
elegations from each state and the
District of Columbia and representatives from more than 100 national organizations attended the Third Annual
Congressional Conference on Civic Education, held in Washington, D.C., September
24–26, 2005. Educators and policymakers
discussed the current level of civic engagement in the United States and the role of
schools in providing civic education.
In the keynote address to conference
participants, Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer extolled “the obligations and duties of citizenship,” a phrase
that embodies the focus of the conference.
Conference delegates affirmed the
critical role of classroom-based civic education in increasing engagement and
declared their commitment to leading
aggressive state and local campaigns to
sustain and revitalize the historic civic
mission of schools.
The 2005 congressional conference on
civic education, hosted by the joint leadership of Congress, was the third of five
conferences sponsored by the Alliance for
Representative Democracy, a collaborative
effort of the National Conference of
State Legislatures, the Center for Civic
Education, and the Center on Congress at
Indiana University.
Two hundred and ninety-one state delegates, including state legislators, chief
state school officers, secretaries of state or
their representatives, governors’ education
advisors, educational organizations with
state and local affiliates, and influential
individuals from the private sector participated in the conference. In addition to
state delegations, national civic education
organizations and offices of the federal
government, including the Department of
Education and several legislative offices,
took part in the three-day dialogue on
civic education and engagement.
In the opening address of the conference, Charles N. Quigley, Executive
Director of the Center, challenged delegates to recommit to improving the status of civic education: “We want to
further the momentum that has been
established to provide all students in our
nation the opportunity for a vital, stimulating, and effective civic education that
continued on page 3
Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer (center) meets with We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution
students and teacher Alan Brodman (fourth from right) from East Brunswick High School, East Brunswick, New Jersey,
during the Third Annual Congressional Conference on Civic Education, held in Washington, D.C., September 24–26, 2005.
M essage from the Center
Promoting Civic Literacy in Kentucky
Guest Commentary
Trey Grayson
Secretary of State
Commonwealth of Kentucky
A
s the Chief Election Officer for the
Commonwealth of Kentucky, I
have a responsibility to ensure eligible
voters are afforded the opportunity to
exercise their franchise. This is a responsibility I take very seriously. Our nation’s
elections administrators work very hard
to make elections as accessible as is
responsibly possible. Despite our best
efforts, far too many citizens still do not
exercise their right to vote.
This is a symptom of a greater national
problem of civic disengagement. Numerous
studies document the alarming rate of disengagement felt by our fellow citizens. A
major part of the solution to the problem
of civic disengagement lies in restoring the
civic mission of our nation’s schools. Highquality civic education that both informs a
student’s knowledge and encourages civic
participation is just as important as preparing students for the workplace.
As I travel around Kentucky, I make a
point of visiting as many schools as I can
and have seen effective classroom practice
of civic education in action. Programs like
We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution and We the People: Project Citizen can make a major difference in the
civic dispositions of our youth. We must
ensure that every American schoolchild
has the opportunity to experience highquality civic education.
I am honored to be working with a
group of Kentucky legislators, educators,
judges, journalists, and concerned citizens
to strengthen civic literacy. After the First
Annual Congressional Conference on
Civic Education in fall 2003, the Kentucky General Assembly passed a measure
creating the Kentucky Workgroup on
Civic Literacy and Engagement. I serve as
Chairman of the workgroup in a joint
effort with the administrative office of
Kentucky’s courts, two able legislators,
several respected academics, our state
Department of Education and others.
Kentucky educators, legislators, and public servants at the Third Annual Congressional
Conference on Civic Education, held in Washington, D.C., September 24–26, 2005. From
left to right, Professor Natalie Stiglitz, Co-Director, Nystrand Center of Excellence in
Education, University of Louisville; Deborah Williamson, Grant Specialist, Administrative
Office of the Courts; State Senator Jack Westwood; Secretary of State Trey Grayson; U.S.
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky; State Representative Tanya Pullin; Professor Polly
Page, Lecturer, Northern Kentucky University; and Robin Chandler, Branch Manager,
Kentucky Department of Education. Chief Justice Joseph E. Lambert was unable to attend
due to his participation in the National Child Welfare Conference.
Working together in a nonpartisan manner, we have created an ambitious program to restore the civic mission of our
schools. In October 2004 we held a state
Civic Literacy Summit to build support
and interest in this endeavor.
The workgroup has been extremely
busy during the past year. Our legislative
team members, Senator Jack Westwood
(R-Crescent Springs) and Representative
Tanya Pullin (D-South Shore), introduced three resolutions in support of the
critical work being performed by the
workgroup to revitalize civic education
and civic engagement. Two of the resolutions, HJR 109 and HR 87, passed.
The workgroup held 11 regional meetings statewide. The purpose of these
meetings was threefold: (1) to inform the
citizens of the Commonwealth of
national and state research highlighting
the crisis in civic education and initiatives to reinvigorate the discipline in our
schools; (2) to showcase successful local
civic education initiatives, both school-
and community-based; and (3) to provide
a forum in which to gather data from participants regarding their perspectives on
the subject. In addition to regional meetings, the workgroup sponsored a second
summit that was held October 4 and 5,
2005, in northern Kentucky.
The legislative resolutions and much
of what we shared at both the regional
meetings and state summit was informed
by current national research conducted
by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the Civic Mission of
Schools report, and the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning
and Engagement.
Most recently, working in conjunction
with the Center for Civic Education, the
workgroup produced a professional development video devoted to the internationally acclaimed Project Citizen curriculum.
The video, which features sixth-grade students from A.B. Combs Elementary,
located in rural southeastern Kentucky,
aired on KET on October 28 and
continued on page 7
TWO
The Center for Civic Education is a
nonprofit, nonpartisan educational
organization. The mission of the
Center is to promote an enlightened
and responsible citizenry committed
to democratic principles and actively
engaged in the practice of democracy
in the United States and other countries. To attain this goal, the Center
develops and implements civic education programs for public and private schools at the elementary and
secondary levels, cooperating with
educators and scholars in the social
sciences, the humanities, and the
law. The Center offers curricular
materials, leadership training, teacher
education, and research and evaluation for national and international
civic education programs.
Center Correspondent is published
three times a year by the Center for
Civic Education to disseminate information about and to encourage participation in programs primarily funded
by federal grants and contracts.
Executive Director
Charles N. Quigley
Civic Mission of
Schools Underscored
at the Third Annual
Congressional
Conference on Civic
Education
continued from page 1
promotes their productive engagement
in political life.”
Lee H. Hamilton, former Congressman
and Director of the Center on Congress at
Indiana University, encouraged delegates
to harness the energy of the conference
and asked state delegates to return home
committed to providing students with the
civic education tools needed to combat
indifference and apathy. Hamilton said
that it is important to give young people
the knowledge and skills necessary to form
the dispositions required for informed and
effective citizenship.
State delegations convened during the
conference to discuss plans to implement
high-quality civic education programs
within their states. Many delegates
focused on adopting civic education legislation, reforming state civics standards,
broadening civic education coalition
partnerships, and holding state civic education summits.
Legislation to improve civic education
has been introduced in 31 states since the
Sheldon H. Berman, Superintendent of
Schools for Hudson Public Schools in
Hudson, Massachusetts, and a member
of the Massachusetts delegation, asks a
question during a session of the congressional conference. More than 290 participants from each state and the District of
Columbia and representatives from more
than 100 national organizations attended
the conference.
first congressional conference in 2003.
Fourteen of these measures have been
approved. Twenty-one states have hosted
civic education summits to assure that
civic education remains in the spotlight of
education reform.
continued on page 4
General Editor
Tam Taylor
Editor
Mark Gage
Direct inquiries to
Center for Civic Education
5145 Douglas Fir Road
Calabasas, CA 91302-1440
Phone: (818) 591-9321
Fax: (818) 591-9330
Email: cce@civiced.org
Washington Office:
Center for Civic Education
1743 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20009-1108
Phone: (202) 861-8800
Fax: (202) 861-8811
Email: centereast@civiced.org
Tom Foley, former Speaker of the House (left), and Howard Baker, former Majority Leader
of the Senate (right), engaging in a “Dialogue on Democracy” moderated by journalist Judy
Woodruff (center). The former members of Congress discussed the need to promote civility
in public life as a way of maintaining Americans’ engagement with their government.
THREE
Students from the 2005 We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution national
championship class from East Brunswick High School in East Brunswick, New Jersey,
present a simulated congressional hearing on concepts of citizenship during the second
day of the congressional conference.
Civic Mission of
Schools Underscored
at the Third Annual
Congressional
Conference on Civic
Education
continued from page 3
At the opening session of the conference, Tom Foley, former Speaker of
the House, and Howard Baker, former
Majority Leader of the Senate, engaged
in a “Dialogue on Democracy,”
responding to questions from moderator
and veteran broadcast journalist Judy
Woodruff. The former congressional
leaders focused on the need to promote
civility in public life in order to maintain the engagement of the people with
their government.
The dialogue provided momentum for
an open forum discourse titled “Implementing the Key Policies: Action at the
State, District and School Level,” moderated by Charles Merritt, Director of
Government Relations at the Education
Commission of the States. Allen Weinstein, Archivist of the United States,
delivered the keynote address. Michael S.
Greco, President of the American Bar
Association; Timothy Davis, President and
Chief Executive Officer of the Close Up
FOUR
Foundation; and Rita M. Lashway, Deputy
Executive Director of the New York State
School Boards Association discussed the
theme “Our Role in Promoting Civic
Engagement and Civic Education.”
Suellen K. Reed, Indiana Superintendent
of Public Instruction, convened the panel.
Two student groups demonstrated quality curricular approaches to civic education. Students from Alan Brodman’s 2005
We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution national championship team
from East Brunswick High School in East
Brunswick, New Jersey, presented a simulated congressional hearing on concepts of
citizenship. Jeri Thomson, former Secretary of the U.S. Senate; Richard T. Moore,
Massachusetts State Senator; and Barbara
J. Pariente, Chief Justice of the Florida
Supreme Court, served as judges during
the hearing, probing the students’ knowledge of constitutional principles. The content of the students’ discussion allowed
them to join the debate on concepts of
civic responsibility, civic engagement, and
civic renewal. A number of the students’
former classmates returned from their first
year of college to attend the event.
Students from the East Bay Conservation
Corps Charter School in Oakland,
California, present service-learning
aspects of their curriculum to delegates
at the congressional conference.
Elementary school students from the
East Bay Conservation Corps Charter
School in Oakland, California, presented
several aspects of their curriculum, which
focuses on successful service-learning
techniques that create a civically
engaged community.
Stephen G. Breyer, Associate Justice of
the Supreme Court, delivered the keynote
address on the importance of educating
America’s youth to foster a more engaged
and enlightened citizenry. Breyer discussed
the importance of involving citizens in
public policy: “We carry on what is
politely called a conversation or what is
less politely called a big screaming match.
And who gets involved? It involves teachers, it involves the classroom, it involves
professors, it involves civil liberties groups,
it involves police chiefs, it involves newspapers and articles and journalists and
everybody under the sun.”
Civic education is essential for participation in a republican democracy, Breyer
said. “Why does democracy work in America? It’s called participation. And where
does it come from? It comes from education…it comes from systems in grammar
school, in high school, where…you learn
how government works, not just on paper,
you learn how to cooperate with each
other.” Concluding his remarks, Breyer
told the audience that he agreed with
the East Brunswick students on the purpose of high-quality civic education:
“That’s what we think is important, and
that’s what the students said: they were
talking about the obligations and duties
of citizenship.”
On the final day, delegates discussed
the obligations and duties of their own
state’s coalitions. Deborah A. Price,
Assistant Deputy Secretary of the
Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools,
praised quality civic education practices
and emphasized the need to fund effective civic education programs and policies. Karl Kurtz, Director of the Trust
for Representative Democracy of the
National Conference of State Legislatures, gave a visual presentation titled
“Representative Democracy in America: Voices of the People” that complemented Price’s vision of well-funded,
successful programs that ultimately lead
to a civically engaged nation.
In a lively concluding plenary session
that resembled a political convention,
a representative from each state’s delegation arose to recommit to the campaign to promote civic learning in
schools. The delegates presented their
2006 action plans to the general body,
and many states’ coalitions pledged to
further the civic mission of schools by
implementing specific policies, by regularly revisiting these policies, and
by ensuring that promising practices
in civic education reach every American classroom.
At a closing reception at the Dirksen
Senate Office Building, Senator Michael
B. Enzi of Wyoming, Chairman of the
Senate Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions Committee, lauded the accomplishments of state delegations and urged
them to continue to improve the status
of civic education in the United States.
Conference delegates briefed their
members of Congress on their statewide
efforts to strengthen civic education.
Many congressional offices offered support to the delegates and their activities.
Delegates returned to their states and
organizations with renewed momentum
to promote civic engagement and civic
education. They resolved to advance the
civic mission of schools and promote the
obligations and duties of citizenship.
Alabama State Representative Priscilla Dunn adds her remarks to a discussion during a
session of the congressional conference.
The Fourth Annual Congressional
Conference on Civic Education will be
held at the Hilton Washington Hotel in
November 2006.
For information about the congressional conferences on civic education,
visit w w w . r e p r e s e n t a t i v e d e m o c r a c y . o r g.
For more information, contact Mark Molli
(molli@civiced.org) or Ted McConnell
(mcconnell@civiced.org) at the Center. ■
Senator Michael B. Enzi of Wyoming (center), speaks with Matt Strannigan (left), a state
facilitator from Cheyenne; Wyoming State Representative Rosie Berger (right); and attorney
Robert Berger (second from right) of Lonabaugh and Riggs, LLP. In his speech at the closing
reception for the congressional conference, Enzi encouraged state delegations to continue to
improve the status of civic education.
FIVE
In Memoriam: Roy Erickson, 1941–2006
R
oy Erickson, a longtime colleague
and staff member of the Center
for Civic Education, passed away on
March 3, 2006, after a two-year battle
with leukemia.
Roy began his affiliation with the
Center in 1968 while serving as a
social studies specialist for the San
Juan Unified School District. He was
recruited by Charles N. Quigley, Executive Director of the Center, to pilot
the original Law in a Free Society curriculum in schools in his district. He
became the state coordinator for We
the People: The Citizen and the Constitution in 1990, and helped pilot the
American Youth Citizenship Portfolio
Project in California in 1993, which
was the precursor to We the People:
Project Citizen. In 1995, Roy joined the
Center as the Director of the Justice
Education Program. He was among the
first group of teachers who helped
launch the Center’s international education for democracy programs in
Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1996 and
later worked in Croatia, Slovakia,
Latvia, and Ireland.
Roy was active in the National Council
for the Social Studies and the California
“
Roy Erickson typified virtues that
exemplify the American ideal of a good
person and a good citizen. He was
straightforward, without guile, honest,
plainspoken, outspoken, trustworthy,
loyal, humorous, irreverent, dedicated
to American ideals and principles, and
a true friend. He was a unique person,
unforgettable, and irreplaceable.
”
—Charles N. Quigley
Executive Director
Center for Civic Education
Council for the Social Studies (CCSS).
He served as President of the National
Social Studies Supervisors Association in
1986. In 2000 Roy received the Hilda
Taba Award from CCSS for his outstanding contributions to the teaching of
social studies in California. He was a
two-time recipient of the Liberty Bell
Award from the Sacramento County Bar
Association and received many other
awards recognizing his service.
Roy is remembered for the breadth of
his knowledge in the social studies, his
commitment to civic education, his
many hours of service to the work of
the Center, his good humor, and—on
occasion—his irascible nature. The
greatest testimony to his life and career
will be the innumerable students who
are better citizens because of Roy.
The Center has established the Roy
Erickson Memorial Fund to support a tribute to be made annually at the California
We the People state competition. For
more information or to donate to the
fund, visit www.civiced.org.
Roy will be missed by all the staff and
extended network of the Center as well
as by countless individuals across the
country and throughout the world. ■
Ojibwe Culture Reinforces Violence Prevention
Program Curriculum at Wisconsin School
S
chool Violence Prevention Demonstration Program Director Maria
Gallo and Program Coordinator Megan
Linford visited Hayward, Wisconsin, in
October 2005 to observe the Violence
Prevention Program at the Lac Courte
Oreilles Ojibwe reservation. The Lac
Courte Oreilles tribe’s program is part of
the Center’s Native American Initiative.
Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe School is
the center of the Violence Prevention
Program on the reservation. At the
school, teachers make cultural connections between the curricular materials
used in the program and the rich history
of the Ojibwe people.
Teacher Linda Schuyler invited Gallo
and Linford to observe her seventh-grade
class as they held an adapted version of
a town hall meeting as part of their
SIX
participation in the Foundations of
Democracy curriculum. Students acted as
members of the tribal council and made
decisions about local tribal concerns.
Gallo and Linford later attended a
dress powwow held at the school, which
allowed them to see many of the same
students paying tribute to their heritage.
The Violence Prevention Program
began its seventh programmatic year by
holding a meeting for Violence Prevention Program trainers. The seminar, held
July 21–24, 2005, in Pasadena, California, brought together trainers to share
their expertise in training strategies and
tools. Participants worked in small groups
to develop ideas on how to implement
and standardize best training practices.
The Violence Prevention Program held
its annual fall administrative meeting
October 27–30, 2005, in Pasadena. The
24 participants focused on the 2005–06
program year and reviewed the accomplishments of the previous year. Site
coordinators shared ideas on strengthening the Violence Prevention Program in
their respective sites and attending several professional development sessions.
The Violence Prevention Program has
24 sites in 18 states. Two pilot programs
began in January 2006: a rural site in
Henry County, Kentucky, and an urban
site in Baltimore, Maryland.
For more information about the
School Violence Prevention Demonstration Program or the Native American
Initiative, visit the Center’s website at
www.civiced.org. ■
Center Helps Schools Affected
by Hurricane Katrina
T
he Center responded to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina
by resupplying Louisiana and Mississippi
schools with We the People: The Citizen
and the Constitution and We the People:
Project Citizen materials. Charles N.
Quigley, the Center’s Executive Director,
pledged to send an additional year’s allotment of materials, beyond their normal
allocation, to both states. “If the demand
is greater, we will do what we can to fill
it,” said Quigley.
By December 1 the Center had
received requests from 32 different
schools for additional We the People
Programs materials.
John Alexander, We the People Programs Louisiana state coordinator, said on
November 15 that an estimated 60–70
schools would need replacement materials
by the end of 2005. Alexander said that
every school in Orleans Parish had been
closed by Katrina and that the hurricane
had closed more than 250 schools across
the state.
Louisiana schools that had reopened
were providing the best education possible
despite the hardships they have endured.
George Allan, a social studies teacher at
John Ehret High School, the largest high
school in Louisiana, hosted students arriving from the affected parishes and evacuees returning from Dallas and Houston.
Allan said, “There is so much chaos right
now, but teaching We the People to my
kids keeps them and me going.”
Susie Burroughs, We the People Programs Mississippi state coordinator, has
been busy distributing her allotment of
relief materials throughout the state.
Donna Torres, Program Director for
Mississippi’s Bay St. Louis–Waveland
Promoting Civic
Literacy in Kentucky
I applaud the efforts
of the other 50 delegations to the congressional conferences on
civic education. I urge
all concerned citizens to
get involved in the
efforts to strengthen and
promote civic education
and civic engagement in
their states. It is important to our nation’s
future that we combat
civic disengagement. We
share a responsibility to
ensure that each generation
of
Americans
receives the education
necessary
for
fully
informed, engaged, and
responsible citizenship. ■
continued from page 2
November 3, 2005, and on March 1,
2006. We encourage other delegations to
use the video in their own states.
The Kentucky workgroup is a truly
dynamic entity—the synergy is apparent to
all who witness the group in action. The
other quality that has made the team so
successful is the fact that realism guides our
recommendations to improve civic education. We recognize the other larger forces
affecting education, such as the desire (and
need) to increase our math and science
emphasis in schools, and the impact that
those forces will have on our efforts.
By coming together as a team—educators, elected officials, the judiciary,
and concerned citizens—we are making
a difference in the civic education our
students receive here in Kentucky.
Much remains to be done, and the Kentucky workgroup will continue our
work to strengthen civic education.
School District, wrote to the Center to
express the school district’s gratitude for
the Center’s assistance. “I would like to
thank you for providing the ‘W
We the
People’ curriculum for our district,” said
Torres. “Our teachers are excited to have
this curriculum in our classroom.”
In a memorandum sent to state, region,
and district coordinators of the We the
People Programs in the affected states on
September 12, Quigley wrote, “I speak for
all of us at the Center who, each day, have
witnessed the devastation and loss that
many of you, your families, friends, and fellow citizens have suffered when I say that
you are in our hearts and minds.”
Teachers who would like to order
replacement books should contact their
district coordinator or call the Center at
800-350-4223. ■
The Kentucky Workgroup on Civic Literacy and Engagement and the Center for Civic
Education produced a professional development video that features sixth-grade students
from Kentucky’s A.B. Combs Elementary. The video has been distributed to We the
People: Project Citizen coordinators in every congressional district in the United States.
SEVEN
W e the People
Seminar Increases Understanding
of the Civil Rights Movement
W
e the People: A Seminar on Civil
Rights” was held September
9–12, 2005, in Birmingham, Alabama.
This was the third year of the annual seminar, which featured presentations by noted
civil rights activists and leaders. The event
was held in partnership with the Alabama
Center for Law and Civic Education and
the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.
Twenty-five teachers from across the
country and local teachers from the Birmingham City and Jefferson County school
systems experienced living history as they
toured the Sixteenth Street Baptist
Church, site of the September 15, 1963,
bombing that killed four young girls.
Former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones
walked participants through the evidence
he presented as lead prosecutor in State of
Alabama v. Thomas Edwin Blanton, Jr., in
which Jones helped to convict the former
Klansman of murdering the four girls.
Presentations by William Collins, Professor of History and Political Science at
Samford University, and Janice Kelsey, a
participant in the 1963 student marches
in Birmingham, helped provide context
for the political and social atmosphere
surrounding the movement.
Reverend Wilson Fallin Jr. of the
University of Montevallo described the
role African American church leaders
played in helping to organize the student
movements and serve as spokespersons for
the African American community. Each
presenter helped to set the stage for the
featured speaker, Dorothy Cotton.
Cotton shared her experiences as the
former Director of Citizenship Education
for the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, the civil rights organization
founded by Martin Luther King Jr. Cotton recalled her interest in civic education as being rooted in the inspiration of
her English teacher, who believed that
Cotton could make a difference. Cotton
spoke about using the Constitution and
the Bill of Rights as an instrument to
teach African Americans to read and
understand their rights. She described
the meetings in which she and other
teachers helped to prepare marchers to
peacefully engage in civil disobedience
without violent retaliation.
“Thank you does not begin to express
how I feel about having the opportunity to
learn more about the civil rights movement,” said one participant. “I am forever
changed and feel a renewed sense of why I
teach and what my job as teacher is.”
Participants toured the Birmingham
Civil Rights Institute, a museum that
serves as a depository for civil rights
archives and documents. Other activities
included a walking tour of Kelley Ingram
Park, the center of confrontation
between local police and student
marchers during the 1960s, and lesson
demonstrations by School Violence Prevention Demonstration Program Site
Coordinator Martha Bouyer. ■
Dorothy Cotton, former Director of
Citizenship Education for the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference, speaking
to participants during “We the People: A
Seminar on Civil Rights,” held September
9–12, 2005, in Birmingham, Alabama.
Be sure to bookmark the Center for Civic Education website
www.civiced.org
• Information on the Center’s Campaign to Promote
Civic Education
• Information about the Representative Democracy in
America: Voices of the People project
• Sample lessons from Center texts
• Education for Democracy: California Civic
Education Scope & Sequence
• A recently released study of the 2005 We the
People: The Citizen and the Constitution national
finalists
• Research and evaluation confirming the effectiveness of Center programs
• A link to the Center’s online store
• A calendar of events that can be sorted by program
• National Standards for Civics and Government
• Articles and papers on civic education
• Res Publica: An International Framework for
Education in Democracy
• Back issues of the Center Correspondent
A wealth of civics-related materials
EIGHT
Perspectives of Two Duane E.
Smith Memorial Intern Fellows
T
he Center offers summer intern
fellowships in its Washington,
D.C., and Los Angeles offices. These
fellowships are inspired by the memory
of Duane E. Smith, a professor of political science at the University of California, Los Angeles, and an Associate
Director of the Center. The intern fellowship was established to enable two
former We the People: The Citizen and
the Constitution students each year to
deepen their knowledge as they help
advance the work of the We the People
program.
Duane E. Smith Memorial Intern Fellow
Nikki Best worked with the We the People
Programs in the summer of 2005 at the
Center’s Calabasas, California, office. Best
is a senior at the University of Arizona,
where she is an interdisciplinary studies/
international studies major.
Nikki Best
As I end my experience as an intern, I
am moved to thank the wonderful teachers at Dobson High School in Mesa, Arizona, who taught the We the People
program. I am thankful for more than just
the one year of competition at Dobson,
because thanks to their faith in my abilities, I have had the opportunity to be continually involved in this program. The
experience of that year has morphed into
not only lifelong civic involvement but
also the chance to work in civic education.
I spent the past two months working
mostly on the growth of the We the People alumni network. I helped new State
Alumni Representatives (STARS) adjust
to their positions and recruited STARS
in states that did not have them. I
helped design resources, including
alumni accessibility in the Center’s Partner Access Website, which will make the
enormous job of a STAR more manageable. Also, I presented a breakout session
for alumni at the We the People coordinator conference.
Outside of my work with the alumni
network, I have assisted in updating the
correlations available on the website for
both the We the People: The Citizen and
the Constitution and the We the People:
Project Citizen programs. I helped at a
competitive elementary school hearing,
a hearing and portfolio evaluation for
Project Citizen, and assisted national
academy participants.
My time here has been incredibly
rewarding. I have had the opportunity to
work with a group of highly dedicated
people and have learned so much. I leave
here proud of the small contribution I
have been able to make toward such an
important cause.
Scott Daniel worked as the Duane E.
Smith Memorial Intern Fellow at the Center’s Washington, D.C., office during the
summer of 2005. Daniel was a member of
the 2000 We the People national finals
class from Edward C. Reed High School
in Sparks, Nevada. He graduated in
December 2005 from the University of
Nevada, where he majored in history and
political science.
Scott Daniel
When I am asked by peers and elders
what I am majoring in as an undergraduate, I am often confronted with an echoing question: “So what exactly are you
going to do with a degree in history and
political science?” My usual retort is a selfeffacing quip along the lines of lifelong
employment as a barista at Starbucks. But
the question is still valid, since the majority of my time in college has been spent
buried in books and papers and other
ivory tower hazards of academia—a lot of
knowledge, little real world application. I
guess part of the reason I have always
wanted to go to graduate school to further
my education is because I just haven’t
been quite sure what I want to do.
After interning with the Center in
Washington, D.C., however, I now know
exactly what I want to do. This city is the
epicenter of the political world, where
real people with real names and faces
engage in a large-scale chess game of
strategic lobbying and networking, positioning themselves and their organizations on the federal agenda. I have
witnessed it firsthand in congressional
We the People: The Citizen
and the Constitution , the most
extensive program of its kind in
the country, brings the study of
the U.S. Constitution and Bill of
Rights to elementary, middle,
and high school students. The
program is implemented by a network of 50 state coordinators and
435 district coordinators.
We the People is funded by the
U.S. Department of Education
under the Edu cation for
Democracy Act approved by the
United States Congress.
For more information on We the
People, contact Robert Leming at
the Center (leming@civiced.org).
committee chambers, in casual conversations over dinner, and in the activities I
am engaged in here at the Center. In our
cramped office of eight hard-working civic
educators on Connecticut Avenue, we
have devoted ourselves to the promotion
of civic education on the national and
state legislative agendas. In preparing for
the fall congressional conference on civic
education, I learned a great deal about
how our system of government works and
discovered what sort of energy and effort
it takes to put civic education on the
agenda of our nation’s schools.
This is why I want to devote my life
and career to promoting constitutional
law and history through civic education.
The educational process that began during my senior year of high school in We
the People continued through my
undergraduate years and into the next
stages of my life. The once two-dimensional topics of the original textbook
have come alive in three-dimensional
realities. My experiences in working
with Mark Molli and his staff, as well as
working with Congress and other organizations in our effort to promote civic
education have convinced me that it is
my duty not simply to have acquired
civic knowledge and skills through my
studies, but to become an active participant in the political process. Our system simply needs engaged citizens who
understand not only their constitutional
rights but also their responsibilities. ■
NINE
P
roject Citizen
Lone Star State Hosts Project Citizen
Coordinator Confere n c e
T
he Fourth Annual W e the People: Project Citizen Coordinator
Conference was held October 7–10,
2005, in Dallas. More than 400 state
and district coordinators participated
in the conference—the largest attendance to date—including more than 70
first-time conference participants.
Coordinators convened for the conference to develop statewide program
implementation plans and to network
with other coordinators to share best
practices used by their states.
The opening day of the conference
highlighted new Project Citizen
instructional materials, including the
revised student text and portfolio evaluation forms.
Boy Scout Troop 838 from Addison,
Texas, led the opening plenary session
with a flag salute ceremony, marking
the first time a non–school-based
youth group has participated in the
conference.
Arizona State Representative David
T. Bradley presented a keynote address
on civic duty in which he described the
ideal citizen as an active citizen.
Bradley said that he worked with a
group of P roject Citizen students in
Tucson to help draft their anti-bullying
action plan into “cogent legislation”
that was passed by the legislature and
later signed into state law. One coordinator praised Bradley’s speech as
having “reminded us of our purpose.”
To read Bradley’s speech in its entirety,
visit the Center’s website
at
www.civiced.org/articles.php.
Six students from Stell Middle School
in Brownsville, Texas, spoke about their
Project Citizen experience with teacher
and Texas District 27 Coordinator Martin
Leal. One student interpreted the presentation “Dude, Where’s Your Helmet?”
using sign language while other students
spoke about the project.
Joe Stewart, Professor and Chair of the
Department of Political Science at Clemson University, gave a speech that
described 10 ways in which Project Citizen
educates citizens for public policy analysis.
Jan Goehring, a Program Director for
the Trust for Representative Democracy
TEN
Students from Stell Middle School in Brownsville, Texas, presented their Project Citizen
portfolio at the Fourth Annual We the People: Project Citizen Coordinator
Conference, held October 7–10, 2005, in Dallas. Martin Leal (standing at left) is the
students’ teacher and the Texas District 27 coordinator. Michael Fischer (standing next
to Leal) is the Director of We the People: Project Citizen.
of the National Conference of State Legislatures, spoke about the expansion of
the America’s Legislators Back to School
program from one month to the entire
academic year. The program encourages
state legislators to visit young people in
their classrooms to give students an
insight into the legislative process and to
help them discover what it is like to
serve the country as an elected official.
Delegates Ivana Havlinova, Director
of Civitas in the Czech Repbublic, and
Marcela Maslova, Program Director for
Slovakia’s Orava Association for Democratic Education, spoke about the
growth of Project Citizen in their countries and the impact the program is having on their students and communities.
The conference also included three
strands of breakout sessions for new
and advanced coordinators. Many of
the sessions were generated from proposals submitted to the Center by state
and district coordinators.
Texas We the People Programs State
Coordinator Jan Miller and Washington
We the People Programs State Coordinator Kathy Hand organized a donation
drive for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Participants donated nonperishable
food and clothing, which was taken to
the local Red Cross for distribution.
The 2006 coordinator conference
will be held October 7–9, 2006, in
Denver, Colorado. ■
NEWS from the STATES
W E
T H E
California
District 29 Co-Coordinators Irma
Hernandez-Conrad and Pam Allender met with Representative Adam
Schiff (CA-29) during the We the
People: The Citizen and the Constitution Coordinator Conference, held
June 25–28, 2005, in Washington,
D.C. Before becoming a congressman,
Schiff had served with the U.S.
Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. He
has also judged the We the People
simulated congressional hearings.
Hernandez-Conrad said, “that is why
he is so supportive: because he has
We the
firsthand knowledge of the [W
People] Programs.”
We the People: Project Citizen
Region 7 Coordinator Michelle Herczog organized the Project Citizen
Juvenile Justice Institute, held August
22–25, 2005, in Pasadena. Twenty-
P E O P L E
P R O G R A M S
nine teachers participated in the
institute. Trainers included California We the People Programs State
Coordinator Roy Erickson, Center
Director of Curriculum Development
Kenneth Rodriguez, Center Senior
Consultant Norma Wright, and
teacher trainer James Mayo.
The event was sponsored by the
Educational Programs division of the
Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE). Darline Robles,
County Superintendent of Schools,
said that she is looking forward to
introducing civic education in court
schools and alternative education settings in Los Angeles County.
“We want our students to develop
the skills Project Citizen will promote,”
a teacher said, “We want them to be
actively involved participants. Personally, I see involvement in education as
creating emotional growth and a
greater sense of competence. This is
their ticket out of the juvenile justice
system.”
Herczog said, “LACOE was
extremely grateful to the Center for
providing the trainers and resources in
creating a once-in-a-lifetime professional development opportunity to
help our students develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to
embrace public policy as a vehicle for
improving their lives and their communities.”
Florida
Barbara Blakeslee, coordinator for
the We the People Programs in Districts 19 and 22, represented both
programs at the Florida Association
for the Gifted (FLAG) conference,
held October 14–15, 2005, at the
Buena Vista Palace Resort and Spa in
Lake Buena Vista. “It was fantastic,”
said Blakeslee. “Of the 50 teachers,
most wanted to sign up to teach
either or both of the courses.”
Blakeslee used an interactive presentation style that modeled the format of the We the People Programs.
“I think teachers are so used to having presenters just talk to them and
show a PowerPoint that [this] really
moved them. Several teachers spoke
to me about how much it meant to
them to be able to discuss something
so deep with their colleagues.”
Montana
Representative Adam Schiff (CA-29) (second from right) meets with several
California district coordinators during the We the People: The Citizen and the
Constitution Coordinator Conference, held June 25–28, 2005, in Washington,
D.C. Kim Allender (left), is a fifth-grade teacher at Joaquin Miller Elementary School
in Burbank, California, Co-President of the Burbank Teachers Association, and a
former district coordinator; Pam Allender (second from left) and Irma HernandezConrad (far right) are District 29 co-coordinators. Pam Allender is also a member of
the Center’s Board of Directors.
Sally Broughton was elected Vice
President of the Montana Education
Association/Montana Federation of
Teachers for 2005–06 during the
organization’s conference, held
October 20–21, 2005, in Missoula.
Broughton is the President Elect of
the Montana Council for the Social
Studies for 2006–07.
Broughton is a member of the
Montana delegation to the congressional conference on civic education,
the state coordinator for Project Citizen, and a member of the Civics
Standing Committee of the National
Assessment of Educational Progress.
continued on page 12
ELEVEN
NEWS from the STATES
W E
T H E
In October, Governor Brian
Schweitzer presented Broughton’s seventh-grade Project Citizen class from
Monforton School in Bozeman with
the 2005 Governor’s Award for Civic
Engagement. Broughton’s class represented Montana at the Ninth Annual
Project Citizen National Showcase,
held August 16–20 in Seattle. The
class received a rating of Superior for
their portfolio, which addressed problems with a Bozeman jail.
Ohio
We the People alumna Addie Gannon is the new Project Citizen state
coordinator. Suzanne Besanceney
resigned after four years in the position. As a student at The Ohio State
University, Gannon was selected as a
Glenn Fellow by the John Glenn
Institute of Public Service and Public
Policy. Gannon recently worked for
the university as an Admissions
Counselor/Territory Manager.
P E O P L E
P R O G R A M S
easily relate to their students’ initial
uneasiness at presenting their projects
and being questioned in front of
peers. One teacher said, “I was nervous about being in the line of fire, but
I have a better understanding of how
my students feel.”
Pennsylvania
Project Citizen was the focus of
the First Annual Dwight Evans
Civic Leadership Summit, held on
October 28, 2005. Nineteen students from six high schools presented Project Citizen portfolios at
the meeting. Students were selected
to present at the summit based on
grade point average, letters of recommendation, and an essay on what
it means to be a good citizen.
Students began working on their
projects after school and on the
weekends two months before the
summit began. Staff from State Representative Dwight Evans’s office visited
the students in their schools and
assisted them with their projects.
The summit provided an opportunity
for the students to share their projects
and to participate in professional
Oklahoma
Oklahoma held its first-ever elementary We the People teacher training August 2–3, 2005. Twenty-four
teachers attended the workshop.
Experienced educational consultants
Sandy Baker of Munster, Indiana, and
Carol Ochs of Norman, Oklahoma,
spoke at the training.
Teacher participants reported that
as a result of the workshop, they could
Pennsylvania State Representative Dwight Evans visits students at the New Media
Technology Charter School in Philadelphia on September 17, 2005. The students
were preparing to participate in the First Annual Dwight Evans Civic Leadership
Summit on October 28. Evans spoke to the students about public policy from a state
perspective and the role they can play in public policy.
See the online publication
Res Publica: An International Framework
for Education in Democracy
www.civiced.org/PDFS/respublica2005.pdf
Res Publica: An International Framework for Education in Democracy is
an expression of a cross-cultural consensus on the central meanings and
character of the ideas, values, and institutions of democracy.
The Framework is intended for use by teachers, educational policymakers,
curriculum developers, and teacher education and credentialing institutions
responsible for training competent classroom teachers.
View and download your free copy today.
TWELVE
NEWS from the STATES
W E
T H E
P E O P L E
P R O G R A M S
development training. Parents
and teachers attended sessions held in conjunction with
student sessions that explored
teaching civics and parental
perspectives of Project Citizen.
Wisconsin
Project Citizen State Coordinator Jack Jarmes conducted a
workshop on August 9, 2005, at
the state capitol in Madison for
tenth- and eleventh-grade Russian students from School Gymnasium Number 47 in the
Siberian city of Kurgan. The students were visiting Wisconsin as
part of the Fox Cities–Kurgan
Sister Cities Program.
The Russian students collaborated with American
Students work on their We the People: Project Citizen
portfolio as part of their participation in the Fox Cities–
Kurgan Sister Cities Program. Russian students from
Kurgan, Siberia, visited the Wisconsin state capitol in
Madison on August 9, 2005.
students from a Wisconsin
elementary school, four
high schools, and three universities to present a Project
Citizen public policy portfolio with the help of an
interpreter. The portfolio
examined funding for an
addition to the Russian students’ school that would
increase classroom size and
the number of lab areas.
Impressed with the results
of the workshop, the YouthLEAD program of the Fox
Cities–Kurgan Sister Cities
organization, which sponsored the Russian students,
decided to use Project Citiz e n as the basis for future
exchanges. ■
Read R. Freeman Butts’s
The Morality of Democratic Citizenship:
Goals for Civic Education in the Republic’s Third Century
http://www.civiced.org/morality/morality_toc.html
The Morality of Democratic Citizenship provides a summary of the main ideas and values
behind the global effort to create an education for democratic citizenship.
The book explains the principles behind democratic citizenship that can be used by teachers,
policymakers, curriculum developers, and authors to form a basis for school curriculum and
instruction in the United States and in developing democracies.
This online version includes Butts’s 2000 introduction with the
Twelve Tables of Civitas: Foundations of a Constitutional Democracy,
his revised schema for civic education.
THIRTEEN
C
ivitas International Programs
Center Begins New Design of Project Citizen for
Jordan Information Technology Project
M
embers of the project team
developing an e-enabled version of We the People: Project Citizen
gathered at the Center’s headquarters
in Calabasas, California, for a week of
design and planning meetings, October
17–21, 2005. The U.S. Agency for
International Development in Jordan
presented the Jordanian Center for
Civic Education Studies (JCCES),
Menhaj Educational Technologies, and
the Center with a two-year, $1.5
million award to develop online software in Arabic and English that will
support teachers and students as they
learn about Project Citizen and build
student portfolios. The award began on
September 25.
The Jordan E-Enabled Civic Education
Project is managed by the Center in collaboration with JCCES, Menhaj, and the
Jordanian Ministry of Education. Dan
Prinzing, Coordinator of Civics, Service,
Character, and International Education
for the Idaho Department of Education,
will serve as the Center’s program manager for the project. The software will be
linked to a new version of the We the
People: Project Citizen text that has cues
to point students to the online program.
When students visit a website, they
will interact with a multimedia program
that will teach them about public policy,
help them develop interviewing and
research skills, and assist them with each
of the steps of developing a group portfolio. The website will also include training
tools for teachers and mechanisms for students to communicate with other classrooms engaged in Project Citizen across
the globe.
The e-enabled curricular materials
developed by the Center, Menhaj,
JCCES, and the Ministry of Education
will be introduced in 50 Discovery
Schools in Jordan. Discovery Schools
are public schools that have been
infused with classroom technology and
are used to pilot new curricular materials and educational methodologies.
JCCES, Arab Civitas, and Menhaj will
be responsible for training and continuous support of the teachers during
implementation. Menhaj is one of the
leading creative educational software
developers in the Middle East.
Software development is taking place
from October 2005 to September 2006.
Implementation of the full e-enabled
curriculum will take place during the
spring semester of 2007. Following
implementation, the Center and its
partners will conduct an assessment of
student knowledge of the public policy
process and a one-day reflective forum
for teachers and the Jordanian educational community. The Center, in cooperation with the Idaho Department of
Education, will conduct a pilot program
with U.S. teachers and students using
the e-enabled curriculum. ■
Indonesian Project Citizen Alumna
Meets Secre t a ry of State
A
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (left)
meets Aqsha Karbela (right), a former We
the People: Project Citizen student and
participant in the Indonesia Youth
Leadership Program, in Washington,
D.C., on October 25, 2005.
FOURTEEN
qsha Karbela, an alumna of Project Citizen and the Indonesia
Youth Leadership Program, met with
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in
Washington, D.C., on October 25,
2005. Rice joined Karbela, ambassadors
from Islamic nations, celebrities, and
politicians in the iftaar meal, which
concludes each day of fasting during
the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Karbela said, “It was an honor for me
to attend the dinner and meet many
people who care about peace in the
world, from all around the world.”
Karbela is a participant in the State
Department’s Youth Exchange and Study
Program and lives with an American family in Windsor, Colorado, where she
attends Windsor High School.
In addition to her school responsibilities, Karbela hosts a weekly radio show
on MTV Trax FM in Jakarta, where she
describes her life in the United States.
Karbela is from East Jakarta on the
Indonesian island of Java. She
attended Pesantren Darrunajah, an
Islamic boarding school that has several cooperative projects with the Center’s Indonesia office.
“I’ll never forget my first experiences
with the Center’s programs,” Karbela
said. “They were an inspiration for me
to learn more and forge a bond of
friendship between the people of
Indonesia and the United States.”
The Center has been active in
Indonesia for more than seven years
and has trained teachers and educated
hundreds of thousands of students in
provinces stretching from Aceh, on
Sumatra, to the island of New Guinea.
The Indonesia Youth Leadership
Program is managed for the State
Department by the Center in cooperation with Legacy International. ■
Center Conducts Conference in
Germany on Responsible
Citizenship
T
he annual German–American
conference on civic education
was held in Freiburg, Germany, September 10–16, 2005. The theme of the
conference was “Responsible Citizenship, Education, and the Constitution.”
The conference was cosponsored by the
Federal Center for Political Education
of the Federal Republic of Germany
and the Center for Civic Education.
The weeklong conference featured
scholarly presentations and discussions
on topics ranging from the rights and
responsibilities of citizenship to the
nature of citizenship and civic participation in supranational political entities, such as the European Union.
Discussions centered on the role civic
education can play in addressing citizenship at the local, regional, national,
and supranational levels and helping
youth to navigate increasingly complex
political environments.
Brian J. Gaines, Professor of Political
Science and an affiliate of the Institute
of Government and Public Affairs,
University of Illinois at Urbana–
Champagne, presented a paper on the
importance of empirical election esearch
for understanding the role of the citizen
in modern democracies. Diana Owen,
Associate Professor of Political Science
and Director of American Studies at
Georgetown University, presented her
work on empirical research on American
identity, citizenship, and multiculturalism. Alden Craddock, Assistant Professor, School of Teaching and Learning,
Bowling Green State University, spoke
about his research on teaching democracy abroad to promote more peaceful
international relations. Professor Wolfgang Sander of Justus-Liebig University,
Giessen, delivered a paper on the basic
goals of the development of standards for
political education in Germany.
Center Associate Director Margaret
Branson and Sharareh Frouzesh Bennett,
the Center’s Manager of Program Development, also presented papers at the
conference. Branson focused on changes
in America’s political landscape and
their implications for civic education.
Frouzesh Bennett discussed her analysis
of the depiction of democratic participation in the three most widely used American civics textbooks, noting an
overarching tension between the emphasis placed on the role of active citizenship within American democracy and its
institutional characterization.
Because the conference took place
during the week preceding the September 18, 2005, German elections, the
From left to right, Richard Nuccio, Director of Civitas International Programs; Dietmar
Kahsnitz, Professor, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany; Jayme
Sokolow, President, The Development Source, Inc.; and Clara Slifkin, Administrative Law
Judge, California Office of Administrative Hearings, School Education Division, and
Secretary of the Center’s Board of Directors, at a session of the annual German–American
conference on civic education, held in Freiburg, Germany, September 10–16, 2005.
Civitas International Programs
are directed by the Center for Civic
Education and funded by the U.S.
Department of Education under
the Education for Democracy Act
approved by the United States
Congress; additional support is
provided by the U.S. Department
of State, the U.S. Agency for
International Development, and
other sources.
For more information about
international programs, contact
Richard Nuccio at the Center
(nuccio@civiced.org).
agenda included election-related outings
and presentations. Participants listened
to then-candidate Angela Merkel’s
stump speech during a lively gathering in
Freiburg’s main square on September 14.
Merkel, the leader of the Christian
Democratic Union, was sworn in as Germany’s first woman chancellor on
November 22.
During the final day of the conference, participants observed a panel
debate between local Freiburg candidates for the Bundestag, the German
parliament.
Debate
participants
included Gernot Erler of the Social
Democrats, Kerstin Andreae of the
Green Party, and Conny Mayer of the
Christian Democrats. The debate was
moderated by Thomas Fricker, the
deputy editor-in-chief of the Badische
Z e i t u n g. Candidates presented and
debated their platforms and engaged in a
candid question and answer session with
conference participants.
Center Associate Director John Hale
said, “I was amazed that prominent German politicians would devote most of the
morning just two days before a landmark
election to an international group of
modest size that included only two or
three voters from their states. Equally surprising and delightful were their off-therecord candor, their civility, and their
lack of posturing during the forum.”
Selected papers from the conference
are available on the Center’s website at
www.civiced.org. ■
FIFTEEN
NEWS from the SITES
C I V I T A S
I N T E R N A T I O N A L
Albania
The Center conducted the first
training for a We the People: Project
Citizen pilot program in Durres, Albania, September 5–9, 2005. Center consultants Dee Morgan and Doug Phillips
trained 20 teachers and 8 school principals in grades 8–12 during a four-day
seminar.
Albanian teachers and school directors
organize their We the People: Project
Citizen portfolios during a Project
Citizen pilot program training held in
Durres, Albania, September 5–9, 2005.
The Albanian educators chose to
address the problem of pollution as
their training portfolio exercise. Participants narrowed their focus to the
widespread problem of trash dumping
after a lively morning of debate to
determine which kind of pollution
should be considered a priority.
Classroom implementation of P r oject Citizen began at the start of the
new school year on September 15. The
new country coordinator for Project
Citizen in Albania, Shefqet Shyti,
Civic and Faith-Based Education Project Coordinator for the Institute for
Development Research and Alternatives, collaborated with Astrit Dautaj,
Director of the Association for the
European Dimension, to develop a
monitoring and evaluation team
that will visit classrooms once a
month during the pilot program.
SIXTEEN
The Center funded the Project Citizen pilot program through a special
projects grant requested by Dautaj.
Arab Civitas
Arab Civitas conducted its first Project Citizen training workshop in
Saudi Arabia at the King Faisal School
in Riyadh, September 17–21, 2005.
The workshop drew 25 teachers
from King Faisal School, Kingdom
Schools, Al Riyadh School, King
Saud University, and the Educational Training Department of the
Ministry of Education.
An Arab Civitas trainer said that
the participants were very enthusiastic
and showed “an impressive commitment” to introducing the concepts of
civic education to their students.
Trainers from the Arab Civitas network traveled to Algeria to conduct
two simultaneous Project Citizen workshops in Algiers, September 22–25.
Two trainers from Lebanon conducted
a Project Citizen workshop for nine private school teachers and child psychologists at the Hotel Mouflon D’Or,
while two trainers from Egypt conducted a workshop for 18 teachers at
the Forem headquarters. Forem is a
P R O G R A M S
nongovernmental organization serving
communities traumatized by violence
ascribed to Islamic extremists.
The level of interest and educational expertise of the Algerian participants impressed the Arab Civitas
trainers, and the interactive methodology used by the trainers and the
Project Citizen materials impressed
the Algerian participants.
Argentina
The Fourth Summit of the Americas
was held in Mar del Plata, Argentina,
November 4–5, 2005. The summit,
organized by the Organization of American States (OAS), brought together
heads of state of the Americas to discuss issues of importance to the region.
The theme of the summit was “Creating Jobs to Fight Poverty and
Strengthen Democratic Governance.”
As part of the summit, the OAS
coordinated a meeting among ministers of foreign affairs, the OAS
secretary general, and civil society
representatives. The objective of the
meeting was to provide civil society
organizations the opportunity to
make recommendations related to the
theme of the summit. Representatives
Two teachers from Forem, an Algerian nongovernmental organization, present their portfolio
at a We the People: Project Citizen training workshop in Algiers.
NEWS from the SITES
C I V I T A S
I N T E R N A T I O N A L
P R O G R A M S
of 30 civil society organizations from
the region and Center staff members
attended the meeting.
The closing ceremony of the
Uniendo Metas national competition
was held just after the summit.
Uniendo Metas is a model United
Nations program administered by Asociación Conciencia that uses pedagogical techniques developed by the
Center. More than 800 students from
more than 20 Argentine states participated in the national competition.
The Center and Conciencia have
collaborated for more than 10 years on
the development and implementation
of education for democracy programs.
Conciencia currently administers the
Argentine adaptation of Project Citizen and Foundations of Democracy.
The Center is working with Conciencia and several local universities to
develop an education for democracy
post-graduate degree.
Civitas Africa
The Civitas Africa directors meeting
was held in conjunction with the
National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Annual Conference in
Kansas City, November 16–20, 2005.
Participants exchanged ideas and
experiences related to education for
democracy in participating U.S. states
and African countries and planned for
ongoing Civitas Africa activities. At
the NCSS Annual Conference, participants engaged in professional development and networking at meetings of
the National Social Studies Supervisors Association and the College and
University Faculty Assembly.
Civitas Africa includes country
programs in Ghana, Malawi, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, and Senegal. Civitas Africa has U.S. partnership
sites in Alaska, California, Kentucky,
New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
Latvia
The Center and Latvia’s Educational Development Center, directed
by Aija Tuna, cohosted a F o u n d ations of Democracy management
meeting in Riga, October 6–8, 2005.
Participants from Albania, Bosnia
Lisa Treacy (left), Development Officer, Civic-Link Education Programme, Co-operation
Ireland, and Nimi Walson-Jack (right), Country Director of the Civitas Nigeria program,
Director of Nigeria’s Centre for Responsive Politics, and General Secretary of the Nigerian
Bar Association, were among the participants from 14 countries who attended a
Foundations of Democracy management meeting in Riga, Latvia, October 6–8, 2005.
and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ghana,
Indonesia, Latvia, Lithuania, Nigeria,
Northern Ireland, the Republic of
Ireland, Romania, and Senegal
attended the event.
The meeting provided an opportunity for project directors to
expand their knowledge and understanding of Foundations of Democracy instructional materials and
exchange information with other
countries that use the materials.
The agenda focused on analyzing
the challenges of implementing
Foundations of Democracy and
understanding the characteristics of an
effective teacher-training program.
A panel presentation offered participants multiple perspectives on
how the materials can be used at different educational levels and with
different target audiences, such as
nongovernmental organizations and
community groups.
SEVENTEEN
NEWS from the SITES
C I V I T A S
I N T E R N A T I O N A L
Montenegro
Montenegro hosted a preservice
civic education round table for
southeast Europe on September 1–2,
2005. The meeting was the result of
an initiative by Bojka Dukanovic,
Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy of
the University of Niksic.
University representatives from the
eight regional sites—Albania, Bosnia
and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia,
Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and
Serbia—gathered in the Adriatic
coastal town of Przno to discuss the
possibility of organizing and developing
a regional seminar to present a preservice civic education curriculum adaptable by regional universities.
Two sites reported that their universities give minimal attention to preservice courses for secondary teachers;
none had a civic education preservice
curriculum. All eight sites stated that
no steps have been taken to address
preservice education for elementary
teachers. Each site emphasized the
need for preservice civic education for
future teachers and supported the
development of a regional civic education preservice seminar.
Nancy Haas, Associate Professor of
Instructional Design and Chair of Secondary Education at Arizona State
University, and Terrence Mason,
Associate Professor for the School of
Education at Indiana University, presented two civic education preservice
models for the group’s consideration.
The regional professors then formed
three reflection and discussion
groups organized around the following themes: “visions and goals,”
“participants and expectations,” and
“content and methodology.”
The professors unanimously supported a seminar that would focus on
fundamental education for democracy
content and would provide extensive
methodology that allows for local
examples and adaptation. The development of preservice civic education curricula was determined to be the highest
priority for all regional universities.
A Center special projects grant
requested by Dukanovic supported the
regional round table.
Nigeria
Nimi Walson-Jack, Country Director
of the Civitas Nigeria program, Director of Nigeria’s Centre for Responsive
Politics, and General Secretary of the
P R O G R A M S
Nigerian Bar Association, visited
Alaska in early November 2005 to
introduce the new Alaska–Nigeria
partnership and to provide content for
comparative government studies. Mary
Bristol and Phyllis Bowie, Co-Directors
of the Civitas Alaska partnership with
Nigeria, sponsored the visit.
Walson-Jack spoke at four
Anchorage high schools, giving a
brief overview of Nigeria’s history
with democracy and answering students’ questions.
Jennifer Faris, a teacher at Bartlett
High School said, “It was an eyeopener for many of the students.
Nimi opened up their world to allow
them to see past Anchorage, Alaska,
and helped them realize the importance of being a global citizen and how
important democracy and government
are to their daily lives.”
During his visit, Walson-Jack met
with Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich;
all five justices of the Alaska Supreme
Court; Jonathon Katcher, President of
the Alaska Bar Association; Barbara
Jones, chair of the Alaska Bar Association’s Law-Related Education Committee; and Barbara Hood of the
Alaska Teaching Justice Network.
Participants at a We the People: Project Citizen training in Goni, an ecological school in Kutaisi, Republic of Georgia. Project
Citizen has been expanded in the Republic of Georgia to include a national showcase, held April 7–8, 2006.
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C
enter Programs & Publications
The Center for Civic Education develops and administers a wide range of critically acclaimed curricular, teachertraining, and community-based programs that feature cooperative-learning and problem-solving skills. For a complete list
of Center programs and publications, go to www.civiced.org/catalog_intro.php.
Education for Democracy: California Civic
Education Scope & Sequence
A comprehensive, multifaceted curriculum guide designed to
aid school administrators, curriculum developers, and classroom
teachers to integrate civic education in a systematic way. Scope
& Sequence shows how teaching civics can meet state and
national standards and provides teachers with lesson ideas and
a wide range of resources.
National Standards for Civics and Government
A set of K–12 exit standards specifying what students should
know and be able to do in the field of civics and government.
The Standards are a valuable resource for teachers, educational
agencies, school administrators, curriculum developers, textbook writers, and community groups.
CIVITAS: A Framework for Civic Education
A model curriculum framework for the nation’s elementary and
secondary schools. CIVITAS sets forth the knowledge, skills, dispositions, and commitments necessary for effective citizenship.
We the People: Project Citizen
A middle school civic participation program in which students
work together to identify and propose remedies for public issues
in their communities. The program encourages civic participation
among students, their parents, and members of their communities.
Foundations of Democracy
Foundations of Democracy: Authority, Privacy, Responsibility,
and Justice. The curriculum consists of materials for students
from primary school through grade twelve on four concepts fundamental to an understanding of politics and government.
Exercises in Participation Series
Violence in the Schools: Developing Prevention Plans can be
incorporated into a social studies or middle school core curriculum.
Drugs in the Schools: Preventing Substance Abuse fulfills
state drug education program requirements and those of the
Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act.
Res Publica: An International Framework for
Education in Democracy
We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution
The Framework is an online publication that forms an expression of cross-cultural consensus on the central meanings and
A nationally acclaimed civic education curriculum focusing
character of the ideas, values, and institutions of democracy.
on the history and principles of the U.S. Constitution and Bill
of Rights. The culminating activity, a simulated congressional
hearing, is an exemplary performance-assessment model for eleAmerican Legacy
mentary, middle, and high school levels. The curriculum supA pocket-size booklet containing the U.S. Constitution and
ports most state social studies frameworks in the areas of civics
the
Declaration of Independence with passages from other docand government, and helps students develop the skills necesuments
that encompass essential ideas of American democracy.
sary to pass the citizenship section of state competency tests.
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