Civic Education News Roundup: Reflecting on the American Experiment.
We made it to the 250th!
Are you watching The American Experiment on Netflix? See if you can spot Danielle…or how about Declarations: Black Americans And The Revolutionary War from PBS, part of PBS America @ 250?
Also worth watching is this panel from the National Constitution Center with Danielle, Colleen Shogan, and (the surprise jokester) Jon Meacham, which was also the opening event for the National Conference of Mayors — a context that gave the conversation about democracy and civic education a lot of added relevance.
From Democracy 201, don’t miss this great essay about First-Year Writing programs and civic learning (and don’t forget to activate your subscription to Democracy 201):
And Stanford’s Eva Lacy wrote a great piece about the Civic Profile self-assessment — take the quiz and get yours!
Lessons for the 250th:
250 Reasons This Is the Time for a Renaissance in Civic Education: Virginia embraced an effort to renew students’ patriotic zeal that could be a blueprint for other states, by Aimee Rogstad Guidera for Education Next.
How Can We Talk to Kids About Patriotism? A conversation with Declaration of Independence expert Danielle Allen by Lori Hough for Harvard’s Graduate School of Education blog.
Reflections on Teaching the Declaration by Danielle Allen for the Jack Miller Center.
Teaching the Declaration of Independence with hashtags 250 years later By Cara Tabachnick for CBS News.
Don’t Let America’s 250th Pass You By, By Vince Stango and Julie Silverbrook for The Fulcrum
The forgotten lesson from 1776 that could rescue democracy in 2026, By Rutgers’ Nicholas V. Longo and Elizabeth C. Matto for NJ.com, calling for “a revitalization of public-spirited institutions.”
America Is a Story We Tell Ourselves: How do we reconcile the promise of the Declaration of Independence with everything we know about our country? By Kaitlyn Greenidge for Harper’s Bazaar.
At 250, the Declaration of Independence Still Sparks Hard Questions in Class: Teachers say debates over citizenship and equality are reshaping how students read the declaration today. By Greg Toppo for The 74 and The 19th.
Talking to Young Children About America 250: Considerations and Strategies, By Megan Pamela Ruth Madison for Teaching for Change.
America’s 250th is an invitation to help kids understand exactly what this country is all about: being “the founders of today,” by Lindsay Cormack for the New York Post.
Students Without a Country? By Andrew D. Carico for RealClear Education on “informed patriotism.”
America at 250: A birthday letter to my refugee students, by Adam Sudmann for the Syracuse Post-Standard.
Civic learning in the spotlight:
Making Democracy Flourish in the Classroom: A Karsh Institute fellowship for K–12 educators is exploring how civic learning can prepare students for democratic life. By Natalie Ermann Russell.
Why Faculty Need Experiential Learning Too, by Dara N. Byrne, Dean, Macaulay Honors College (CUNY) on the the Faculty Civic Academy, a faculty externship model.
From The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley:
This Grad Season, the Future Might Be in Good Hands After All: At a time of uncertainty, Gen Z’s creativity, compassion, and commitment to change offer reasons for optimism, By Katherine Reynolds Lewis on Oberlin students.
How Do You Learn to Care When Caring Is Your Job? See how a pharmacy school is teaching students to step outside their comfort zones and care for patients with different backgrounds, beliefs, and access to power, By Juliana Tafur and Kelly Rafferty.
Hear from young civic leaders:
Made By Us is continuing to publish Letters to America — I really enjoyed Sofia Segarra’s, about including women and immigrants in American constitutional democracy: Can America Keep it?
What will Philly look like in 25 years? These kids wrote plays about the changes they want to see. “It’s freaking amazing,” one student playwright said of seeing her work on stage, brought to life by professional actors. By Kristin A. Graham for the Philadelphia Inquirer, on Philadelphia Young Playwrights’s Civic Theater Project.
Can We Choose Democracy? By Isabel Papp for The Fulcrum: “Democracy is not a fixed state but a continuous negotiation. It means having a voice and fighting to keep it in the conversation, even when things seem to be going well.”
From Anguish to Action: How I supported my campus community during ICE crackdowns. By Anthony Marquez, then a student at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, for Liberal Education.
5 Practical Lessons from Gen Z Changemakers: The Andrew Carnegie Foundation and Baratunde Thurston join forces on DIY Civics, a new series featuring Citizens & Scholars’ Carnegie Young Leaders in action.
Learning from history:
The Declaration of Independence: A Radical Document (with Danielle Allen & Mary Bilder) on Stay Tuned with Preet, with a bonus subscriber-only clip on “Trump against civic education.”
Sojourner’s Truth, by Jocelyn Frye for The Fulcrum.
As the US turns 250, a forgotten founding influence helps explain its current unease: University of Maine professor Robert A. Ballingall explores Montesquieu’s Enlightenment philosophy about freedom on The Conversation.
How the Story of Young George Washington Offers Some Important Civic Lessons: A new movie connects with a civics curriculum that goes beyond memorizing dates and places to consider whether Washington made the right decisions. By Martin Slagter at The 74 - shouting out the Bill of Rights Institute, Stand Together, and Mount Vernon. You can also check out Historian Roundtable’s video on the accuracy of the film.
What Minnesota taught a Buddhist-Catholic immigrant about America at 250: The promise that brought a young exchange student from Sri Lanka to Minnesota is the same one that inspired the Founders nearly 250 years ago. By Patrick Mendis for the Minnesota Post.
Ask the expert: The ‘pursuit of happiness’ 250 years since America’s inception, an interview with Michigan State U. political scientist Raul Rodriguez.
Civic education in the states:
‘Crucial’: New Maryland law lets public school students earn a civic excellence seal on their diploma, from ABC WMAR in Baltimore.
America’s 250th Birthday Is a Test for Civic Education, By Joshua Dunn and William Lyons for RealClear Education, about the Institute of American Civics (IAC)’s Civics Academies in Tennessee.
UNC’s School of Civic Life and Leadership partners with rural high school for Adulting 101: The pilot class at J.F. Webb in Granville County included a civics unit led by Carolina faculty.
As America marks 250 years, Iowans highlight an inclusive view of history, and America’s 250th birthday prompts rethinking of historical markers, from the Iowa Capital-Dispatch and States Newsroom.
Civic learning resources
Emma Humphries and Joseph Kahne: Measuring civic education, a recording from iCivics also available as a podcast from Spotify or Apple.
From the Pew Research Center, a new tool for civic self-reflection: Where do you fit in the political typology? Are you Unconventional Right? Loyal Liberal? Or something else?
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum’s new exhibit explores ‘Second American Revolution’ from Illinois Public Media’s The 21st Show.
Recording available of “Purposeful Pluralism” in Higher Education from the American Enterprise Institute with panelists Angela Hawken, Vice Dean for Research, School of Government and Policy, Johns Hopkins University; and Jenna Silber Storey, Codirector, Center for the Future of the American University, American Enterprise Institute. They highlighted the collaborative efforts between their two institutions to cultivate intellectual pluralism in higher education, including the Civic Thought Project, the JHU-AEI Fellowship Exchange Program, and the Graduate Student Intellectual Diversity Initiative.
America’s Immigration Waves: 250 Years of Arrivals, from Newsweek. Also from Newsweek, Indiaspora’s 250 at 250 Highlights the Indian Americans that Built America.
America 250: A Republic Built on Native Land, a series from Native News Online.
Upcoming Events:
Unfinished Revolution: Social Movements, Freedom Struggles, and American Democratic Development, for APSA’s Engaging America’s 250th Webinar Series. Tuesday, July 7, 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM (ET).
Our Declaration: “We the People” and the Declaration of Independence, a course for educators from the Civic Learning Institute taught by Danielle Allen, beginning July 8.
Teaching Difficult Issues in K-12 Schools-Summer Virtual Workshop Series from Penn State’s Hammel Family Human Rights Initiative, begins July 8.
Teaching250: Civics Renewal for America’s 250th and Beyond from The Center for Civic Education In Partnership with the National Constitution Center, July 9, 7:00-8:30 pm EST.
The American Political Science Association’s 2026 Institute for Civically Engaged Research (ICER) will be held in-person at UCLA in Los Angeles, CA from July 13-16, 2026.
Institute on Experiential Learning and Engaged Dialogue, AAC&U, July 14 – 17, 2026: a four-day, online, team-based institute for colleges and universities committed to strengthening applied learning, dialogue across difference, and civic preparation.
Smithsonian National Education Summit—Together We Thrive: Towards a More Perfect Union July 14–16, 2026, in person and online.
Faith, Freedom, and the Classroom: Navigating the First Amendment and Religious Literacy, an online workshop from the Institute for Curriculum Services (ICS) and the National Constitution Center (NCC), August 25, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm EST
International Association for Research on Service-Learning & Community Engagement (IARSLCE) 2026 Conference at Loyola University New Orleans, October 11-13, 2025.
This is a great, information-packed post - thanks!