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Radio host Sheilah Kast follows a class during We the People simulated congressional hearings and investigates the state of civic education in Maryland. This blog entry includes a link to the radio story.
MIAMI – More than 440 civic educators from the United States and seven other countries will convene at the InterContinental Hotel for the eighth annual We the People: Project Citizen leadership conference, Oct. 9–12. Sponsored by the Center for Civic Education, the conference brings together public officials, government scholars, classroom teachers and international educators to examine effective and engaging methods in teaching civics.
On Saturday, Oct. 10, Florida State Representative Rene Garcia, District 110, gives the keynote address, “Project Citizen – A Model in Civic Discourse.”
On Sunday, Oct. 11, Florida Supreme Court Justice R. Fred Lewis speaks on “Judicial Decision-Making in the Public Policymaking Process.”
MIAMI – More than 440 civic educators from the United States and seven other countries will convene at the InterContinental Hotel for the eighth annual We the People: Project Citizen leadership conference, Oct. 9–12. Sponsored by the Center for Civic Education, the conference brings together public officials, government scholars, classroom teachers and international educators to examine effective and engaging methods in teaching civics.
On Saturday, Oct. 10, Florida State Representative Rene Garcia, District 110, gives the keynote address, “Project Citizen – A Model in Civic Discourse.”
On Sunday, Oct. 11, Florida Supreme Court Justice R. Fred Lewis speaks on “Judicial Decision-Making in the Public Policymaking Process.”
Thirty educators from 14 states will meet in Chinle, Ariz., to immerse themselves in Navajo history, culture and government during The Navajo Nation Experience.
Sponsored by the Center for Civic Education, the three-day seminar includes lectures by Navajo leaders, historians and scholars, plus trips to important historic and cultural sites including Canyon de Chelly and Monument Valley.
The Center for Civic Education and the American Association of School Administrators are offering free classroom materials to commemorate Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, September 17.
The Constitution Day and Citizenship Day materials were created for grades K–12 and adapted from the Center’s We the People: The Citizen & the Constitution and Foundations of Democracy curricular materials. Two new lesson plans about the executive branch and Abraham Lincoln’s constitutional legacy are on the Web site: constitutionday.civiced.org.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – U.S. Rep. John Lewis (GA-05) will give the keynote address to open “We the People: A Seminar on the Civil Rights Movement” at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 11, at the Tutwiler Hotel. Cosponsored by the Center for Civic Education and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the three-day seminar brings 35 educators from throughout the country to learn about the movement from civil rights leaders, “foot soldiers” and scholars.
We the People
WCAI/The Point (Press Release) - Jun 24, 2009
The Point went to Chatham High School in Massachusetts to talk to
students about the school’s rich tradition in the We the People: The
Citizen and the Constitution competition and the program’s guiding
force, retiring teacher Thomas Flaherty.
Washington, D.C.—After three days of simulated congressional hearings, during which students were required to apply constitutional principles and historical facts to contemporary situations, the class from East High School of Denver, Colorado, has emerged as the national champion in the 22nd annual We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution National Finals.
Vestavia Hills High School of Vestavia Hills, Alabama, and Amador Valley High School of Pleasanton, California, took second and third place, respectively, in the competition on the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Teachers from South Carolina, Virginia and Wyoming are recipients of the 2009 American Civic Education Teacher Awards, recognizing their exemplary work preparing young people to become
informed and engaged citizens. The ACETA winners are: Nate Breen of Cheyenne Central High School in
Laramie County, Wyo.; Sarah Ann Richardson Turpin of Clemson
Elementary School in Pickens County, S.C.; and Gregory Walsh of Falls
Church High School in Fairfax County, Va.
The New York Bar Association issued this news release on the We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution state competition in Colonie. The class from Half Hollow Hills High School East captured the state title.
“Civic education is vitally important and this program encourages young people to get involved and is a fantastic way to teach students about our government and their rights,” State Bar Association President Kathryn Grant Madigan (Levene Gouldin & Thompson LLP) said. “The Bar Association is committed to doing its part to ensure that New York State produces the most educated and respected young people across the nation and I applaud the students who are participating in this valuable educational program.”
Three Washington County high schools recently competed in the local We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution congressional hearings at Hagerstown Community College. Boonsboro High School placed first in the competition to advance to the Maryland state competition. Saint Maria Goretti High School placed second, and Clear Spring High School came in third. All fifty-four students came away with a greater understanding of and appreciation for the U.S. Constitution.
Salida High School government students won the Fifth Congressional
District We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution to advance to
the state competition. Bayfield High school captured the title for the Third
Congressional District and will also travel to Denver for a chance to
represent Colorado in the national finals.
Jeff Reiman, a We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution teacher at Grandview High School in Colorado, was named a NCSS Secondary Social Studies Teacher of the Year. Reiman’s Grandview High School class recently captured the We the People district title and advanced to the state finals.
Internews reports another Project Citizen success story. Students in Alexandria, Egypt, were concerned about a local factory that was polluting the air around their school. “The smoke is very thick…and even comes inside the class, making it hard for many students to breathe,” said 11-year-old Marwa. The students attended the Civic Education and Media Training Camp in September organized by the Partners project in partnership with the Center for Civic Education, the Internews Network, and the Family Planning Association of Alexandria. Having learned how to construct a Project Citizen portfolio to address the problem, they produced a newspaper about the topic and were interviewed on radio and television. The story made the national media, and the factory committed to stopping polluting the community’s air.
Three teachers received the 2007 American Civic Education Teacher Awards recently in recognition of their exemplary work preparing young people to become informed and engaged citizens. This year's ACETA winners are Mary Ellen Daneels, Barbara Simpson Ector, and Kevin Fox.
The Center for Civic Education and the American Association of School Administrators are offering free lesson plans on the U.S. Constitution for Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, September 17, and Constitution Week, September 17–23. The materials for grades K–12 were adapted from the Center’s We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution and Foundations of Democracy curricular materials.
Project Citizen students from around the world gathered recently in Washington, D.C., to participate in Empowering a New Generation for Democracy: The International Project Citizen
Showcase. “From Poland, Ukraine, and Russia, to South Africa, China, and points in between, young people have used the lessons of democratic citizenship taught by Project Citizen to improve their lives and communities,” said Charles N. Quigley, executive director of the Center for Civic Education. “Our goal is to share these Project Citizen success stories—the results of America’s 10-year investment in the program.”
“The Nation’s Report Card: Civics 2006,” released today by the National Assessment Governing Board, showed that 24 percent of fourth-graders, 22 percent of eighth-graders and 27 percent of twelfth-graders could reach a simple mastery of civics called proficient. “America’s school children are woefully unprepared to take their place as informed, engaged citizens,” said Charles N. Quigley, the Center’s executive director. “Much work needs to be done to ensure that each student receives the education necessary to become an informed, engaged citizen of this nation.”
Denver East Students Win Nationwide Championship on the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights (Press Release) - May 02, 2007
Months of study and hard-won victories at the congressional district and state levels ended this week for about 1,200 high school students representing 50 states and the District of Columbia in the national finals of We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution, a competition on the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. After three days of simulated congressional hearings, during which students were required to apply constitutional principles and historical facts to contemporary situations, the class from Denver East emerged as the national champion, with Amador Valley High School, Pleasanton, California and Grant High School, Portland, Oregon taking second and third place, respectively.
[Press Release]
This is the text of a speech given by the Honorable Marjorie O. Rendell, Judge, Third Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals, First Lady of Pennsylvania, and Founding Partner of the Pennsylvania Coalition for Representative Democracy, during the American Civic Education Teacher Award Presentations on November 19, 2006, at the Fourth Annual Congressional Conference on Civic Education in Washington, D.C.
The Fourth Annual Congressional Conference on Civic Education was held Saturday, November 18, through Monday, November 20, 2006, in Washington, D.C. The focus of this year’s conference was building on the state delegations’ past successes in building support and public awareness for the cause of restoring the civic mission of schools by concentrating on the four key policy areas that must be addressed in order to assure high quality civic education policies and practice.
The Center for Civic Education, in collaboration with the American Association of School Administrators, is proud to offer lessons on the U.S. Constitution for Constitution Day, which most schools are observing on September 18. Lessons for grades K-12 are available for free download from the Center’s website at www.civiced.org/byrd2006/. The lessons are adapted from the Center’s We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution and Foundations of Democracy curricular materials. Students and teachers can also download audio recordings of selected Constitution Day lessons. The U.S. Congress passed legislation in 2005 requiring educational institutions receiving federal funding to present a program pertaining to the U. S. Constitution. The Center’s lessons are designed to assist schools and federal agencies to meet the requirements of this law.
The 2010 American Civic Education Teacher Awards application is now available to download. Three awards are given annually to elementary and secondary teachers of civics, government, and related fields who have demonstrated special expertise and enthusiasm in motivating students to learn about the U.S. Congress, the Constitution, and public policy. ACETA winners receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. to participate in an educational program that includes observing committee hearings in Congress, meeting members of Congress and other key officials, and visiting sites such as the National Archives and the U.S. Supreme Court. Teachers can submit their applications to one of the three sponsoring organizations: Center for Civic Education, Center on Congress at Indiana University, and National Education Association. Applications are due February 16, 2010. More>>
The Center for Civic Education, in collaboration with the American Association
of School Administrators, is proud to offer free lesson plans for Grades K-12 in observance of Constitution Day and Citizenship Day on September 17, the
anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787. These lessons
have been adapted from the Center's We the People: The Citizen & the Constitution
and Foundations of Democracy curricular materials. Two new lesson plans for high
school students have been added, which explore the executive branch and Abraham
Lincoln's constitutional legacy. Audio recordings of selected Constitution Day
lessons are also available. Go to http://constitutionday.civiced.org
to download these free resources today.
In Memoriam: Senator Edward M. Kennedy
The Center for Civic Education joins the nation and the world in mourning the passing of Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Senator Kennedy was not only a strong advocate for education in general but for civic education in particular. He was a firm believer that a strong democracy needs informed, engaged, and enlightened citizens and served as a member of the National Bicentennial Commission on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, which provided funding to initiate the We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution program. He supported the Education for Democracy Act, which funds the Center's We the People Programs, the School Violence Prevention Demonstration Program, and the Civitas International Programs, as well as programs of other organizations. His commitment to education for democracy was not a recent passion but spanned many decades of public service and greatly assisted our work. In 1988 the Center recruited him to participate in a film by the Disney Channel on the importance of teachers to our democracy, and in that same year we invited him to be the keynote speaker at the awards banquet for the first We the People academic competition. Most recently, he joined with Senator Lamar Alexander to support the Improving the Teaching and Learning of American History and Civics Act of 2009 (S. 659). The legislation reauthorizes the Education for Democracy Act programs and other civic education programs. It also amends the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to conduct more frequent academic assessments of U.S. history and civics. We were honored some years ago when he accepted the Center's Civitas Award for his outstanding contributions to civic education. While appreciating his rich legacy, we will sorely miss his leadership in improving the conditions that allow constitutional democracy to flourish around the world.
The California Project Citizen State Showcase took place on June 5, bringing twenty portfolios and three groups of students to the state capitol. Granada Hills Charter High School presented their portfolio, which dealt with the surveillance of public areas. Herbert Hoover Middle School looked at the causes of litter in their community and remedies to the problem. Fourth-grade students from Foulks Ranch Elementary School addressed the environmental impacts of plastic bags and the possibility of advocating for a plastic bag ban within the City of Elk Grove. Thanks to the California Channel, which filmed the showcase and publicized these outstanding students' efforts to become active, engaged citizens.
For the 2009 Project Citizen National Showcase, students prepared four-panel portfolios and documentation binders chronicling their work to identify and research a problem in their community, evaluate alternative policies, and present their proposed public policy and an action plan to have the policy enacted.
Students' public policy portfolios were selected to represent their states at the national level. Members of state legislatures, legislative staff, and educators acted as evaluators for the showcase. Each portfolio was evaluated three times. Achievement-level results were based on the average score of the three rounds of portfolio evaluation that took place during the National Showcase. More>>
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The 2010 American Civic Education Teacher Awards application is now available to download. Three awards are given annually to elementary and secondary teachers of civics, government, and related fields who have demonstrated special expertise and enthusiasm in motivating students to learn about the U.S. Congress, the Constitution, and public policy. ACETA winners receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. to participate in an educational program that includes observing committee hearings in Congress, meeting members of Congress and other key officials, and visiting sites such as the National Archives and the U.S. Supreme Court. Teachers can submit their applications to one of the three sponsoring organizations: Center for Civic Education, Center on Congress at Indiana University, and National Education Association. Applications are due February 16, 2010. 
