Citizen Z: An Education Week Project
U.S. public education is rooted in the belief by early American leaders that the most important knowledge to impart to young people is what it means to be a citizen. If America is experiencing a civic crisis now, as many say it is, schools may well be failing at that job.
To better understand the role of education in the current crisis, Education Week has undertaken a long-term investigation with support from the Education Writers Association’s Reporting Fellowship grant program. We brought together an advisory group of experts in civic education, visited classrooms, and conducted surveys. The first results of that work follow.
Do you have a good idea for teaching civics? Share it with us and we’ll post the best ideas online.
Law & Courts
Student School Board Members Flex Their Civic Muscle in Supreme Court Free-Speech Case
Current and former student school board members add their growing voices to a potentially precedent-setting U.S. Supreme Court case.
School Climate & Safety
As Election 2020 Grinds On, Young Voters Stay Hooked
In states like Georgia, the push to empower the youth vote comes to fruition at a time when “every vote counts” is more than just a slogan.
Student Well-Being
Casting Their First Ballots, Teen Voters Confront Pandemic's Barriers
From registration to balloting, COVID-19's disruption is adding friction for young people casting their first votes. Some are helping others navigate the process.
Social Studies
Is the Election Still a Teachable Moment?
This year’s norm-breaking election has introduced a host of new challenges for social studies and civics teachers, who are already trying to navigate a polarized political climate.
Assessment
8th Graders Don't Know Much About History, National Exam Shows
There was no good news for social studies instruction in the latest national assessment results: 8th graders’ performance plunged in history, dipped in geography, and stayed flat in civics.
Families & the Community
How States and Schools Are Working to Grow Young Voters
States are tweaking voter registration laws for teenage voters and schools are busing students to the polls. Will these efforts help young people get in the habit of voting?
Curriculum
How Schools Can Be More Effective at Growing Young Voters
The reason young people fail to vote is not because they don't care about politics or policy, but because they don't know how to translate their ideals into action, a new book argues.
School Climate & Safety
Iowa Caucuses Offer Students a Laboratory for Civics Education
With their state’s caucuses the first official marker in the 2020 presidential contest, Iowa teenagers are in a unique position to observe and participate.
Mathematics
Math: The Most Powerful Civics Lesson You've Never Had
A handful of educators across the country are quietly making the case that math may be the missing piece in civics education.
Student Well-Being
For Students in Coal Country, the Census Is a Hands-On Civics Lesson
In rural communities with shrinking populations, schools are enlisting students to help prevent the U.S. Census Bureau from undercounting them next year.
Social Studies
A 'Roadmap' for Teaching Civics and History Is Coming. Will It Restart an Old Curriculum War?
Funding from the U.S. Department of Education and the National Endowment for the Humanities will finance an effort to strengthen content and teaching in the subjects. But the project will need to sidestep the issues that sank a 1994 effort.
School Climate & Safety
Participate, But Know Your Place: Young Civic Activists Get Mixed Messages
Schools, celebrities, and lawmakers have long urged young people to get involved in local and national issues, but the young activists calling for action to stop gun violence or climate change find that their civic involvement isn’t always welcomed.
Social Studies
Teaching Impeachment in Politically Risky Times
Civics teachers are at the frontlines of translating the impeachment process for the next generation of citizens.
Federal
Which States Saw a Surge in Teenage Voters in 2018?
As many as 1 in 3 eligible 18- and 19-year-olds voted in Colorado, Minnesota, Montana, and Oregon in last year's mid-term elections, new data show. Did civics education help?
Assessment
Could Testing Wreck Civics Education?
As civic education undergoes a renaissance in schools, educators are looking beyond standardized tests to determine whether the lessons empower students to embrace civic behaviors, like voting or volunteering.
Social Studies
How 3 States Are Digging In on Civics Education
As more states jump on the civics-learning bandwagon, a coalition of 90 national groups warns that some strategies are better than others.
School & District Management
Few Student Board Members Can Vote. Should That Change?
While districts say they want to prioritize student voice and civics, student board positions are often advisory, rather than consequential.
Social Studies
Schools Teach Civics. Do They Model It?
Colorado students who led a peaceful protest at their school learned a hard lesson about civics—and it didn’t come from textbooks.
Law & Courts
What Are Students' Constitutional Rights?
The First Amendment looks different in schools. (So do the 4th, 5th, 8th, and 14th.)
Classroom Technology
Even 'Digital Natives' May Need Lessons on Online Political Discourse
New research suggests that students who’ve learned about media literacy and participatory politics in school are more likely to take part in political activity online.
States
'Action Civics' Enlists Students in Hands-On Democracy
An activist brand of civics instruction is gaining champions and a few critics in the nation's schools.
School Climate & Safety
Are Today's Young Civic Activists in It for the Long Haul?
After a year, the March for Our Lives movement can point to political wins and losses, converts, and dropouts. Can they keep it going?
School & District Management
From Our Research Center
Student Journalism Classes Going Strong, Poll Finds
Despite harsh criticism from President Trump, shrinking job prospects, and safety threats, student interest in journalism has risen or held steady in many high schools, a new survey shows.
Law & Courts
Is the Time Right to Make Education a Constitutional Right?
The odds may be long for a newly filed lawsuit that asserts students have a Constitutional right to civics learning, but some experts say the timing is spot on.
Student Well-Being
Students Learn to Put the 'Civil' in Civil Discourse
In an age of political divisiveness, teachers are finding new ways to teach students how to have calm, reasoned discussions about hot-button issues.
Law & Courts
Lessons on U.S. Constitution Find New Relevance
Is the current political climate rekindling interest in teaching about the U.S. Constitution? That's what some civics teachers, law experts, and leaders of national groups are saying.
Federal
'It's Like a High School Girl Fight': Talking Politics With Students After Election Day
In two AP Government classes in Winchester, Va., students are more interested in results from local races than in Donald Trump, but they’re pumped to be part of the electoral process.
Curriculum
The Midterm Elections in the Classroom: Why They Matter, and How Teachers Are Preparing
In the kickoff of a blog series leading up to the midterm elections, Curriculum Matters explore how one teacher approached the topic of ballot initiatives.
Social Studies
Teaching the Midterm Elections: Voter Turnout and Its Implications
In the second of a three-part series, a Syracuse teacher has students look at voter turnout data and create local voting guides for their communities.
School & District Management
Midterm Elections in the Classroom: Local Issues and Longstanding Themes
A Maryland educator has her students look at local elections through the lens of a local controversy—the opioid epidemic—and a national one, the debate over voter suppression.
School & District Management
From Our Research Center
Is America's Next Generation of Voters Ready for the Job?
A majority of potential first-time voters plan to cast a ballot this election season, according to a new Education Week Research Center survey. And President Trump and the Parkland, Fla., school shootings are spurring some of their political engagement.
Classroom Technology
Where Prospective, First-Time Voters Get Informed
How do young voters decide how to vote? An Education Week Research Center poll shows they are pulling their information from a long list of in-person and online sources.
Social Studies
How History Class Divides Us
What if Americans' inability to agree on our shared history is a cause of our current polarization and political dysfunction, not a symptom?
Curriculum
Citizen Activists Push to Revise History Textbooks
History-minded residents of Charlotte County, Fla., are among the first to test a state law that permits citizens to challenge the curriculum taught in their schools.
