Dana Milbank: The War Over Civics Education | Diane Ravitch's blog

Dana Milbank: The War Over Civics Education | Diane Ravitch's blog

Dana Milbank: The War Over Civics Education

Dana Milbank believes that Republicans are terrified of restoring civics education for fear that the younger generation will learn how our government is supposed to work.

He wrote in the Washington Post:

Pretty much everything the Trump-occupied Republican Party has been doing these days violates the basic tenets of democracy that American schoolchildren are taught.

But the Trumpy right has come up with an elegant remedy to relieve the cognitive dissonance: They want to cancel civics education. If the voters don’t know how the government is supposed to function, they’ll be none the wiser when it malfunctions — which has been pretty much all the time.

First, Republican officials indulged President Donald Trump’s four years of sabotaging the rule of law and CONTINUE READING: Dana Milbank: The War Over Civics Education | Diane Ravitch's blog

2021 Civic Learning Awards Announced - Year 2021 (CA Dept of Education)

2021 Civic Learning Awards Announced - Year 2021 (CA Dept of Education)

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Announces 2021 Civic Learning Award Recipients

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced today that 32 schools won this year’s Civic Learning Awards, which celebrate public schools’ efforts to engage students in civic learning. This year, the awards emphasize school-based efforts that went uninterrupted despite the pandemic. Now in its ninth year, the awards program is co-sponsored by State Superintendent Thurmond and Chief Justice of California Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye and is part of the Chief Justice's Civic Learning Initiative.

“I’m so proud of these schools for keeping students engaged in civic learning during a pandemic, especially as our country grapples with serious social and civic conversations and actions that can reimagine governance at all levels,” said State Superintendent Thurmond. “I’m a passionate supporter of civics education, which not only engages students, but often inspires them to make a difference for their communities. During my time both as a civics teacher and in the State Legislature, I've always encouraged students to get involved. My office continues to be open for students to share their ideas; I’ve heard from so many students during this pandemic, and their voices are crucial now more than ever.”

“In the last year, each of these schools moved their classrooms from campuses to computer screens and, despite that challenge, they've kept true to their commitment of engaging students in civic learning,” said Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye.

In addition, three teachers, a community organizer, and District Superintendent Michael Matsuda, Anaheim Union High School District, are among the Champions of Civics being honored with a 2021Civic Learning Award.

Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye and State Superintendent Thurmond will host a virtual meeting with the top schools and champions today.

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

Three top scoring schools earned a Civic Learning Award of Excellence:

Katella High School(Anaheim)—Katella High is being recognized for "Katella Talks," a required program where students learn the “5 Cs” of learning: communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and compassion. As part of the program, students present a problem they’d like to fix in their community or certain career field, conduct research, and present the topic to their classmates in a “TED Talk” format. For more than five years, the program has helped students improve their listening, speaking,and writing skills. This year, teachers adapted the program to a remote format. Katella High School also received a Civic Learning Award of Merit in 2020.

Walker Junior High(La Palma)—Every seventh grader at Walker Junior High is required to take a world history class with an emphasis on civics. Students participate in “call to action” campaigns, lead service projects, create public service announcements, and participate in student government. Students adapted to distance learning by producing videos and online newspapers to complete their projects. In addition, school administrators incorporated civic learning, planning, and implementation in the first goal of their local education plan. Walker Junior High received a Civic Learning Award of Distinction in 2020 and an Award of Merit in 2019.

Cloud Campus(Encinitas)—In 2020, the Encinitas Union School District offered 430 students the opportunity to participate in the year-long “Cloud Campus” distance learning option,where civics is integrated into elementary classrooms. In 2020,students participated remotely in activities, including a mock student election, which focused on California ballot measures on affirmative action, voting age limits, and consumer privacy. The school also incorporates iCivics resources into its curriculum to further bolster student engagement.

Three schools earned a Civic Learning Award of Distinction:

Royal High School(Simi Valley)—The school's Brown Bag Lunch Speakers Series presents a weekly event with guest speakers from local government, businesses, and media outlets. During the pandemic, speakers visited with students remotely. The program is open to all students and required for students in certain classes. Royal High School received a Civic Learning Award of Merit in 2019 and 2012 and an Award of Distinction in 2015.

Kairos Public Schools Vacaville Academy (Vacaville)—Middle school students are required to take a community leadership course where they participate in community service projects that support the school or local businesses. The program helps students learn how to be responsible, active citizens. Kairos Public Schools Vacaville Academy received a Civic Learning Award of Merit in 2020, 2019, 2018, and 2017.

Villa Park Elementary(Villa Park)—Students are required to participate in the Restorative Practices program, considered a hallmark of the school. Whether online or in-person, students in the program discuss issues like race, gender, disability, and inequity, often tying them into current events. Villa Park Elementary received a Civic Learning Award of Merit in 2020.

The following schools earned a Civic Learning Award of Merit:

Fresno County—Clovis East High School,Freedom Elementary,Maple Creek Elementary

Los Angeles County—Orange Grove Middle School,Sierra Vista Middle School, Sparks Middle School, Sunset Elementary, William Workman High School, Workman Elementary

Orange County—Anaheim Union High School, Ball Junior High School, Cambridge Virtual Academy, Chapman Hills Elementary, Linda Vista Elementary, Los Coyotes Elementary, Orangethorpe Elementary, Orangeview Junior High School, Oxford Academy, Raymond Temple, Western High School

Riverside County—Perris Elementary

San Diego County—Crawford High, Hoover High School, Mira Mesa High School, The Preuss School (High School)

Stanislaus County—John Pitman High School

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Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

2021 Civic Learning Awards Announced - Year 2021 (CA Dept of Education)

CURMUDGUCATION: Chris Evans (And Partners) Create A Useful Civics Tool

CURMUDGUCATION: Chris Evans (And Partners) Create A Useful Civics Tool

Chris Evans (And Partners) Create A Useful Civics Tool

So this is how you do it.

Chris Evans has entered the world of celebrity education support, and he's done it up right. There's a companion post to this one over at Forbes that explains in a little more detail what the site does; in this post, I want to explain why I think Evans and his partners are setting an example for how the rich and famous can have a positive impact on education.

First of all, he hasn't done it alone. He has partnered up with actor/producer Mark Kassen, one of those guys who has a long, solid, steady career in the biz without becoming a household name, and Joe Kiani, who--well, Kiani is an Iranian-American tech entrepreneur who started one of those companies that does a medical thing you don't understand, but who also has been hugely active in trying to reform the world of health care. These three started up a civic engagement site called A Starting Point, and then teamed that up with Close Up, a DC-based civics education group, to create ASP Homeroom, a site where you can find short, simple videos in which elected officials (mostly Congresspersons) lay out their position on major issues.

ASP Homeroom is a civic engagement tool that is well-suited to use by classroom teachers. It works for several reasons, not the least of which Evans and Kassen don't imagine themselves as having all the secrets of teaching civics to high schoolers. I spoke to Kassen, who said "We could not be so CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Chris Evans (And Partners) Create A Useful Civics Tool

Andrea Gabor: What the Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman Taught Us | Diane Ravitch's blog

Andrea Gabor: What the Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman Taught Us | Diane Ravitch's blog

Andrea Gabor: What the Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman Taught Us

Andrea Gabor has written recently about the importance of civics education. She has reminded us that the obsession with standardized testing has robbed students of the joy of learning and consumed time that could be better spent in other ways.

The 22-year-old Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman, who spoke so beautifully at the inauguration of President Joe Biden, reminded her that we have lost the study of poetry in our mad Race to Leave No Child Behind and to force testing on every student and teacher.

I heartily agree with Gabor. I have always loved poetry. I edited two collections that included many iconic poems: The American Reader and The English Reader (with my son Michael). During a time when I was grieving the loss of a child, I read poetry and found solace in a poem by Ben Jonson. When my children were young, we read poetry together, and they learned the fun of wordplay.

Gabor writes in her article about the need to allot more CONTINUE READING: Andrea Gabor: What the Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman Taught Us | Diane Ravitch's blog

Rick Ayers: Never Again Trump? We Had Better Attend to Our Schools | by Rick Ayers | Jan, 2021 | Medium

Never Again Trump? We Had Better Attend to Our Schools | by Rick Ayers | Jan, 2021 | Medium

Never Again Trump? We Had Better Attend to Our Schools

Now that 45 is gone, or gone-ish, I have been seeing a lot of think pieces about the US social failures that led to the rise of this fascist movement. One critique that comes up often is that our schools have failed, that we have allowed too many millions to be suckers for dim-witted conspiracy theories, we have allowed a narrative that feeds white people’s paranoia, we have simply not taught history and civics and even statistics well. Certainly the defunding of education has left schools deprived of opportunities to develop rich experiences for students.

This may all be true but if we are going to take a hard look at the failings of education, I’m afraid too many policy-makers, administrators, and teachers have ducked responsibility for our own complicity in creating a population that is uninformed and susceptible to the demagogue. In fact, a broad range of educators would do well to look in the mirror in seeking the origins of Trumpism.

First, let us recognize that the population that is educationally “at risk,” the students who need important attention and adaptation, are not the Black and Brown kids, not the immigrant kids, not the queer kids. They have demonstrated a degree of civic sophistication that is historic. Notice the CONTINUE READING: Never Again Trump? We Had Better Attend to Our Schools | by Rick Ayers | Jan, 2021 | Medium

Andrea Gabor: Now Is the Time to Revive Civics Education and Media Literacy | Diane Ravitch's blog

Andrea Gabor: Now Is the Time to Revive Civics Education and Media Literacy | Diane Ravitch's blog

Andrea Gabor: Now Is the Time to Revive Civics Education and Media Literacy

Andrea Gabor argues that the violent storming of Congress is reason to revive civics in schools. Clearly, she writes, many Americans do not understand the norms of a democratic government (including, I would add, Trump and most of the elected representatives of the Republican Party).

Last week’s attack on the U.S. Capitol may have been incited by President Donald Trump and right-wing politicians, but it was supported by millions of their followers. News reports and public opinion polls make it clear that many Americans believe evidence-free assertions by Trump and his allies of massive voter fraud in the November election and their lies about the power of public officials to overturn the result.

The riot was just the latest and most appalling evidence that a wide swath of the American public doesn’t understand democratic norms. That’s why it should serve as a sputnik moment for an ambitious revival of civics instruction along with expanded training in news literacy.

Nobody’s claiming that the violent extremism on display CONTINUE READING: Andrea Gabor: Now Is the Time to Revive Civics Education and Media Literacy | Diane Ravitch's blog

Will Civics Education Help Students Make Better Decisions? [It’s complicated] | Ed In The Apple

Will Civics Education Help Students Make Better Decisions? [It’s complicated] | Ed In The Apple

Will Civics Education Help Students Make Better Decisions? [It’s complicated]

In my role as President of the Education Alumni Association at a local college I host a “Principal and Community Breakfast” every February. We invite a policy maker, a researcher, or a scholar to make a presentation to local principals and activists. This year we invited a speaker from the US Census; she made an excellent present – the Census and Schools.  In addition to the adults I invited the leadership class from a local high school. After the presentation I met with the kids and asked what they “learned.”  One student said if there was an undercount New York State could lose one or two members of the House of Representatives, another student was clearly “discomforted.”

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Today electors representing the winning candidate in the fifty states and the District of Columbia will cast their ballots, on January 6th, before a joint session of Congress the ballots will be counted: Biden 306, Trump 232.

The presidential election seemed to mark a revival in American civic engagement. A record two-thirds of the electorate voted. …

Yet large numbers of Americans appear to believe President Donald Trump’s baseless charges of election fraud. Civic life and discourse have been eroded by the normalization of lying by elected leaders, the dissemination of CONTINUE READING: Will Civics Education Help Students Make Better Decisions? [It’s complicated] | Ed In The Apple

Andrea Gabor: We Need Civics Education! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Andrea Gabor: We Need Civics Education! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Andrea Gabor: We Need Civics Education!

Andrea Gabor, the Bloomberg Professor of Business Journalism at Baruch College of the City University of New York, writes here about the importance of civics education, especially in a time when democracy is under attack by a defeated president and the leadership of the Republican Party.

Put Civics Back in the Classroom, Right Now

Has there ever been a better time to resume lapsed efforts to teach young Americans the structure and purpose of U.S. democracy?

By Andrea Gabor

The presidential election seemed to mark a revival in American civic engagement. A record two-thirds of the electorate voted. Candidates raised at least $3 billion in small-dollar donations, and historic get-out-the-vote efforts had an impact in Nevada, Georgia and elsewhere.

Yet large numbers of Americans appear to believe President Donald Trump’s baseless charges of election fraud. Civic life and discourse have been eroded by the normalization of lying by elected leaders, the CONTINUE READING: Andrea Gabor: We Need Civics Education! | Diane Ravitch's blog 

What American teachers are telling their students about what Trump is doing – Raw Story

What American teachers are telling their students about what Trump is doing – Raw Story

What American teachers are telling their students about what Trump is doing

Civics is a fundamental part of every American primary school curriculum. Yet there is no living American who has experienced a political moment as polarized as this one, where even teachers cannot speak of Trump or Biden without accusations of impartiality from either direction.

Particularly now, as America’s democracy itself is straining under the weight of a wanna-be authoritarian, teaching civics seems like a severe challenge, remaining neutral impossible. It is hard to explain this to children — and yet, our teachers must.

Nareissa Smith, a lawyer and former law professor who taught four classes about civic fundamentals in October, two to students from Grades 2 to 5 and two for students from Grades 6 to 8, told Salon that her students were afraid that Trump would attempt to subvert democracy even before he actually did so.

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“I will tell you that before the election, the students in my ‘Making Democracy Work’ course, in some of our exchanges, they were very, very afraid that he would be doing exactly what he’s doing now,” Smith told Salon. “Their questions were more like, ‘Well, you know, what, if he doesn’t [leave]? Can he just stay?’ There were a lot of questions around that. So if I were doing the course now I would approach it not in a partisan way, but I would approach it by saying that I will go back to the law, and say the concession is a nicety, but CONTINUE READING: What American teachers are telling their students about what Trump is doing – Raw Story

Civics knowledge among American adults jumps in new survey -- but hold your applause - The Washington Post

Civics knowledge among American adults jumps in new survey -- but hold your applause - The Washington Post

Civics knowledge among American adults jumps in new survey — but hold your applause

A new survey on U.S. civics knowledge shows a marked jump in the number of American adults who answered questions properly about their constitutional rights and the basic structure of the federal government.

But even with the increase, almost half still can’t name the three branches of the government (executive, legislative and judicial), according to the 2020 Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey. In addition:

• Only 51 percent of respondents correctly said the Supreme Court has the final responsibility for deciding whether an action taken by the president is constitutional, lower than the 61 percent in 2019.
• And when asked what a 5-to-4 Supreme Court ruling means, only 54 percent correctly knew that the decision is the law and needs to be followed — a drop from 59 percent in 2019.

The survey, taken annually by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, found significant jumps in civics understanding on specific issues, and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the center, said that could be a result of events during the Trump administration.

“Divided government, the impeachment process, and the number of times political leaders have turned to the courts probably deserve credit for increasing awareness of the three branches, while controversies over the right to peaceably assemble, freedom of religion, and freedom of speech may have done the same for the First Amendment,” she said in a statement.

Asked to name individual rights guaranteed to Americans under the First Amendment:

• 73 percent correctly named freedom of speech, up from 48 percent in 2017
• 47 percent named freedom of religion, up from 15 percent in 2017
• 42 percent named freedom of the press, up from 14 percent in 2017
• 34 percent named the right of assembly, up from 10 percent in 2017
• 14 percent named the right to petition the government, up from 3 percent in 2017
• The percentage of Americans who could not name any First Amendment rights fell from 37 in 2017 to 19 percent in 2020.

Fifty-one percent named all three branches of the federal government, up from CONTINUE READING: Civics knowledge among American adults jumps in new survey -- but hold your applause - The Washington Post

We Must All Be Civics Teachers – Constitution Day, 2020 | Live Long and Prosper

 We Must All Be Civics Teachers – Constitution Day, 2020 | Live Long and Prosper 

We Must All Be Civics Teachers – Constitution Day, 2020

CONSTITUTION DAY CIVICS SURVEY

A few days ago, the Annenberg Public Policy Center released its annual Constitution Day Civics Survey. The results of the survey suggest that the recent upheavals in the United States…racial protests, a pandemic-based health crisis, and increased political polarization…have provided Americans with the excuse to learn more about our form of government.

The survey found that Americans now know more about how our government works than in the last couple of years.

Asked to name any of the rights guaranteed under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution:

• 73% of Americans named freedom of speech, up from 48% in 2017;

• 47% named freedom of religion, up from 15% in 2017;

• 42% named freedom of the press, up from 14% in 2017;

• 34% named right of assembly, up from 10%;

• 14% named the right to petition the government, up from 3%;

• Those who could not name any First Amendment right fell to 19% from 37% in 2017 (total of “can’t name any” and “don’t know”).

It seems obvious that daily newscasts and political pronouncements have helped to educate Americans on the freedoms guaranteed in the First Amendment. The CONTINUE READING:  We Must All Be Civics Teachers – Constitution Day, 2020 | Live Long and Prosper