iCivics Calls for Greater Investment in Civic Education Following Release of National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) on Civics

As “The Nation’s Report Card” shows that only 22 percent of eighth graders in the United States were deemed proficient or better in civics, iCivics calls for greater prioritization of civic education to sustain and strengthen our nation’s constitutional democracy.

CAMBRIDGE, MA. [May 3, 2023] – Following this morning’s release of results from the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in civics for 8th graders once again showing a lack of proficiency, the country’s leading civic education nonprofit, iCivics, is calling for greater investment in civic education. 

Commonly known as “The Nation’s Report Card,” the results of the latest NAEP Civics indicate that only 22 percent of 8th graders are proficient in civics. This is a slight decrease since the subject was last tested in 2018, when only 24 percent graded out as proficient, meaning students have knowledge of the subject and know how to apply it. 

In addition, the 2022 NAEP Civics shows that dedicated resources for teaching civics results in better student performance, but that those resources are sorely lacking:

  • Eighth graders who learned about civics in a designated class outperformed those where it was embedded in another class (157 to 153 average scale score), with a wider gap for those with no civics instruction (143).
  • Only 49 percent of students who took the NAEP said that they had a class that is mainly focused on civics or U.S. Government, and only 29 percent said they had a teacher whose primary responsibility is teaching civics.

“Today’s results are indeed a report card for our nation, reflecting a failure to prioritize and invest in civic education—the knowledge and skills fundamental to the responsibilities of citizenship in our self-governing society,” said iCivics Executive Director Louise Dubé. “If there is one thing we can all agree on, it is the importance of preparing our kids to be informed and engaged participants in our 21st-century democracy. It is time that our policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels pass legislation to ensure schools are supported to provide high-quality civic education for each and every student in the United States.”

Polling by Cygnal of more than 3,000 voters conducted just before the 2022 midterm elections shows that nearly 80 percent—Republicans and Democrats alike—believe that civic education is more important now than it was just five years ago, and 65 percent said they would support more funding of civics.

Civics for Democracy: Civics with Ben Sheehan

iCivics Chief Education Officer Emma Humphries talks civic education with Ben Sheehan, award-winning executive producer, formerly with the YouTube channel Funny or Die, and author of “OMG WTF Does the Constitution Actually Say?”

Read the full transcript:

Emma Humphries: From I Civics, a podcast hosted by me, Emma Humphries. (Music)

Emma: In May of 1787, representatives from the 13 states gathered in Philadelphia to strengthen the government by amending the Articles of Confederation. Instead, they closed the shutters, locked the doors, and went about the important work of drafting a whole new constitution. Almost four months later, on the last day of what we now call the Constitutional Convention, a crowd gathered around Independence Hall to learn what type of government their representatives had formed for the new nation. When Benjamin Franklin emerged, a certain Mrs. Power could no longer wait. She marched up to Franklin and asked, Well, Doctor, what have we got? A republic or a monarchy? Franklin’s famous response A republic, Madam, if you can keep it.

I wonder what Franklin or Mrs. Powell, for that matter, would think today. I mean, certainly they’d be impressed that we’ve made it this far. But would they be confident about the future? Would they think that we could actually keep our republic much longer?

My name is Emma Humphries and I’m the chief education officer of iCivics, the national nonprofit founded by retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to reimagine civic education for American democracy. Teachers know us for our comprehensive library of trusted standards aligned, highly engaging instructional materials. Students know us for our super fun video games that cover everything from the Electoral College to the federal budget and foreign affairs. And I’m hopeful that more and more Americans will know us as the folks who are working every day to sustain and strengthen our democracy by ensuring each and every student in the United States has access to high quality K-12 civic education.

Our guest on this podcast is Ben Sheehan. He’s an award-winning executive producer, formerly with the YouTube channel Funny or Die, and was listed as one of the entertainment industry’s 35 rising executives under age 35 by The Hollywood Reporter. Now, Ben is doing projects related to civic education. He founded something called OMG WTF, which was established to teach voters about the state executive races during the 2018 midterms. Now, those initials may have other meanings elsewhere, but in this case they stand for Ohio, Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, Texas, Florida. And if you’re not sure why those states are important, you should definitely read his book. OMG WTF does the Constitution actually say? Ben has unique insights as to how our government works. Growing up in Washington, D.C., the child of federal workers, Ben learned civics from his parents. 

Ben Sheehan: I had no choice but to listen to them as they talked about their days working in and with the federal government over the dinner table. And this was my civics education. I also remember going to school in D.C., and I had one year, actually a half year of government and civics education. I think the first half of eighth grade. And my school was like four miles from the Capitol. I learned this at home just by total luck of having parents who worked in and with the federal government. They taught me over the dinner table. It didn’t really dawn on me how rare getting that early exposure was. And I wish that that was the norm and not the exception. 

Emma Humphries: I was lucky I had the same sort of minimal requirements to graduate high school, but I went to school down in Broward County, Florida. I went to a public school. You could see it from the turnpike, nothing fancy, but we had what I would consider an award winning social studies department, really great faculty of educators who were passionate about history and civics and instilled that in me. But just one semester. So you grew up believing this was important. Knowing it was important, you went to college and majored in political science, but you didn’t become a lawyer or a politician. You became a writer and a comedy producer who is now trying to bring civic education to the masses.

Ben Sheehan: Well, I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t really have any interest in going into politics from a young age. I was just around it and soaked it in and I wanted to pursue the things that I found entertaining, which was music and playing in bands and making stupid videos with my friends. The moment that those sort of things converged was when I was working at Funny or Die, and I got this incredible opportunity to do videos with people like Will Ferrell and Adam McKay and to sort of see comedy as a way to present ideas in a new way. And what I learned making videos there was that it wasn’t that people were necessarily not interested in information about government or civics, it’s just that the presentation was creating a barrier. That kind of became a personal challenge for me to find a way to take something that I thought other people might think is boring, that I personally find interesting and find a way to like, go to them. And so to find the entry point, that became a fun personal challenge. And that’s kind of been the guiding principle for all the work that I’ve done since.

Emma Humphries: What would you say is the best joke you found, or just an example of a time where you’re like, Nailed it? 

Ben Sheehan: I do think that the video we did like a ‘We Are the World’-style song, obviously much like ‘We Are the World’ and like, you know, these big like celebrity anthems. But we felt that the climate change denier movement didn’t have their big, beautiful song to rally around. And so the song is called The Earth Is Not Getting Warmer. (Song clip) And it’s this big, heartwarming, uplifting song about the denial of climate change. Just finding the unusual, weird entry point is such an important way to present information to people. 

Emma Humphries: Teaching civics was once a fundamental goal of education. It was seen as essential for citizenship training as retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has reminded us: “The practice of democracy is not transferred through the gene pool. It must be taught and learned anew by each generation of citizens.” Through the 1950s, three courses in civics and government were commonplace in the high school curriculum, and two of them focused on the role of citizens and encouraged discussion of social issues. But then something changed, and it was big. On October 4th, 1957, the Soviet Union launched into orbit the satellite Sputnik. 

News clip: “Russia had blasted a manmade moon into outer space on every continent and in every land. The story of the main Soviet papers today devote more than half their space to the satellite, with front page headlines such as rarely seen in this country.”

Emma Humphries: This event rattled America’s confidence and precipitated a major school reform movement. Legislators on both sides of the aisle joined forces to pass the nation’s first comprehensive education bill. Less than a year later, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Defense of Education Act into law authorizing more than a billion dollars — and remember, this was the late 1950s — for improving mathematics, science and foreign language instruction. Notably, the bill did not include any funds for social studies, which would include civics. So for the next six decades, civic education took a backseat to science, technology, engineering and math, and later reading and language arts. And here we are in 2023, when we’re lucky if students receive one semester of government during their senior year of high school. In fact, the only civics thing we do starting from kindergarten is expect students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of every school day.

(Kids reciting Pledge)

That’s it. That’s the only consistent civics instruction we have from kindergarten through 12th grade in the United States. Then Sheehan suggests we need a two-step approach to address this problem. 

Ben Sheehan: You’re talking about bringing civics back into schools for people who are still in school. But then you also have to give civics to people who are no longer in school and never got it. The work that organizations like yours are doing and others are really focused on getting that back into schools. I mean, there’s one stat that sticks with me, and that is the discrepancy between people who have to take the citizenship test, obviously, in order to become an American citizen who have to pass that citizenship test. Studies have shown that people who are born in the United States, only about a third of those adults can pass the citizenship test. So there’s a huge discrepancy with people here not knowing this information. So one solution is to get civics back in schools. I’d love to see a full year at fourth grade, a full year at eighth grade, a full year at 12th grade. Other civics sprinkled in. I think people should be required to pass a citizenship test or something like it in order to graduate. I think that would be a really good first step for schools. But for the people who are no longer in school, who don’t have this information where do you get it ? So using pop culture, using entertainment, also challenging our media to focus more on the actual underlying information on how things work.

Emma Humphries: How can comedy help us? 

Ben Sheehan: I think of comedy as sort of shocking people awake in a weird way. So I’ll use the gerrymandering example, right? So how do you teach something like gerrymandering that’s really dry and kind of complicated to somebody who’s unfamiliar with? So in 2018, myself and a friend of mine, we started a line of very high end, beautiful jewelry called gerrymander. And every piece and every necklace of your pain was shaped like one of the worst congressional gerrymandered districts the United States. And we decided to create a very real website, a very real ad, a jewelry ad in the style of Jared or Zales, you know, beautiful shots of a couple on the beach and the ocean going over their toes. That’s just one example. But, you know, again, it goes back to my whole mission of like, how can I find, like the weird thing and the odd entry point to kind of hook people? And then once I have that inform them, catch them up on the basics on something like gerrymandering.

Emma Humphries: Did you really make the jewelry? Can I go online and buy gerrymander jewelry? 

Ben Sheehan: You can’t. The store is no longer active because it turns out it’s expensive. But we did for about a year had a very real website. GerrymanderJewelry.com You could go there, you could buy jewelry, you could pick your district, you could pick your material. We had white gold, rose, gold, silver. But it was a very real store, a very real website, very real jewelry that we shipped all over the country. 

Emma Humphries: So that’s one really interesting vehicle for getting civic education out there. Can you tell us about some other vehicles you’ve had for spreading the message, getting the word out there about civic education? 

Ben Sheehan: Well, really, the books, they’re annotated guides to the Constitution for different age groups. The kids one is for ages 8 to 12. The adult one is for people 16 and up, or if you have cool parents, 14 and up. But the idea is basically to take away any sort of barrier to call out all the unusual, weird things you’d come across in the Constitution. Also calling up the fact that even though this document is written in English, it feels like a different language. English of 1787 is a lot different than English of 2023. People get tripped up on certain words. There are things that sound like they mean one thing that actually means something else, and translating that, updating that, putting that into understandable English alongside the original text so people can go and read that text for themselves and then when appropriate, offering my own opinion as a conversation starter, a jumping off point. People can agree with it, disagree with it, whatever they like.

Emma Humphries: Teaching with primary sources is a great way to reach kids and to teach history. But if you’re not reading on grade level, you’re certainly not going to be reading the Constitution and feeling comfortable. And so one activity I would do with my kids is when I was a high school teacher down in north central Florida is have them translate the preamble or an important speech and put it in their own words. What I love to do is talk about what we would hope that people would know about our form of government, about our history, or just WTF does the Constitution actually say, what’s your favorite article, section or clause of the United States Constitution? 

Ben Sheehan: My favorite amendment is the ninth, and there’s a part of Article five that I really like. And the reason I think these are like just because they drive home the point that the Constitution is not a sacrosanct, impenetrable document that isn’t supposed to be changed. The Ninth Amendment specifically says not all of our rights are in here. We listed some. They’re not all here. And what is here can’t be used to deny the rights that we didn’t list or enumerate. And similarly, the fact that Article five gives us the ability to change the Constitution, whether it’s by proposing an amendment to the states, whether it’s gathering together a constitutional convention to amend it, which has never happened, the idea that the people that wrote this document, they wanted it to be changed. They wanted us to update it with the times. I mean, Thomas Jefferson, who obviously wasn’t in the room when the Constitution is being written, but he was corresponding by letter with James Madison and he thought the Constitution should be rewritten in totality every 19 years. There was recently a study done by the National Constitution Center where they convened experts from sort of like liberal constitutional scholars, conservative constitutional scholars and libertarian constitutional scholars. And you would think that they may not agree on everything, but they proposed five new amendments that they all agreed on, and one of them was lowering the barrier to amend the Constitution. They thought that that three quarters was really too hard and that we should have a little bit less of a barrier to change. 

Emma Humphries: Well, and in the spirit of educating folks and perhaps some of our listeners, we have only amended our Constitution 27 times in all this time. It’s pretty remarkable, but also problematic. That’s what those scholars were getting out of the National Constitution Center like. It shouldn’t be this hard and maybe we should be amending it more. You agree?

Ben Sheehan: I think so. I mean, although there have been periods where we’ve amended it a lot. Right. The entire Bill of Rights was all ratified together. So we ratified all ten amendments all at once. And then there was a period after the Civil War where in a span of five years we had three amendments. But one of the periods of massive constitutional change that I don’t think gets enough attention or publicity is there were four constitutional amendments added from 1961 to 1971, the 23rd ascribing voting rights to D.C. in the Electoral College, banning poll taxes in 1964, clarifying, solidifying what happens with presidential and vice presidential vacancies with the 25th Amendment, and then protecting voting rights for people 18 and up. 

Emma Humphries: You know, you mentioned the D.C. voting rights. And I thought, oh, what a great opportunity for me to ask you, Ben, O-M-G asked, does the Constitution say about voting rights? The U.S. Constitution is kind of interesting on this topic, right? 

Ben Sheehan: A lot of people think that the 15th Amendment, the 19th Amendment, the 26th Amendment, they proactively give people the right to vote. But if you look at the language, it’s a little bit different. It says that if you’re a citizen and you have the right to vote, that right can’t be taken away because of your race. It can’t be taken away because of your sex. It can be taken away because of you being 18 and up. It can’t be taken away because of your ability to pay a poll tax or tax. It’s not saying that every single citizen has the right to vote. It says that it can’t be taken away. And it’s kind of like you’re at a restaurant and getting like, I don’t know, beef tenderloin. It’s like the waiter can’t come in the middle of your meal and take that away. But it doesn’t say that you have a right to beef tenderloin in the first place. It’s been up to each state to sort of set the rules for who is and isn’t allowed to vote. And we see this even today, right? I mean, different states have different rules around felony voting rights. Some people are allowed to vote while they’re sitting in prison in Maine and Vermont, in other states, you have to complete your sentence. You have to complete probation and parole to get your rights back. (Reset Music)

Emma Humphries: We’re talking with Ben Sheehan about innovative ways to engage people in lessons about civics. I’m your host, Emma Humphries. What is the most WTF thing in the Constitution? 

Ben Sheehan: I would say the one that I thought was the absolute weirdest thing. The more I thought about it was in Article one, Section eight. It’s something called Letters of Marque and Reprisal. This is the section in Article one that basically says well here are all the things Congress has the power to do? Things like declare war and coin money and all these powers that are enumerated. But what’s really fascinating is this thing about letters of marque and reprisal. It’s almost like the militia for the water. The idea that they were private citizens who had boats and this is a brand new country, we didn’t really have a Navy, so people who owned boats could get a letter from Congress saying that they’re okay to go and, you know, act like a member of the Navy and capture enemy ships and plunder them. And then, like a court would help decide what they get to keep. It’s just really weird that you could kind of become like a legal pirate. Obviously, we don’t really do this today, but in my research I found that we haven’t actually banned it explicitly in treaties with other countries. So it is possible to bring that back and give people who were, you know, vacationing on yachts or having fun on their jetskis, you know, some letter from Congress and go, you know, see what they can grab out there on the open seas. It is really bizarre that that’s a part of our Constitution basically like legal pirating. 

Emma Humphries: You said, oh, there’s so many. So I need to know, like, what’s your second favorite part of the Constitution to talk about after letters of Marque and Reprisal? 

Ben Sheehan: I think the thing that surprised me the most that I was stunned wasn’t added until 1992, is the fact that, you know, members of Congress didn’t just give themselves a pay raise and have it take effect tomorrow. They had to let an election come between. The way that this amendment got added is like my favorite story because I relate to it on such a personal level in terms of pettiness. It was the student named Gregory Watson at the University of Texas in the early eighties. He wrote this paper for his policy sci class and he got a C and it was about this amendment that had been part of the original proposed Bill of Rights to the States but hadn’t been ratified but also hadn’t expired. There was no expiration date on it. And it said, as I mentioned, that, you know, in order for Congress to give itself a pay raise, an election had to come in between. So they weren’t just giving themselves money and, you know, changing their salaries tomorrow. And instead of taking a C, he decided to write letters to state legislatures all across the country, trying to get them to ratify this amendment. And over a ten year period, he got enough state legislatures, I think it was Alabama became the 38th state to ratify this amendment, leading to its addition to the Constitution. And years later, only like seven or eight years ago, he went back to his alma mater and said, Can I have an A-plus? And they only gave him an A. 

Emma Humphries: So we also know it’s maybe not in the Constitution. Like what are some things that, every American should know that it’s not in the Constitution, but it’s pretty important stuff. 

Ben Sheehan: One thing is I think everyone should know who represents them at the federal level. It’s not too many people that you vote directly for. Really. You’re one member of the House or two senators, obviously, the president. But then you start to get the people at the state level. You know, you’re voting for governors, state executives in most states like secretary of state and treasurer, attorney general. Then you go further, things like school boards, especially today, we’re seeing this huge shot of interest in school board races and the control of what people learn. It’s a way to control how much information people have about their own government. There is sort of a dark element to that. If you don’t teach the full picture of the United States history and the struggle for voting rights, and you don’t understand, your vote impacts you, then you may be less inclined to do it. So I think sort of like depriving people of civic education and accurate history is a more insidious form of voter suppression. If you teach people not to care, then you’re going to teach them as a byproduct of that not to vote.

Emma Humphries: What I want to do now is play a little bit of a game. You’ve written a book. I fancy myself a civic educator. So let’s see if we can stump each other. You ask me a question, and I’m going to pray to God that I don’t just completely strike out on the first pitch. So let’s. Let’s see what you got. 

Ben Sheehan: I’m going to be honest. I chose some hard questions, to be honest with you. All right. I’m going to start with the first one. The Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution. There were actually 12 that were sent to the states. But how many did James Madison originally draft? 

Emma Humphries: I know it’s firm. Well, is it far more? I used to teach this. I used to know what I could Google and I get it. I get to Google it, you know, and I’m going to I’m going to do. 

Ben Sheehan: I can’t see your computer, so I would have no idea if you did. 

Emma Humphries: I’m going to buy some time by just saying how I’m a huge fan of James Madison. I’m a James Madison fellow, which means I received some funding for grad school because I was going to be a teacher of the Constitution. Apparently not a good one because I don’t know the answer to your question, But I found it remarkable that, you know, during the debate over ratification of the Constitution. Madison would argue so passionately about the fact that we didn’t need a Bill of Rights. It wasn’t necessary. But, you know, those important rights were already embedded in the Constitution. And by the way, speaking of an amendment, if you were to list them all, what if you left one out? Does that mean someone doesn’t have that rights? We don’t need a bill of rights. And then because he’s a baller and as smart as he is, he sits down and writes, I don’t know the answer. What is it. 15?

Ben Sheehan: 19 

Emma Humphries: I feel good about being in the zone. Okay. Nine 19 19 You definitely know this better than I do. Now you’re going to know the answer. This isn’t easy. This is a softball. What are the first five words to the Bill of Rights? 

Ben Sheehan: The first five words to the, as in the First Amendment right? Congress shall make no law. 

Emma Humphries: That’s the answer. 

Ben Sheehan: I thought you were going to ask me about the preamble to the Bill of Rights, which I absolutely did. But there was like a small preamble that went with the Bill of Rights that was sent to the States, but I definitely could not recite them.

Emma Humphries: Through another one at me. 

Ben Sheehan: Okay. Second question. The United States Constitution is the oldest governing document in the world for a country, but it is not the oldest governing document. There are actually two states that have older constitutions that are still in effect than the US Constitution. What are those two states? 

Emma Humphries: Is one of them, Virginia?

Ben Sheehan: It is not.

Emma Humphries: I mean, I’d be guessing. I would, you know, to sort of start at the top of the 13 colonies. Is it one of the 13 colonies?

Ben Sheehan: Yes, they are both. We’re talking about Massachusetts and New Hampshire. So the Massachusetts constitution was in 1780 and it is still in effect today. And New Hampshire was 1784 and it’s still in effect today.

Emma Humphries: All right, Ben, can you name first middle, last name. All nine Supreme Court justices. 

Ben Sheehan: Are you asking me to name all nine Supreme Court justices? 

Emma Humphries: I want to hear the last names. I want to see if you can do it. 

Ben Sheehan: Do you want list? Okay. John Roberts. Clarence Thomas. Neil Gorsuch. Brett Kavanaugh. Amy Coney Barrett. Sonia Sotomayor. Elena Kagan. What am I at? 

Emma Humphries: Seven?

Ben Sheehan: Seven? Ketanji Brown Jackson. All right. Uh, Samuel Alito. Nine

Emma Humphries: That was impressive. I was quizzing myself on this on the treadmill today at the gym, and I got stuck. I couldn’t think of Gorsuch. Whom I’ve met. 

Ben Sheehan: Okay, so we’ve talked a lot about negative rights. Congress shall make the law how the Bill of Rights and a lot of a lot of rights mentioned in the Constitution throughout are negative rights. You can’t take something away. There’s one amendment that is completely full of positive rights. Which amendment. And I will say it is one of the rights

Emma Humphries: It’s going to be the rights that something with the rights of the accused. 

Ben Sheehan: Yes. Yeah. I’ll give you a hint. The accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial in the state, in the district where the crimes being committed and statistics always contain by law and has compulsive thought of. Should note that. Which amendment is that?

Emma Humphries: At what number is that?

Ben Sheehan: Would be the the Sixth Amendment. 

Emma Humphries: Okay might it’s not eight because that’s cruel and unusual. No.

Ben Sheehan: The Sixth Amendment is the only one with those positive those positive rights, which I find really interesting. 

Emma Humphries: Yeah, I am getting rusty. You know, when you teach this day in and day out like I do, you have it’s it’s muscle memory and oh, it is weak. But importantly, you know, everything that we’ve asked each other so far are things that we can Google. And that’s really important for Google, by the way, on devices that are attached to our persons. 24 seven you know, whether it’s our watch or our phones. And so, you know, every year the Annenberg Public Policy Center does this, and it’s helpful. I’m glad they do it right. They do this survey of of Americans knowledge. And it’s always really embarrassing how few Americans can name all three branches and how, you know, folks think that Judge Judy is on the Supreme Court and can’t name any other Supreme Court justices. And, you know, every year that comes out and every year someone asks I civics to make a statement about that. And I’m always just like. I’m just 

Emma Humphries: [00:14:29] Like we can Google those things, that that’s not what makes the hairs stand up on my neck. What makes the hair stand up on my neck are the surveys that show that fewer and fewer Americans think that democracy is the best form of government, that more and more Americans, particularly younger Americans, would prefer a different system, perhaps one that is is more fascist. To me, that’s really why we need civic education. It’s not so that Emma can finally memorize all of these things that she should have memorized long ago, although I really should aspire to do so, but so that Emma understands the importance of living in a democratic system and has faith in democracy. 

“I’m just a Bill”: I’m just a bill. Yes. I’m only a Bill, and I’m. Sitting here on Capitol Hill. 

Emma Humphries: Everyone knows Schoolhouse Rock, and we’re all so sentimental about it. This beloved musical show from the 19..

Ben Sheehan: 70’s. It was the early seventies. 

Emma Humphries: But everyone loves ‘I’m just a bill’ and we don’t know what’s in the bill. What and what if we were to do a state where we find out what’s in the bill?

Ben Sheehan: Yeah, I mean, it’s it’s very adorable. Bill. He’s like the kind of a loser. It’s like a sad sap on the steps, and we kind of emotionally gravitate toward that. And that’s one reason I think, that that video has had such a lasting impact. The song is fun, but it’s just like immediately we’re drawn to like this sad bill.

Emma Humphries: So iCivics started as a nonprofit that made games to teach civics. We still do this. We have this really incredible library of video games to teach kids about running for president, being a Supreme Court justice, being a county manager, running the Council on Foreign Relations really cool things that kids wouldn’t otherwise do. What’s a civics game that you’d like to see? What’s it what’s a concept that let’s say that is hard to teach and you know, it would be really nice if we had a video game.

Ben Sheehan: Well, my answer to this question is just highly implausible, and I don’t think anyone would agree to. But if children were allowed to play in real time active members of Congress in a live civics quiz and figure out how many children either do or don’t know more than an active sitting member of Congress when it comes to questions on the citizenship test, when it comes to questions on even just like a middle school, a government or constitution test, because obviously there is no test required to hold federal office. We only have three requirements really for the House and the Senate. And it’s age and it’s residency and it’s length of citizenship. You know, most jobs you have to have some demonstrated capacity to understand how your job works, some sort of expertise. But as long as you if you’re a certain age or been a citizen for a certain amount of time and you live in the state you represent, there’s no constitutional quiz required to hold office. So I think it would be really fascinating to see how children who are studying civics in elementary school stack up in real time against members of Congress. 

Emma Humphries: I’m so grateful to you. The field is grateful to you. We need as many champions as possible. In the meantime, we’ve got this whole country of people who are not in our K-12 schools who did not have the benefit of a full, comprehensive civic education. And I appreciate what you’re doing to help fill in that gap. This has been a real treat. Thank you so much. 

Ben Sheehan: Thank you for having me. 

Emma Humphries: My guest was Ben Sheehan, formerly with Funny or Die. He’s now using his comedy skills to help people understand how our system of government works. He’s written a book called OMG. WTF Does the Constitution actually say you’ve been listening to a podcast from I Civics? I’m your host, Emma Humphries. Thanks for listening.

For more information about iCivics, please visit www.icivics.org.

iCivics and National Council for the Social Studies Call for Renewed Focus as New RAND Corporation Report Shows Lack of Infrastructure for K–5 Social Studies

WASHINGTON, DC – March 7, 2023 – With the release of the RAND Corporation’s latest report, “The Missing Infrastructure for Elementary (K–5) Social Studies Instruction,” during today’s opening forum for the first-ever national Civic Learning Week at the National Archives, iCivics and the National Council on the Social Studies (NCSS) call for renewed efforts to prioritize K–5 social studies instructional time and ensure educators receive sufficient support. 

According to the report, most states do not have the infrastructure in place—such as academic standards, accountability policy and assessments—to support high-quality social studies education. Where an infrastructure is in place, there remain large gaps in quality. 

The report was based on an extensive literature review on what is known about state policies for social studies along with nationally representative data from surveys of more than 700 K–5 teachers and 1,600 principals in public schools.

At the local level, infrastructure such as teacher evaluation and professional development for social studies pales in comparison to the more-tested subjects of math and English language arts (ELA). 

“Civic learning and social studies have always been important foundations of a well-rounded education, but they have been marginalized, and social studies instructional time has significantly decreased or been outright eliminated—especially at the elementary level,” NCSS Executive Director Lawrence Paska said. “We hope this report sheds light on why it is so important to ensure a robust social studies K–12 program every day—and support teachers and students in teaching and learning social studies. That is why we are working with many states and organizations to support what we know to be the best approaches for developing, revising and implementing high-quality learning standards and curriculum frameworks across social studies disciplines.“

According to the report, half of elementary school principals report not having published curriculum materials to support social studies, leaving teachers to cobble together materials to support their classes. Combined with decreased instructional time, this means that too many elementary school teachers spend more time planning social studies content than they do actually teaching it.

“The implication that many educators called on to teach social studies have little to no support when it comes to teaching the lessons of our history and the fundamentals of how democracy works in the United States is simply unacceptable,” iCivics Executive Director Louise Dubé said. “Civics and social studies are essential for informed and engaged participation in our self-governing society. That is why we must work to make these subjects a priority and support educators in providing high-quality instruction in these fundamentals.”

The timely report arrives during Civic Learning Week, March 6–10, 2023, when more than 100 organizations, states, and educators are holding scores of in-person and online events across the country to highlight the role of civic learning in sustaining and strengthening constitutional democracy in the United States. 

The events are designed to provide people of all ages with positive and engaging civic learning opportunities, offering mechanisms for parents, educators, students, business leaders, and other community members to connect at the local level and beyond around a shared commitment to civic education.

Civic Learning Week is cosponsored by the Farvue Foundation, iCivics, Microsoft, the National Archives, the National Archives Foundation, the National Council for the Social Studies, and the SN Charitable Foundation. 

For more information:

RAND Report

https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA134-17.html

Civic Learning Week

civiclearningweek.org

Political Law Advocate and Compliance Expert Benjamin L. Ginsberg Joins iCivics Board of Directors

CAMBRIDGE, MA [January 12, 2022] – iCivics, the nation’s leader in civic education, today announced that political law advocate and compliance expert Benjamin Ginsberg has joined its Board of Directors. 

A partner at Jones Day from 2014 to 2020, and Patton Boggs for 23 years prior, Ginsberg currently serves as a co-chair of the Election Official Legal Defense Network, which provides election officials—no matter their political affiliation or whether they work in a blue or red state or county—with needed advice and legal protection at no cost. He is the Volker Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution and a Lecturer in Law at Stanford Law School.

Known for its engaging games, iCivics has expanded its scope in recent years, embarking on an ambitious strategic plan to realize its vision of informed and civically engaged young people sustaining and strengthening constitutional democracy in the United States. iCivics continues to be the leading provider of K–12 civic education content, with hundreds of free, nonpartisan digital curricular resources benefiting more than half of the nation’s students in grades 4–12 every year. iCivics also supports excellence in civics and American history education through high-quality professional learning and its continued leadership as part of the Educating for American Democracy Implementation Consortium. And, through its leadership of the CivXNow Coalition of more than 270 organizations, iCivics also works to advance civic education as a national priority. 

“There is nothing more important to our future strength as a nation than giving America’s students a sound education in civics and what makes our government work. I am pleased to be joining this vital organization as it fulfills this crucial mission,” Ginsberg said. 

Ginsberg brings to the iCivics board an intense understanding of the conservative political landscape, along with a long track record of collaboration across the political spectrum. He has represented the campaigns and leadership PACs of numerous members of the Senate and House as well as national party committees, governors and state officials—and has represented four of the last six Republican presidential nominees, including the 2000 and 2004 Bush–Cheney campaigns and the 2008 and 2012 Romney campaign.

He served as counsel to the Republican Governors Association and as co-chair of the bipartisan Presidential Commission on Election Administration, which produced a much-lauded report on best practices and recommendations for state and local officials to make U.S. elections run better.

“As I have had the opportunity to get to know Ben during this process, I can’t think of a better and more thoughtful partner in our work,” iCivics Executive Director Louise Dubé said. “Not only does Ben fully embody the civic dispositions and skills of working across difference we strive to instill through civic education, but I was also impressed by his desire to dig deep into iCivics’ work and materials to ensure that they embody our commitment to nonpartisanship.before joining the board”

“It’s hard to think of anyone better suited to help iCivics advance its mission,” said Larry Kramer, Chair of the iCivics Board of Directors and President of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. “Ben’s life’s work has been deeply grounded in the values and practices of American democracy, and he is respected by people across the political spectrum for his judgment, integrity, and wisdom.”

National Endowment for the Humanities Invests $1.7 Million in the Implementation of Roadmap to Educating for American Democracy

WASHINGTON, DC [January 10, 2023] – The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) today announced that it will continue its investment in implementation of the Roadmap to Educating for American Democracy (EAD) with $1.7 million to be distributed over the next two years to build the foundations for widespread adoption of EAD-based K–12 civic and history education.

The NEH and the U.S. Department of Education provided initial funding for the Educating for American Democracy Initiative, an unprecedented effort—led by research centers and schools at Harvard, Arizona State and Tufts Universities along with iCivics—that engaged more than 300 experts from multiple perspectives to create a roadmap that states, districts and individual schools can use to provide excellence in civics and history education for all students. 

Since its release in March 2021, the EADRoadmap has reached tens of thousands of educators. EAD’s founding partners continue to work together as part of the EAD Implementation Consortium, and a network of more than 190 “Champion” organizations remains dedicated to advancing the use of inquiry-based instruction for civic learning. School districts in multiple states such as Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Oklahoma are now running pilot programs, creating models and establishing best practices that districts everywhere can use when implementing the EAD Roadmap.

The new funding from NEH will support this work and help achieve the goal of reaching 60 million students and 1 million teachers by the year 2030.

“The NEH is honored to support the implementation of the EAD Roadmap in schools across the country,” said Chair Shelly Lowe. “I’m especially excited about the ways that this investment will create connections between classrooms and local cultural institutions to foster a deeper understanding of our constitutional democracy. As a core component of the NEH’s new American Tapestry initiative, this partnership leverages the best of the humanities to strengthen future generations’ understanding of America and its democratic traditions.” 

Through a cooperative agreement with iCivics, NEH will distribute the funds for activities such as the following:

  • Continuing to grow a network of institutions, organizations and out-of-school educational programs aligning resources with EAD;
  • Building a community of educator leaders to help other educators use EAD and build community and family support for EAD;
  • Curating exemplary resources aligned with state standards;
  • Building a community of professional development providers among civic organizations, colleges and universities; and 
  • Researching and evaluating EAD implementation to help it scale.

“This new round of funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities shows an enormous vote of confidence in the work already being done to build upon and implement the EAD Roadmap,“ said iCivics Executive Director Louise Dubé, who serves as chair of the EAD Implementation Consortium. “EAD is about elevating how civics and history are taught in this country so all Americans are prepared to play a role in sustaining and strengthening our constitutional democracy. This funding is a tremendous boost.”

The largest allocation through this new round of funding from NEH will be focused on implementing EAD in K-5 schools. Harvard University, through the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics and Project Zero at the Graduate School of Educations, will lead a competitive grant process earmarked for programs such as new EAD pilots in elementary schools, professional development for elementary school educators, and the development of materials and approaches for teaching civics and history education in the lower grades. $600,000 will be awarded through that process. Importantly, these will include pilot programs and projects with a specific focus on underserved communities and collaborative work with local cultural institutions–libraries, museums, historic sites–to broaden access to the project.

“A particularly exciting element of the Educating for American Democracy Initiative is how it has provided an opportunity for universities to work in support of the civic mission of K-12 schools,” the Director of Harvard’s Safra Center, Danielle Allen, said. “Now the question is whether we can build on that opportunity and forge an enduring relationship between higher education and our K-12 system in support of civic learning.” 

The new cooperative agreement represents an unprecedented investment in civic and history education from the NEH, and a commitment to EAD’s goal of creating a new approach that integrates instructional innovation and the blending of civics and U.S. history to teach the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that all Americans need to be engaged citizens and to tell a complete history of the United States and its constitutional democracy. The agreement is a central project of NEH’s new special initiative, American Tapestry: Weaving Together Past, Present, and Future, which uses the humanities to address contemporary challenges and strengthen our democracy.

“This renewed support from the NEH will boost the EAD approach of providing a civic education in reflective patriotism about America’s history, ideals, and challenges,” said Paul Carrese, Director of the School of Civic & Economic Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University. “This national-consensus approach emphasizes preparation of informed and engaged citizens – in constitutional and historical knowledge, but also in the civic virtues needed in our complex, pluralist polity. Those virtues include civil disagreement, and American civic friendship across party and philosophical views. Lincoln warned in 1838 that if America failed to prioritize fundamental civic education we would be risking national self-destruction. The NEH and the broad EAD coalition are doing their part to redress the inadequate priority for and condition of civic learning in our schools.”

In Leadup to 2022 Midterm Elections, iCivics and CalMatters Provide News-Based Lesson Plans and Resources for California’s Teachers

Partnership combines CalMatters award-winning nonpartisan nonprofit state news with iCivics lesson plans, games and content to help educators engage students in activities and discussion around the 2022 midterm election.

California’s educators now have a powerful new tool to help teach the 2022 midterm elections through a partnership between the country’s leading civic education nonprofit, iCivics, and California’s premier nonprofit news outlet, CalMatters.

California Election Headquarters, which is available for free for all California teachers and students, is a new portal that combines nonpartisan local journalism and election information with interactive lessons and games to help students improve media literacy skills and increase civic knowledge and skills.

The portal will be updated weekly with relevant news stories from around California that relate to the election as the state determines who will be its next Governor and new U.S. Senator, and weighs a number of important propositions. iCivics will provide games, exercises and lessons to aid discussion in the classroom by helping students understand the news and key civic terms and concepts underlying the news.

Geared toward high school students, the portal includes curated elections resources, organized by week and topic; curricular suggestions and teacher tips for pairing CalMatters news articles with iCivics lessons; and a listing of free professional learning opportunities in teachers’ areas.

“We’re thrilled to be able to share our nonpartisan journalism with California’s social science teachers,” said CalMatters CEO Neil Chase, “supporting them as they educate California’s newest and next voters about the important issues facing our state. We’re especially pleased to partner with iCivics, relying on their expertise in curriculum development and their strong relationships with teachers and students.”

This new and unique resource brings teachers what they need most:

  • Extensive iCivics resources about elections and democracy combined with CalMatters’ midterm-focused reporting and Voter Guide in a California-specific “Election Headquarters” site.
  • Teacher resources including 10-minute discussions, 45-minute lesson plans, interactive games and more.
  • Materials available in a variety of reading levels, in both English and Spanish.
  • Ways to combine important news stories with engaging concept-based lessons.
  • News stories and curriculum updated throughout the fall election period.
  • Live, virtual professional development with free resources, strategies and routines for engaging students on election information.

“Most elections-related teaching resources are either too heavily focused on national elections or simply cover generic information midterms,” iCivics Director of State Professional Programs Tammy Waller said. “This collaboration is different because it provides the California-specific resources focusing on state and local elections that teachers want and students will find most relevant. This makes it easier for teachers to focus on the state and local issues and races that matter to students and their communities.”

The partnership with CalMatters is part of a move toward greater state-based engagement for iCivics in California. As part of these larger efforts, iCivics is implementing a Teacher Facilitator Fellow program to cultivate through a train-the-trainer model a strong network of California educators with the knowledge, skills, and demonstrated abilities to provide each and every student with the kind of high-quality civic education needed to become engaged and informed members of our self-governing society. The first year will focus on Northern California, and expand statewide in coming years. 

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

For media inquires, please contact [email protected]

About iCivics

iCivics was founded in 2009 by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to transform civic education and rebuild civic strength through digital games and lesson plans. iCivics is the country’s largest provider of civic education content and is currently used by up to 145,000 educators and 9 million students annually. All of its games are free, nonpartisan and available online at icivics.org

About CalMatters

CalMatters is a nonpartisan and nonprofit news organization bringing Californians stories that probe, explain and explore solutions to quality-of-life issues while holding leaders accountable. CalMatters is the only journalism outlet dedicated to covering America’s biggest state, 39 million Californians and the world’s fifth largest economy.

iCivics and All Vote No Play Engaged Athletes: Learning from Civic Greats and GOATs

On September 13, iCivics will host a special event with All Vote No Play featuring athletic leaders who will discuss the motivation and choices behind their work and collective impact.

Participants will have the opportunity to listen and learn from great leaders like four time NBA Champion and “Team Democracy” superstar, Stephen Curry; former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice; the most winning NCAA coach of all time, Tara VanDerveer; and, NFL champion for social change, Demario Davis. These individuals will be interviewed by student athletes, giving attendees chance to understand and explore their individual and collective civic dispositions, skills, and leadership postures.

To make civics experiential, relevant, and meaningful to all learners and students, we invite your classrooms to participate and learn about creating and nourishing civic values, civic cultures, and civic communities. Consider assigning this event as homework to your civics, government, or social studies classes and inviting further reflection, inquiry, and conversation.

Some learning questions you might offer to your students, include:

  • What does civic engagement mean to you? How does it show up in these leaders’ lives and intentional choices? 
  • How do you think about civic power and what’s required to create positive change? What kinds of power did you hear about in the conversations? How did these leaders use their personal platforms and power in community building and value-amplifying ways?
  • As an athlete, and as a citizen, what is your responsibility to serve the communities around you? How do you do that in your life – in big or small ways?
  • What are other instances in your community where athletic or cultural leaders are making a difference?

In addition to your class discussion, we have other readings and resources that explore the intersection between civic power and possibility available on our websites.

We’re excited to hear how this experience goes for you and your class! Be sure to let us know by emailing us at [email protected], and tag us in any social media posts, @AllVoteNoPlay and @iCivics.

30 Students Take Civic Education into Their Own Hands Through iCivics Equity in Civics Youth Fellowship

Now in its fourth year, the fellowship works with students from across the country to build civic leadership skills and explore how civic education can become more relevant to all youth in the United States

 

iCivics has selected 30 talented high school students from across the country to take part in the iCivics Equity in Civics Youth Fellowship (ECYF). The students were selected after a competitive process that saw nearly 650 applicants—more applicants than it has in the previous three years combined—from 43 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico.

The yearlong fellowship helps students develop leadership and communications skills in collaboration with peers and experts in the field of civic education. Throughout the year, students research and explore how civic education can become more equitable for students across the United States, utilizing their own lived experiences to become ambassadors and shed light on how civic education can include student voices from every background. 

“It’s important for the field of civic education to have a student perspective on what we as a field are trying to do to improve civics and create a high-quality education and experience for all students,“ said iCivics Youth Engagement Coordinator Michael Reyes. “Based on the number of applicants we had for this year’s fellowship, and what each of them wrote in their applications, there is a huge appetite for students to be involved. I’m excited for this year’s fellows to come together and learn from each other and hear the perspectives of students from different backgrounds who they may never have met otherwise. That’s a key part of this.”

The fellowship kicked off in late August, moving into full-gear with an in-person symposium in Washington D.C. in early fall. It then continues through the 2022–2023 school year as fellows engage virtually in group discussions with their peers, workshops and lectures with experts in the field, and projects designed to strengthen listening and collaborative skills. All of the fellows’ work will be centered around ensuring that civic education is available and relevant to all students in the United States. 

Over the past four years, students from across the country representing rural, urban and suburban districts have taken part in the fellowship. They have become an integral part of informing the broader civic education movement, sharing their experiences and thoughts at convenings for the Educating for American Democracy initiative, the Ronald Reagan Institute, and the Commonwealth Club. They have been featured in media such as The Wall Street JournalChicago Tribune, and WBUR in Boston. 

“We are incredibly excited to welcome this year’s group of ECYF fellows,” iCivics Executive Director Louise Dubè said. “They are a fantastically talented and diverse group of students, whose voices we value more than our own words can capture, and hope to help empower them as they take the monumental task of improving civic learning into their own hands. We look forward to learning from them.”

iCivics is proud to announce this year’s Equity in Civics Youth Fellows:

  • Camila Alfaro – Egg Harbor Township High School, New Jersey
  • Anaum Allimulla –Newark Charter School, Delaware
  • Denzel Augustin – Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School, Florida
  • Grace Clemente – Cambridge Rindge and Latin, Massachusetts
  • Samantha Corpuz-Giron – Salesian High School, California
  • David Culver – Ozark Jr High School, Arkansas
  • Amanda Donley –Fishers High School, Indiana
  • Raymond Fraser – St. Andrews Episcopal School, Mississippi
  • Anika Gamburg – Canyon Crest Academy, California
  • Sophia Gish – Heritage Hall High School, Oklahoma
  • Aine Griffin – Spark Academy of Advanced Technology, New Hampshire
  • Athena Holloway – Classical High School, Rhode Island
  • Milton Hernandez – Gramajo Aiken High School, Ohio
  • Mark Hu – Hamden High School, Connecticut
  • Jatayvia James – King College Prep, Illinois
  • Rose Kelly – Clinton High school, Iowa
  • Jeramie Kim – Crescent Valley High School, Oregon
  • Kate Larsen – Weber High School, Utah
  • Shivi Manchanda – Spring-Ford Senior High School, Pennsylvania
  • Angeles Mejia – College Academy @ BC, Florida
  • Jacob Montney – Alma High School, Michigan
  • William Olmstead – Washington Community High School, Illinois
  • Saturnino Pajkos – Tanque Verde High School, Arizona
  • Autumn Parsons – Walter Wellborn High School, Alabama
  • Mia Quirino – Lubbock High School, Texas
  • Luis Garcia Rivera – East High School, Missouri
  • Kriti Tatia – Johns Creek High School, Georgia
  • Ilelta Tezera – C.D Hylton High School, Virginia
  • Anjali Walsh – Lakeside School, Washington
  • Julia Wolfe – Bosque School, New Mexico

For more information about the iCivics Equity in Civics Youth Fellowship, and how to participate, visit civicsforus.org.

iCivics Launches Pilot Program to Localize Innovative Inquiry-based, Project-embedded 8th Grade U.S. History Curriculum

Jefferson County Public Schools (CO), Santa Fe Public Schools (NM), and Oklahoma City Public Schools (OK) working with nation’s leading civic education provider to pilot teacher-created iCivics Educating for American Democracy curriculum

This fall, a select group of 8th grade teachers from three very different school districts are working with iCivics, the country’s leader in civic education, to localize and implement a new U.S. History curriculum based on the Roadmap to Educating for American Democracy (EAD).

Over the past year, iCivics and experts in history and pedagogy worked together with nine teachers to build a general curriculum based on the EAD Roadmap, a framework designed to strengthen civics and history learning in K–12 classrooms throughout the country. The nonprofit then selected three districts – Jefferson County Public Schools (CO), Santa Fe Public Schools (NM), and Oklahoma City Public Schools (OK) – to take part in a pilot program to localize that curriculum to meet the needs and interests of each district’s students and communities.

Each district’s social studies department is working with iCivics and community partners to support six teachers as they work together to modify the curriculum for their district and students. These districts will provide models for other districts to emulate after this pilot year.

The iCivics EAD curriculum centers on depth of knowledge and understanding, taking a project-embedded approach to engage students in learning that brings a full American history to life.

“Across the country, districts, teachers, students and parents are looking for a way to teach civics and history in a way that inspires students to become informed and engaged members of our constitutional democracy,” iCivics Executive Director Louise Dubè said. “Based on our work with millions of students over the past decade, we believe that the iCivics Educating for American Democracy curriculum will do just that. We are excited that these three districts have joined us in the forefront of efforts to strengthen how we teach one of our most important subjects, and we look forward to seeing how this curriculum will be implemented in the classroom to ensure that the practice of democracy is learned by each new generation.”

Nonprofit Leader and Finance Expert Chuck Harris Joins iCivics Board of Directors

CAMBRIDGE, MA [July 21, 2022] – iCivics, the nation’s leader in civic education, today announced that finance and philanthropy expert Chuck Harris has joined its board of directors. 

After more than 20 years of leadership in the banking industry, Harris retired as co-head of Corporate Finance in the Americas at Goldman Sachs to take on a new and ambitious endeavor—amplifying the impact of philanthropy on some of our nation’s most pressing and complex challenges.

Harris refocused his business acumen to help innovate the nonprofit sector, most recently serving as Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of Blue Meridian Partners, where he continues to serve as a special advisor. There, he planned and oversaw the execution and advancement of Blue Meridian’s strategy and operations, engaging and supporting new philanthropic partners within the organization’s pioneering model for finding and funding scalable solutions to address poverty and limited economic mobility. Harris spearheaded the effort to establish Blue Meridian as an independent 501(c)(3) and then led a $2 billion fundraising effort using insight and tactics from the best models in both the private and public sectors. 

Harris brings his social impact, nonprofit, and financial expertise to iCivics as it continues on an ambitious path toward sustaining and strengthening constitutional democracy in the United States by providing free, engaging, civic education to all K–12 students. 

“I believe civic education is a long-term investment in the strength of our democracy and I look forward to contributing to iCivics’ efforts to lead the growing movement for more and better civic learning on the cusp of affecting real and lasting change at this critical time for our nation,” Harris said. 

Known for its engaging games, iCivics has expanded its scope in recent years. It continues to be the leading provider of K–12 civic education content, with hundreds of free, nonpartisan digital curricular resources benefiting more than half of the nation’s students in grades 4–12 every year. iCivics also supports excellence in civics and American history education through high-quality professional learning and its continued leadership as part of the Educating for American Democracy Implementation Consortium. And, through its leadership of the CivXNow Coalition of more than 270 organizations, iCivics also works to advance civic education as a national priority. 

“I have gotten to know Chuck during this process and I am thrilled to work with someone of such deep courage and commitment to fundamental values, and to have his partnership to support our mission and these same values that animate our work,” iCivics Executive Director Louise Dubé said. “iCivics is a social impact organization and Chuck brings all of the skills we need to address this enormous social problem: how to train and engage all young people to support our constitutional democracy.”