Civic Education News Roundup: Supreme Court justices on need for civic learning, new state Civic Seals, and young civic leaders on the move.
Up for a challenge? Try the Center for Free, Fair, and Accountable Democracy’s Civics Quiz – the average score so far is only 17 out of 27!
You’ll see fewer events in this roundup as we get closer to summer break, but the beginning of what I think will be a surge in celebrations of the Declaration’s 250th…
Civic learning in the spotlight:
Promoting civic literacy for America’s 250th | by Danielle Allen for Gulf Today
The Promise Of Higher Education And American Democracy | By Jonathan Green, President of Susquehanna University, for Forbes
Justice Stephen Breyer makes case for civic education: Retired SCOTUS justice says path to less polarization runs through the classroom. | By Liz Mineo for the Harvard Gazette
Supreme Court Justice Gorsuch highlights staggering decline in civic literacy that prompted him to author new book: The book features hand-painted illustrations and stories of young people who shaped the nation during the Revolutionary War | By Breanne Deppisch for Fox News
Three Days a Year Is Not a Civic Education | By Samuel Abrams for American Enterprise Institute, responding to the Yale Report of the Committee on Trust in Higher Education and the recommendation of “a civic education initiative that would reach every first-year undergraduate student on a regular basis” in the form of “day-long programs at least three times per year.”
Civics Is a Cause, Not an Academic Discipline: Before it was trendy on the right, it was trendy on the left — and always incoherent. | By Timothy Messer-Kruse for the Chronicle of Higher Education
Some big news for Citizens & Scholars:
C&S Secures Eight-Figure Investment, Led by $10M from Einhorn Collaborative, to Advance Campus Civic Culture: The investment will accelerate the reach and impact of C&S’s College Presidents for Civic Preparedness coalition. It will equip university leadership and students with the tools necessary to engage collaboratively through productive conversations, using credible information, and solving community problems.
A new generation of civic leaders is already here…
Despite the fact that a Harvard Youth Poll Finds a Generation Under Pressure — and Losing Faith in the System.
Announcing Letters to America: Perspectives from the Generation Shaping America’s Next 250 Years | by Alex Edgar for The Fulcrum
The AI Boom Needs Their Land: How rural and Indigenous youth are defining their own technological future | by Baratunde Thurston for Life with Machines
Building Community for Mental Health | from Rhizome: “In fall of 2025, we asked Fellows, our high school students training to become community organizers and leaders, to start the school year with basebuilding events…. One [common theme] was a focus on building community for mental wellness and a focus on mental health.”
Meet Victoria Vargas: A Young Leader Protecting Nebraska’s Wildlife | By Civic Nebraska
Calls for civil dialogue:
At 250, America Needs Civic Parenting, Not Just Civics Classes | by Julie Silverbrook for The Fulcrum:
If we want a citizenry capable of self-government, we must rebalance the system. That means continuing to support teachers and schools, while also recognizing that they cannot carry this responsibility alone. It means rebuilding the connections between classrooms, homes, and communities. It means creating accessible entry points that spark curiosity and invite participation. And it means meeting families where they are, with tools and experiences that make civic learning part of everyday life.
The local communities hoping America’s 250th birthday will help bridge divides | from PBS, coverage of Warm Cookies of the Revolution’s Tax Day Carnival
Civic Discourse Programs Are Doing the Work. Here’s the Evidence. | Letter to the editor by Michael Murray, President and CEO, Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, for Chronicle of Higher Education
Let’s Have More Actual Debates | By Justin Eckstein and William Keith for the National Civic Review: not all debates are good, but “Debate at its best functions as democracy’s laboratory, a structured process for sorting out the strongest and weakest arguments for a position before committing public resources or restricting individual freedoms.”
Learning from history:
A Conversation with Walter Isaacson on “The Greatest Sentence Ever Written” | video from George W. Bush Presidential Center: “We hold these truths to be self-evident…”
What Can Adam Smith Teach Us Today?: We don’t crave wealth—we crave respect, and Adam Smith warns how that pursuit can quietly erode our lives and our freedom. | video from the Hoover Institution’s Ross Levine
At 250, Ambiguous Reformer: Woodrow Wilson | By Jeanne Zaino for the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress
Inside a Public School Reclaiming an Idea Liberals Left Behind | by James Traub for The New York Times, on civic virtue education in classical schools
On PBS Firing Line, Constitutional scholars Jeffrey Rosen and Yuval Levin discuss America’s founding documents, why the ideas behind the Declaration of Independence and Constitution matter 250 years later, and the challenges that lie ahead for the American experiment.
Speaking of America, a one-of-a-kind docuseries from the University of Virginia and Lifetime Learning exploring America’s greatest speeches. Mary Kate Cary, a former White House speechwriter for George H.W. Bush who has taught at UVA, takes us behind the scenes of the most fascinating speeches in American history.
Stories of success in civic learning:
“The People Doing the Talking Are Doing the Thinking”: Inquiry in Eastern Carver County Schools | InquirED blog on elementary social studies education in Minnesota
Alexander Hamilton is ‘cocky.’ George Washington ‘owns the room.’ Blind and low-vision visitors decode 1787 using their hands in a new tactile tour. A new Philly Touch tour in Signers’ Hall lets visitors pick up on the founders’ age, status, and demeanor through touch.
Semiquincentennial Wish Walls are Capturing Hopes for America’s Future | by Jewel Navia for Made by Us
High Schoolers Connect Science, Journalism, Civic Advocacy in Lesson on Extreme Heat | by Danielle Jo White-Yelito for the Pulitzer Center, about a lesson on “Voices for the Heat: Writing Op-Eds on Climate and Delivery Workers” at Greater Lowell Technical High School
His AP Government Class Sparked a Passion for Public Service: A high school course was Maxwell Parson’s first step toward his role as a bill drafter in the Montana Legislature. | By Sarah Altshuler for the National Conference of State Legislatures
Celebrating the Teachers Who Bring Civic Learning to Life | by Patrick McSweeney for the Civic Education Research Lab
Civic education in the states:
New Hampshire’s Governor Kelly Ayotte signs a new Seal of Civic Excellence and Engagement Program into law, and Idaho’s Governor Brad Little signs a similar State Seal of Excellence in Civics Program into law, which high school students may earn by “Demonstrating mastery, which shall be ninety percent (90%) or higher, on the Idaho civics assessment” as well as completing a civic project and a form of civic engagement and/or community service.
The Florida Department of Education released the framework for a new U.S. History course designed as an alternative to Advanced Placement. Commissioner of Education Anastasios Kamoutsas said: “The FACT U.S. History framework underscores our commitment to instruction grounded in the full scope of our nation’s history, while ensuring materials are free from ideological bias or indoctrination.” Stephanie Matat for the Tallahassee Democrat calls it an “‘anti-woke’ AP US history alternative.” From Dana Goldstein for the New York Times, Florida Creates a More Conservative Course to Rival A.P. History.
Tiptoeing through civics lessons | By Peter Rosen for Utah’s America 250 on KSLTV: “Several US government teachers and an instructor who teaches those teachers said many in Utah feel like they’re “walking on eggshells” when they discuss the constitution.”
Op-Ed: Strengthening civic education in Iowa | By David Randall of The National Association of Scholars
Alaska lawmakers consider strengthening civics education requirements for high schoolers: Supporters say the current proposal has options for students to meet the requirement, and is essential amid growing public distrust of government. | By Corinne Smith for the Alaska Beacon
Opinion: Chicago schools’ May Day field trip was wildly inappropriate: Sending students to political rallies undercuts parents’ trust in teachers. | by Nicholas Kryczka, National College of Education at National Louis University professor, for the Washington Post
Civic learning resources
Values in Teaching: Resources for Educators in Contentious Times has been launched by Harvard’s Democratic Knowledge Project and Stanford’s EdEthics to support K12 teachers with resources for reflecting, learning, and practice
National Constitution Center Releases Two New Civics Games & Parenting Podcast to Help Families Explore America’s Story Together During America’s 250th: Civic Quest and Trivial Pursuit: Exploring America’s Story
The EdRedesign Lab at Harvard Graduate School of Education, in partnership with production company Fire-Works, announced the launch of DREAM ON, a YouTube show dedicated to optimistic explainers about how to improve social and economic mobility in America. With a focus on “place-based” success stories, the show seeks to bring proven and scalable solutions to a national online audience.
President Lincoln’s Cottage hosts the 2026 Lincoln Ideas Forum on the theme “A Vision for America at 250,” featuring Afghan-American actress Zarmina Hamidi, Weil Legal Innovator Angelina Johnson, prison justice advocate Caddell Kivett, and cultural historian Dr. Izetta Autumn Mobley
From the National Youth Leadership Council: Youth as Solutions (YaS), a self-paced youth leadership program through which youth councils/teams (young people in grades 6-12 along with an adult mentor from a public school, school district, government entity, or nonprofit) positively impact their communities.
The Constructive Dialogue Scaling Initiative helps campus leaders take constructive dialogue from a single course or program to an institution-wide commitment.
Summer learning opportunities:
Civic Education, Democracy, and Lessons from History Summer 2026 Seminar: This virtual professional development seminar features our new Civic Education Curriculum that fosters civil discourse and uses lessons of history to explore civic participation. | Facing History and Ourselves, July 14-16
To mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the Hoover Institution invites high school and college students to reflect on the meaning and the future of the American Experiment through the spoken word.
New publications:
All We Say: The Battle for American Identity: A History in 15 Speeches By Ben Rhodes for Penguin Random House.
Proclaiming Liberty: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and the Declaration of Independence by Timothy Sandefur for the Cato Institute - check out a recording of a recent event here.
Jefferson on Race: A Reader, Edited by Annette Gordon-Reed from Princeton University Press.
Teaching America: Reflective Patriotism in Schools, College, and Culture by Paul Carrese for Cambridge University Press.
The Community-Centric Path to Rebuilding Trust in Higher Education By Byron P. White for Routledge.
The Gen Z Election Toolkit: A young person’s guide to protecting and participating in U.S. elections by Alexis Nwatu and Lara Hicks for Protect Democracy.
Civic Thriving: The Essential Complement to Human Flourishing, A report from History Co:Lab.
“Our young people are growing up in a polycrisis. AI disruption, climate change, global tensions, and the fragility of democracy have everyone on edge. Meanwhile, young people are signaling that they’re not ok: mental health, learning outcomes, and engagement in school are in decline. Many are seeking solutions, but they do so in silos of expertise and age. We wanted to find patterns of what works.
Six months of research, 50 practitioner interviews, and research sessions with 25 young people across 6 states revealed a surprising convergence:
The solution to all of these challenges is the same: shift learning systems so that they nurture relationships, aspiration, and co-creation. This shift will lead not just to better learning, but to civic thriving.
Civic thriving describes a state in which young people feel safe, seen and supported to imagine a better future, feel capable and compelled to build it, and in which communities tap into the insights and creative energy of young people, acknowledging enthusiastically that they matter.”
Upcoming Events:
Jack Miller Center 4th National Summit on Civic Education: Join organizations and philanthropists committed to reinvigorating American civic education with our nation’s founding principles. Pennsylvania, May 18-19, 2026
National Constitution Center Book Club With Jon Meacham: The Promise of America, Thursday, May 21 at noon ET
Webinar: Introducing the Interactivity Foundation’s Discussion Resources (Collaborative Discussion Project (CDP) Toolkit, discussion guides, and a journaling tool) | May 21 @ 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm EDT
Project Pericles Civic Story Lab: Bates College Periclean Faculty Leader Yun Garrison and her colleague Fowsia Musse will lead a workshop examining how participants can build and maintain equitable, reciprocal relationships with community collaborators. Citizen Film Founder Sam Ball will share strategies for empowering students and community members to share civic narratives through visual media. Wednesday, May 27, from 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM ET
History & Democracy Virtual Summit | American Association for State and Local History with support from the Virginia Museum of History & Culture and National Constitution Center, May 27 – 28
Joint National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC) National Service-Learning Conference and Points of Light Social Impact Conference, June 22-25, 2026 Washington, D.C.
Civil War Round Table: Lincoln & the American Revolution | Founding Forward talk with Dr. Allen Guelzo, Professor of Humanities at the Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education at the University of Florida, livestreaming on Youtube on June 24, 6:00 PM