As a middle school civics teacher, not only do I need to teach the importance of voting like my high school colleagues, but I have to do it four or more years before the students will even be eligible to register. This makes holding their interest more difficult. I have also found that while students understand the importance of making informed decisions, they do not know how to find information about the candidates in order to make those decisions. The solution? I have students take part in the actual research, comparison, and election processes through an in-depth mock election project that kicks off with the iCivics game, Cast Your Vote.
Cast Your Vote is one of the more challenging games offered as part of the We the People program because of the amount of analysis required of students regarding candidates, including their stances on issues and voting history. Students must also identify red flags related to misinformation or bias.
In the game, the player has four simulated weeks to attend town halls, research candidates through digital news sources and campaign literature, and decide their own personal stance on issues to find the candidate who best matches. At the end of the game, students not only get a score based on voting for a candidate who best matches their decided-upon stance on issues but also on the amount of facts and red flags identified.
Once we’ve played the game in class, students are ready to try out the same skills with the real upcoming elections. I assign one race to each period, and each student gets a graphic organizer that documents the candidates’ stances or plans for at least five issues affecting our government.
After a few days of at-home research and a quick grade based on completed research, students are then put in pairs or small groups to choose one of the issues and create an informational poster contrasting the candidates on that issue. Our hallway quickly fills with research-based, unbiased comparisons using the candidates’ own stances and comments. The staff and visiting adults in the building love to comment about how helpful this research is for their own voting preparation.
Finally, it’s time for our mock election. After students have had a few days to look over other classmates’ work and see a sample ballot, I publish their mock election ballot taken from screenshots of the real sample ballots from my local election office. Students are warned to follow the directions of the ballot just like at a real polling location and, during a period, are given privacy in booths to take their ballot and vote. I have even begun buying stickers for the students who choose to participate, which is almost 100%.
During the project, the students comment that the amount of work often surprises them, and they now not only understand the importance of voting more but feel like they are better prepared than many of the adults in their households with whom they talk about the project a lot.
Written by Erin Merrill
Erin Merrill is an award-winning educator in her 19th year of teaching middle school social studies and her 10th year as Department Chair and Middle School lead at Pennington Traditional School in Prince William County, VA. She is passionate about making her students aware and engaged in the current events around them, and thankfully, Civics provides the perfect platform for this.
Through the iCivics Educator Network, the perspectives of teachers across the country contribute to the public conversation about civic education in the United States. Each contributor represents their own opinion. We welcome this diversity of perspectives.
Fostering global competency in students is essential in today’s interconnected world. This is why iCivics has teamed up with Global Cities to host a two-part workshop series that explores new ways to connect local civic engagement to global topics and impacts while elevating your existing teaching curriculum. Stipends are available to participating teachers upon completion of at least one workshop.
This workshop series, which takes place Oct. 7 and 8, equips you with the tools and strategies to foster your students’ capacity to advocate for and contribute to local, regional, or global improvement.
Workshop 1: Advance Your Curriculum with the Codebook for Global Student Learning Outcomes
October 7, 2024 7:00 p.m. ET
This workshop focuses on using the landmark Codebook for Global Student Learning Outcomes to integrate global competency into curriculum and instruction. The Codebook allows educators to determine how well students are demonstrating global learning in any program or classroom.
Workshop 2: Explore Inclusive Problem-Solving Using Community Surveys
October 8, 2024 7:00 p.m. ET
Join us for a second workshop to explore how to teach attitudes and skills for inclusive problem-solving using community surveys. You will walk away from this workshop with the tools to actively engage your students with their communities.
By taking advantage of this learning opportunity, you’ll earn a small stipend for your professional development. Participants who attend one workshop will receive $25; participants who join both workshops in the series will receive an additional $50; and all participants, up to the registration limit and with preference given to those who attend both workshops, will be eligible to participate in a follow-up focus group on December 12 or December 17 from 7–8 p.m. ET for an additional $100. (The total stipend could be $175.)
National Hispanic Heritage Month is a moment to inspire to honor the unique background Hispanic Americans share, something I wish I’d appreciated sooner. When I was growing up near the Philadelphia area, I regrettably saw my background as a struggle. It wasn’t until I moved to New Mexico for college that my relationship with my heritage changed for the better. I noticed a deep culture of civically engaged communities with their backgrounds at the forefront. It was in college that I discovered my passion for policy and civic education because now I could see myself and people like me in it.
Growing up as a daughter of Peruvian immigrants, my family never really discussed civics or government. While my peers’ families had multiple generations’ worth of knowledge and civic skills, I grew up never thinking civics had a place in my life because it was never discussed at my dinner table—which always consisted of the best Peruvian food—and I did not see people like me in social studies lessons at school. My family did, however, talk to me about where they came from and why we are here now. The possibilities of opportunities and liberty that they dreamt for our family were enough to take this leap of faith in moving to the United States. Stories ranged from experiences with strong communities and limited access to quality education to first-hand political violence and lack of democracy.
While pursuing my master’s degree, I worked on a research project that helped me better understand Peru’s history, the background of this political violence, and how it quantifiably affected the country’s democracy. Moments like this college project and the childhood stories told by my family connecting to a newly discovered passion of mine reassured me that I was where I was supposed to be.
This past year, my parents passed their naturalization test and became U.S. citizens, joining my brother, who completed his in 2013. Political instability and increasing corruption in Peru’s democracy have often made it difficult to be excited about participating in a democracy. That changes now.
This November, we will—for the first time as a family—exercise our right to vote and participate in the U.S. democratic process. Since my parents are gearing up to participate in this process for the first time, we are experiencing new democratic practices as a family. We have been informing each other of current political events, identifying key issues, engaging in discourse, and my mom is even applying to be a poll worker now that she’s eligible!
Written by Andrea Benites
Andrea is the policy coordinator for iCivics, where she focuses on advocating for the civic education field, policy initiatives, and the work of CivxNow. She is passionate about nonpartisan, equitable solutions to foster an inclusive government.
On July 17, 2024, we were filled with excitement and anticipation to bring together 60 K–12 educators for our first iCivics Educator Convening held in Sacramento, California. This event was hosted in partnership with California’s Power of Democracy Civic Learning Initiative, sponsored by Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero to bring equity to civic learning across the state of California by connecting courts with educators.
The majority of the participants consisted of 44 educators representing 19 counties from across California, who were thrilled to connect with the educators who traveled from 14 other states: Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.
Teachers came to the convening with a vast range of personal goals, from learning how to “utilize strong resources in helping students understand our government and their role within it,” to “meeting with enthusiastic civics teachers, get[ting] inspired and energized.”
The agenda for the day was packed with learning opportunities, including a student panel discussion, two sets of breakout sessions exploring a variety of topics and resources, and a conversation about building relationships with the judicial branch. The two Californian students from the iCivics youth fellowship kicked off the day with a conversation around the importance of engaging youth in politics and sparking conversations that show how civics can be relevant in students’ daily lives and future career paths.
New and current iCivics educators got great insight into iCivics curriculum resources and how to implement them in the classroom. Sessions helped participants understand how to amplify their voice to advocate for civic education, teach the 2024 election using the iCivics Election Headquarters, engage students in civics projects using our step-by-step approach, bring U.S. Supreme Court cases from iCivics’ Landmark Library and games like Brief the Chief into civics classrooms, and integrate inquiry into classroom instruction.
After the interactive sessions, educators reconvened for a plenary session featuring Justice Judith McConnell, who presides over the state’s Fourth District Court of Appeal, and Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Julia Alloggiamento. Together they presented why and how courts support educators in classrooms starting in elementary school. Teachers were invited to connect with the Power of Democracy’s Judges in the Classroom program, modeled after similar efforts in the state of Washington. Many put in their requests on the spot for visits this September, Constitution Month.
We worked hard to make sure that our iCivics Educator Convening felt unique. We were intentional about designing an experience for our educators that not only focused on the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of civic learning, but also modeled best practices for the classroom. Educators were given space to connect with peers, collaborate, and process the information they were exploring in sessions to help the learning stick a little bit stronger. And we were delighted this was reflected in participating educators’ feedback!
“I was SO impressed by the convening. I am used to being disappointed by professional developments... This experience was a full 180 for me. The civic project curriculum was DIVINE. ... [It] has SO much more than I have learned yet, and is perfectly and expertly laid out for students. I was also deeply heartened to be in a room full of teachers like me—that kind of solidarity is so precious and rare in K–12 education. ... You all inspired me to keep pushing for civics education—which presently does not exist at all for 6th graders in my district. I am going to be told that there ‘is no time’ to teach the election, and I feel much stronger and prepared to defend my stance now.”
“I felt very seen as an educator. I enjoyed getting to know people from around the country and making new friends. This has also sparked an excitement in me when I've been feeling burnt out and a bit hopeless… so thank you for re-lighting my spark!!”
“The tools and resources provided through today's convening illustrate how important civics education at the elementary school level needs to be implemented statewide. This education directly impacts the trust and understanding of our civic responsibilities and our democratic process; it shouldn't be a mystery or a ‘figure it out’ mindset.”
Our first iCivics Educator Convening in California concluded with a sense of optimism and determination among educators to elevate civic education as a priority. We hope to make this an annual event to bring together educators to re-energize, build community, and leave with a deeper understanding of the amazing resources available for their classrooms.
Our great thanks to the Koret and Stuart Foundations for making this event possible as part of their commitment to supporting iCivics’ robust professional learning for CA civics educators.
Written by Natacha Scott
As the Director of Educator Engagement at iCivics, Natacha focuses on growing the engagement of educators in-person and virtually through professional development sessions, curriculum, and other experiences. Prior to joining iCivics, Natacha was an educator at Boston Public Schools for 14 years, serving in various roles from elementary classroom teacher to the district K-12 Director for History and Social Studies. She is passionate about place-based learning and engaging educators in meaningful learning experiences that can immediately translate into the classroom.
Kickstart the school year with iCivics! As you prepare to welcome students back into the classroom, we have your back with engaging civics and election-related resources for all ages.
Join us for one of three free webinars that explore engaging election resources, civic lessons, and other exciting updates to help you inspire the next generation. Additionally, participants will get a tour of the new iCivics Education website, designed to provide a more user-friendly experience and launch just days before the webinar.
Natacha Scott, iCivics Director of Educator Engagement, will share previews of yet-to-be-released resources for your classroom and an overview of our elections-related resources and support.
For High School and Middle School Educators
Back-to-School (in an Election Year)
August 21, 2024, from 7–8 p.m. ET
For Elementary Educators
Back to School Elementary Webinar
August 22, 2024, from 7–8 p.m. ET
For Administrators
Bringing iCivics to Your District in an Election Year
August 22, 2024, from 1–2 p.m. ET
Whether you are new to iCivics or just need a refresher on our resources, this webinar is a great place to start planning your school year.
“My aunt always said that knowing more than one language was a superpower.” Shareen Marisol Meraji, keynote speaker kicked off the WIDA 2023 Conference by talking about the importance of “Giving children a strong foundation in their heritage language so that children could be proud of where they come from.”
Being multilingual is a superpower indeed. Knowing another language boosts your memory, gives you a greater ability to multitask, and improves social skills since you draw experiences from different cultures and look at issues from multiple perspectives. One of the important aspects of teaching multilingual learners is to focus on the assets they bring into the classroom.
I attended this year’s WIDA conference because, as part of our mission, iCivics aims to empower and equip ELs and MLs by making our games and resources accessible to all. We are continuously working to improve our ELL materials. In the field of civics and social studies, it’s particularly important to make sure that students see themselves reflected in the stories we tell and we want to make sure that the content has the support and scaffolding that ELs and MLs need in order to be successful. I was able to connect with several leaders in the field and get their thoughts.
One of these leaders was Dr. Luciana de Oliviera, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Graduate Studies and Professor of the Department of Teaching and Learning at Virginia Commonwealth University. She said, “The WIDA 2023 conference was my first and I absolutely loved everything!! The fact that this conference is for K-12 teachers by teachers was prevalent throughout the program. What I loved the most was to see the value and interest in a functional approach to language development. For those of us doing research and practicing this for over 20 years, it is incredible to notice the changes in the field impacted by the inclusion of this approach in WIDA 2020.!”
Many of the sessions focused on the WIDA English Language Development (ELD) Standards Framework which is centered on equity and fosters the assets, contributions, and potential of multilingual learners. It focuses on a functional approach to language development and one of the big ideas is the integration of content and language. WIDA’s Key Language Uses—narrate, argue, inform, and explain—are core to communicating ideas and content in social studies and civics.
Another leader (former WIDA researcher and one of the authors of the WIDA ELD Standards), I spoke to was Dr. Ruslana Westerlund, an educational consultant at the Cooperative Educational Service Agency 2 serving Wisconsin school districts and Associate Adjunct Faculty in the Graduate School of Education at Bethel University. She was one of the authors of the WIDA ELD Standards who worked hard to represent disciplinary genres such as explanations and arguments through the Key Language Uses. To illustrate the synergy between C3 and WIDA, she wrote Scaffolding ML Access to Social Studies Inquiry Through the WIDA ELD Standards. When asked about this year’s conference, she said, “This year’s WIDA Conference exemplified the strength of what happens when we do transdisciplinary work. We are seeing math (such as Dr. Karen Terrel) and science (like Dr. David Crowther) and social studies (like iCivics)… CONTENT people come to language conferences! Now we, language people have work to do and go to science and math and social studies conferences. We have so much to learn from each other. We are stronger together. Our students will only benefit when adults start working together, walk across the hallway and humbly ask for help.”
Our students are learning content and language at the same time. We are integrating content and language instruction in our materials in many different ways through instructional strategies, language objectives, scaffolding, vocabulary integration, visuals, video viewing, and more. This is the very approach iCivics is using to develop its core curriculum for U.S. History, which will be published in summer of 2024. ELs/MLs can soar higher when their skills and superpowers are supported by high-quality instructional materials and celebrated.
Kristen Chapron is Senior Editor of Digital Learning and ELL at iCivics. She has worked on all of the EL and bilingual resources and looks forward to creating even more materials for English and multilingual learners.
¡Hola, historiadores! Private i History Detectives, our supplemental mystery-themed curriculum, is now available in Spanish for select mysteries. These lessons teach strategies such as notice, wonder, inference, and comparison.
Private i History Detectives can be used in a wide variety of classroom settings, including multilingual and bilingual classrooms. Two mysteries at each grade level, including the Introduction to Inquiry mysteries, are available in Spanish, allowing Spanish-speaking students to practice exploring primary sources, analyzing information, and asking questions.
Each mystery lesson includes English and Spanish student and class materials such as transcripts, handouts, Google Slide decks with audible Spanish narrations, and lesson plans. These resources will help students build social studies content knowledge, foster critical thinking skills, and develop disciplinary language.
Explore these Private i History Detective Spanish Lessons:
Historians are observant. In this introduction to inquiry lesson, students will learn some of the skills and strategies historians use to learn about the past. Students will use their historian skills to uncover a mystery object as they notice, wonder, infer, and compare.
Historians can learn a lot from a hat! In this lesson, students will look at images of historical and modern hats to learn how hats can give us clues about what people do for work and why their hats may need special features.
Historians draw conclusions. In this lesson, students are introduced to the concepts of citizenship and leadership. They are asked to consider the different groups they belong to and how members of each group help one another.
Historians make inferences. In this lesson, students explore primary source images and learn some of the skills and strategies historians use to learn about the past.
Historians observe. In this lesson, students learn some of the skills and strategies historians use to learn about the past. Students will look at an image of a classroom from the past and try to figure out what the class is learning about.
Historians make inferences. In this lesson, students learn some of the skills and strategies historians use to learn about the past. They will analyze information and provide reasoning.
Historians study the past. In this lesson, students learn some of the skills and strategies historians use to learn about the past. Students will gather evidence from primary sources, such as a law created in Virginia in 1617 that required everyone to grow corn.
April is the Month of the Military Child. To honor our service members and their children, the iCivics: Civics, Service, and Leadership Program hosted an educator immersion day on MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, FL in partnership with Blue Star Families and Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS).
MacDill Air Force Base is home to over 6,000 people, with an additional 20,000 coming to work on the base each day. The base is a world unto its own, but most military children attend school in the community through HCPS. Next week, MacDill will deploy about 200 service members, one of the largest deployments in recent years. This means a number of students will show up for school coping with that reality. The immersion day was an opportunity for iCSL educators to learn about the unique strengths and challenges our military-connected students and families face, so they might better support them in school.
Teachers started the day with a panel discussion between military parents and school district staff. One parent shared that by the time her son was ready to graduate high school, they had moved 9 times. These transitions are one of the biggest challenges military-connected students face. Moving schools means integrating into a new school culture. It means that different state standards and requirements may delay academic progress. It means, as one parent shared, that key pieces to a child’s education–like learning the branches of government–can fall through the cracks. A parent’s deployment is equally challenging. Another panelist shared, “Deployment affects the whole family.” “Our children are deploying as well.”
After the panel, our educators met Colonel Bingham, the base commander. They met Champa Boom, the base mascot. They toured the base. They talked with a young pilot and her crew. They walked the flight line and climbed into the cockpit of a KC-137. They learned that our military community, and the base itself, is a place full of opportunities for service members, civilians, and students. They gathered new resources and ideas for how to support military students when they return back to their school communities. We all learned that our military families, including the little ones, know and embody civic values and civic responsibility.
The goal of the day was to foster awareness across our military and school communities. Everyone left empowered and excited to keep building connections and opportunities on behalf of our students and civics education. It was a mission well accomplished!
Written by Frank Anderson
Frank Anderson is the director of special projects at iCivics and the program director for the Civics, Service, and Leadership program. Frank works with educators from across the country to connect them to civics education resources and to help students build a service mindset and leadership skills within the classroom. Before iCivics, Frank taught in alternative education in Baltimore and managed education programming for students involved with the juvenile justice system.
The Civics, Service, and Leadership (iCSL) program aims to prepare students exploring careers in military and public service with high-quality civic learning experiences that build critical thinking, media literacy, civility, civic knowledge and participation, and service. iCSL is sponsored by DoDSTEM, the National Defense Education Program.
“I love iCivics! My kids love to play Win the White House!”
“Awesome! Have you ever used any of the other resources from iCivics? They go great with the games!”
“No, tell me more!”
I had this conversation multiple times with educators I met last fall at the annual National Council for the Social Studies Conference while I was helping out in the Exhibit Hall at the iCivics booth. I teach at Maranacook Community High School in Readfield, Maine, a rural community next to Maranacook Lake just outside the Maine State Capitol. I use iCivics in a variety of ways in AP U.S. History and non-level U.S. History. This Spring, I have a student intern working with me from the University of Maine at Farmington named Tom Tubman. In an effort to promote iCivics beyond the games, I thought it would be interesting to document our use of an iCivics DBQuest in our classes titled “Woman Suffrage and World War I.”
As I said earlier, it seems many educators are familiar with the amazing learning games on the iCivics website, with Win the White House often being the one everyone knows. What seems to be lesser known are the lesson plans and activities iCivics also offers. These resources include connections to state standards and how they can fit into scope and sequence. They also show how they connect to the games iCivics hosts on their site.
I selected this DBQuest because it fits well within the curriculum for content in US History and includes other important aspects such as multiple viewpoints, primary source analysis, argument analysis, sourcing, and inquiry. Most of my students currently in my U.S. history classes have played the iCivics game Cast Your Vote, and so this DBQuest connects well to this game in getting students reflecting on a time when some of them would not have been able to cast their ballots.
My student teacher, Tom, and I took a team-teaching approach to this, each leading a different part of the lesson. Tom led the discussion using the timeline and I facilitated the document analysis. We closed the lesson with an extension video that added context and gave them a sense of how suffrage came to pass.
Our first class was at the end of the day on a Friday! We started with a question to engage students and get their brains working, “What is suffrage?” A brief discussion revealed that most students had heard of this term in conjunction with voting and had a sense of its meaning. As this is a U.S. History course, students had learned previously about the early days of the women’s rights movement, including the work of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and others at Seneca Falls in drafting the “Declaration of Sentiments” and Susan B. Anthony. This historical context is important in getting the most out of this DBQuest to help students draw conclusions about the timeline and the accompanying Primary Source documents. Upon reflection, Tom concluded that historical context was important to this activity. Information about the early days of the push for women’s rights and women’s suffrage going back to Seneca Falls would greatly help students understand that women were fighting for a voice long before the First World War. Ensuring students have this context is important in having a deeper understanding of the agency of women in bringing about Suffrage.
Students received the student handout on paper and went to work highlighting in different colors, events that helped women’s suffrage make progress, and events that worked against Women’s Suffrage. The ensuing discussion elicited several insights from students, such as events may in fact be well-intended and essentially good even if, from the perspective of the Women’s Suffrage movement, the event worked against their progress.
Students worked individually to complete the “Math Moment” and “Reflection,” placing the events from the First World War, and we then had a class discussion around their thoughts about why it took so long for women’s suffrage to pass. This activity revealed many interesting insights including the quotes below.
“The major shifts of WWI, including women proving themselves capable of fully taking charge of duties left behind by men… “
“… because misogyny had been a part of western culture for a long time…”
“… (post-Civil War/Reconstruction) Civil Rights proved more of a pressing issue and women were seemingly unimportant to the government…”
“Because the society of most nations and cultures of the time were built around strict gender roles…”
“The fight for Black suffrage was also occurring at the time and that may have caused more focus on that rather than woman’s suffrage.”
“I think a lot of people in power, men, didn’t see it as an issue and didn’t care…”
The next part of the lesson required students to examine three different types of primary source documents from the era. In the first class, we had students in small groups of 3-4 analyze all 3 documents and draw conclusions. We made a modification in the second class that turned this into more of a jigsaw activity where we had students in 3 groups to start and together they analyzed one document. Then we mixed them into groups so at least 1 student from each of those 3 groups was in the new groupings. Then they took turns sharing out their document and their analysis. We found this produced more discussion between the students and likely gave them more confidence in completing the final section of the handout titled “Argument On!” In this section, students document their analysis and conclusions about the documents. They locate key arguments quoted from the documents and identify where they came from and whether the argument was intended to “inform,” “persuade,” or “inflame”. At the end of this, they discussed the 2 questions at the end: Which wartime argument to promote suffrage appeals to you more? Why? And: Does the way in which the message is communicated affect your decision? (Ex: picket vs. political cartoon vs. leaflet). This was followed by a class discussion on these questions. Students have some interesting responses, some examples are included below.
“The leaflet argument for war… this played on democratic/freedom built pride for America”
“Cartoons are eye-catching and quick to look at, but they can also be thought provoking to the reader.”
“Leaflet… it also has the best view on how women are important to society…”
“…the Article was just informing while the Leaflet was trying to start something…”
“The most convincing argument for me was the rational approaches of the statements that if women can serve the country they should be able to vote in the country’s politics.”
We finally turned to the video we selected to close out the lesson. The video, produced by the History Channel is titled “The 19th Amendment.” We gave students the following questions for discussion that went with the short video.
What were the two approaches taken to get Women’s Suffrage passed?
What happened at the Women’s Suffrage Parade before Wilson’s inauguration in 1913?
What happened to Alice Paul?
What was Wilson’s argument for Women’s Suffrage?
We didn’t have a lot of time for discussion after the video, but we did briefly talk about the different strategies, how Alice Paul and other women suffered, and how the 19th Amendment came down to needing Tennessee’s vote to pass—and how it seemed doomed to failure by one vote until Harry T. Byrne changed his vote at the last minute thanks to a letter from his Mother! Many students expressed amazement and these “Hollywood-like” details!
In the end, we found this DBQuest to be engaging and thought-provoking! It promoted historical thinking skills such as primary source analysis, cause and effect, and change and continuity over time. Additionally, it connected well to civics by getting students to reflect on the importance of voting and the lengths people will go to in order to secure their rights, as well as the various modes available to persuade, inform, or inflame others about one’s cause. Students came away with an understanding of civil rights, discrimination, and changing attitudes around these issues. We thoroughly enjoy the iCivics games and the lessons they support, but it’s awesome that they also have supplemental lessons like this DBQuest! Give it a try!
Shane Gower is passionate about ideas! He considers himself fortunate to have a career as a teacher that allows him to explore his passion as he has done for the past 25 years. He was the 2016 Gilder-Lehrman Maine State History Teacher of the Year and currently teaches AP US History, AP Psychology, Ethics, and History through Film. These courses are all dual enrollment through the nearby Thomas College. In addition to the classroom, he is also Past-President of the Maine Council for the Social Studies and a Retro Report Teacher Ambassador.
Through the iCivics Educator Network, the perspectives of teachers across the country contribute to the public conversation about civic education in the United States. Each contributor represents their own opinion. We welcome this diversity of perspectives.
iCivics has received a major vote of confidence from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). In a review by state educators of over 100 history and social studies curriculum materials that was just released as the Massachusetts K-12 History/Social Science Curricular Materials Review Guide, the state found that iCivics ranked among the top resources currently available–at all grade levels, K-12.
At the K-5/elementary grades, the review highlighted iCivics Private i curriculum as a strong supplemental resource. At grade 8, the review noted iCivics’Grade 8 curriculum/scope and sequence as a quality core resource as well as featuring the iCivics Civics Projects Workbook as strong supplemental material. At the high school grades, the review highlighted the new US History I curriculum (that will be publicly available later this year) as a quality core resource.
The guide synthesizes the findings of several review projects and involved state educators directly in the review. It supports Massachusetts educators who are selecting history/social science curricular materials by identifying promising materials worthy of further investigation by schools and districts. It contains information about history/social science curricular materials that meet baseline expectations for quality including alignment to Massachusetts standards, cultural responsiveness, and teacher usability.
We are proud of this acknowledgement of the impact of iCivics resources.
