The Center for Civic Education’s summer institutes ask teachers to do more than learn about new lessons and instructional strategies—they ask teachers to complete the same culminating projects their students will. The Center’s We the People curriculum uses simulated congressional hearings as an active assessment, with students preparing answers to constitutional questions and responding to follow-up questions from judges. Project Citizen, the Center’s other flagship program, asks students to identify and research a public policy issue in their community, develop policy alternatives, and create a portfolio presenting their proposed solution.

At weeklong institutes this past summer, teachers testified in simulated congressional hearings and designed public policy solutions. This type of experiential learning can be game-changing, especially for first-time We the People and Project Citizen instructors. Teachers gain a better grasp of what is expected of their students and potential challenges they might face. They also have the opportunity to explore ways to put their personal stamp on the activity.

The Civic Education Research Lab (CERL) at Georgetown University has studied the impacts of We the People and Project Citizen. CERL continues to see that project-based learning increases student engagement and results in greater gains in civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions (Owen 2024, Owen and McSweeney 2026). It makes sense this would apply to professional learning, too.

Research on effective professional learning emphasizes approaches that engage teachers directly in the practices they are learning rather than relying primarily on lecture-based training. A study by Darling-Hammond, Hyler, and Gardner (2017) found that effective professional development commonly incorporates active learning alongside collaboration, modeling, expert support, feedback, and reflection. In many of the programs they reviewed, teachers participated in the same kinds of learning activities they would later use with their students. The Center’s institutes incorporate all of these elements. Teachers work through the activities in small groups while mentor teachers help guide the process, answer questions, provide feedback, and share lessons from their experience teaching the curriculum.

As the Center for Civic Education’s Kelly Reichardt explained, experiencing the lessons firsthand can also help teachers see them differently: “I think it helps them build empathy for their students because they now can anticipate, ‘Oh, this might cause anxiety,’ or ‘This might be an obstacle right here,’ or ‘This is something that’s confusing.’”

CERL’s observations and teacher feedback strongly suggest that this active learning approach prepares teachers better to implement these programs.

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Putting Project Citizen into practice in Maryland

Teachers at a recent Project Citizen summer institute in Annapolis, organized by Maryland State Coordinator Marcie Taylor-Thoma, experienced that process at an accelerated pace. The institute focused on policy-making related to environmental issues. It included presentations from officeholders and community leaders as well as a boat trip where teachers learned about environmental problems facing the Chesapeake Bay. Teachers could work on environmental issues or another problem facing their school or community.

Students may spend several weeks developing a Project Citizen portfolio and preparing for a showcase. Teachers at the institute only had four days to identify a policy problem, research it, propose alternatives, and prepare a portfolio to present to judges. Despite the compressed timeline, teachers completed many of the same tasks expected of students, including finding reliable sources, contacting public officials, and figuring out how to divide work within a group.

One group of teachers from the same school decided they wanted their project to go beyond the institute. Rather than choosing an issue simply for practice, they selected something they could continue working on when they returned to their school. Their proposal called for creating a shared table in the school cafeteria where students could leave unopened food for other students, helping reduce food waste. After researching the issue and developing their portfolio during the institute, the teachers planned to take their proposal to school administrators.

“What we’re doing today and tomorrow is not gonna be a hypothetical project that we’re learning from so we can teach our kids,” Carrie Beth Holmes of Laurel High School explained. “Our goal is to do it, and then give our kids concrete focus. ‘This is what your teachers did with this project.’”

By tackling a real issue, the teachers were learning how to guide students through Project Citizen while also setting an example of the kind of civic action they hoped their students would take.

Meeting the We the People challenge in Delaware

Meanwhile, teachers in Newark, Delaware, were learning how to instruct We the People, including its simulated congressional hearings. To introduce the hearing format, participants began the week with a low-stakes question: What should be the country’s official candy? The exercise gave teachers a familiar topic they could use to practice building arguments, working as a team, and responding to questions from judges. It is also the type of activity teachers can take directly into their classrooms, giving students a chance to learn the hearing format before tackling constitutional questions.

Later in the week, the stakes felt higher. Teachers prepared responses to constitutional questions and participated in a full simulated congressional hearing. Even experienced educators felt some of the same nerves their students may experience. “Public speaking was very scary, but collaborating with a team is very helpful, because they are your support system,” one teacher wrote afterward. Another listed the biggest challenge they faced that week as: “Completing the SCH in front of everyone! But, I did it!”

Those experiences can shape how teachers prepare their own students. Reichardt described the institutes as a confidence builder for teachers, but also an opportunity to think ahead about the challenges students may face. If public speaking was difficult for the teacher, for example, the next question becomes: How can I prepare my students for that moment?

When teachers participate in these hands-on activities, they gain authentic insights into what their students will encounter, overcome, and learn.

— Patrick McSweeney, PhD, CERL Research Specialist

Literacy is fundamental for the acquisition of knowledge and expansion of communication, critical thinking, and other skills essential for academic success, but only 30% of eighth graders and 31% of fourth graders scored at or above the proficient level in reading on the 2024 NAEP reading test considered the nation’s report card. The U.S. Department of Education recently identified evidence-based literacy as a priority in addressing the urgent needs of students, families, and states. While some educators have argued for the need for increased literacy instruction, studies have shown that increased time in social studies—not additional time in ELA—is associated with improved reading ability (Tyner and Kabourek 2020).

Education specialist and author has long advocated for the importance of social studies, and in particular, to build student content knowledge. In a recent post, Wexler described how social studies has been marginalized in favor of the tested subjects, math and reading, and how effective social studies curricula are lacking. “Teachers are often left to come up with their own materials for social studies instruction, and they get little support in how to deliver them,” she wrote. Wexler highlighted Literacy for We the People’s potential to improve literacy and civic education in Delaware.

Minding the Gap

Harnessing Social Studies Instruction to Boost Literacy

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20 days ago · 109 likes · 8 comments · Natalie Wexler

Literacy for the We the People (LWTP) is an innovative project partnership between the Delaware State Department of Education, the Center for Civic Education (Center), the Delaware Center for Civics Education, and the Civic Education Research Lab (CERL) at Georgetown University. LWTP integrates literacy into the Center’s We the People lessons by providing teachers with literacy resources and professional learning to improve students’ reading, writing, and speaking abilities. The We the People curriculum examines the philosophical and historical foundations of the U.S. Constitution, our founding documents, and how founding principles have been applied over time. Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Education Innovation and Research program, the 2026-2027 pilot program is focused on Delaware 4th, 7th, and 8th grade teachers, but will, in subsequent years, expand to other states. CERL’s formative and summative evaluation will inform continuous program improvement as partners engage in an iterative innovation and implementation process.

From August 3 to 6, 21 Delaware teachers participated in a summer professional learning institute at the University of Delaware. They experienced hands-on lessons, learned more about the science of reading and how it connects to social studies, and built a network they can lean on as they implement the program. CERL shared research on the We the People curriculum and our initial findings that support the integration of literacy and civics. CERL also conducted focus groups with the teachers to discuss how they currently integrate the subjects as well as the barriers they have encountered.

Leveraging a Literacy Toolkit

Literacy for We the People is designed to enhance the existing We the People and Delaware model lessons by intentionally incorporating literacy strategies into instruction. Delaware Social Studies Director Michael Feldman emphasized that “this project is not asking you to become a different teacher. Our goal is to help you become a more intentional one.” To prepare them for this task, the institute provided teachers with a toolkit of literacy strategies and hands-on experience with many of the lessons they will be teaching.

In one lesson, “What is Republican Government?” teachers worked through a section of text about the Founders creating a republican government. Throughout civics texts, students will come across new vocabulary, so the lesson prepared teachers to break down the vocabulary in a way that does not reduce the rigor. Participants then returned to the text to help them complete a graphic organizer about the benefits of a republican government. With this evidence, they practiced making claims in response to the question: Why did the Founders’ create a republican government? Each step provided scaffolding that helped students access the text and develop the content knowledge needed to make claims, using evidence, about what they just read.

Other activities and strategies included acting out vocabulary words, participating in a Paideia seminar using oral communication skills, and writing a persuasive letter to convince a loyalist to become a patriot. Lessons, strategies, and resources have been made available to the teachers online, and the repository will continue to grow. In addition, the teachers will continue with professional learning sessions throughout the year.

A hallmark of the We the People curriculum is the simulated congressional hearing, where students research, present, and defend a constitutional argument before a panel of judges. At the Delaware institute, teachers did more than just learn about this assessment approach, they completed it themselves. Subscribe to the CERL Substack for an upcoming post about teachers’ hands-on experience during professional learning.

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Social studies is one of the richest contexts in which reading fluency and comprehension, writing, vocabulary, oral language, and critical thinking can be taught while students acquire substantive content knowledge, and with this program, essential knowledge of our nation’s founding history and the principles of the U.S. Constitution. The summer institute was a first big step to better prepare teachers to systematically support students, which will increase student attainment of literacy and civics standards. Literacy is fundamental not only for academic success, but also for citizenship.

*This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity

CERL: Can you talk a little about your background? What led you to create Game Genius?

Peter Williamson: My undergrad was focused on architecture, which is [about] space making, and geography, which is all around place making. Games are also a form of that. You immerse people in a world, you introduce them to characters or rules or some kind of system. As the game designer, you learn a lot about how people respond to that system. As the player, hopefully you can prompt them with the right type of reflection questions where they say, oh, yeah, that does actually have relevance in this other part of my life.

I pursued a childhood dream right after college and played golf professionally, traveling around the world for about six years. It got me thinking about being in entertainment: you are in a place of play, and people come and watch you. So I thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool if you could create more of those moments more locally? How do I bring back some of that architecture, geography, place, and space making to the Washington, DC area, and help organizations create those spaces for their constituents?”

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CERL: What specifically attracted you to civic education?

PW: The organizations that reached out [to Game Genius] were much more civically inclined. I think they were finding that engaging people in that space was harder than they wanted it to be. And play is a form of trying to get [people] to engage, right?

For a game designer, civics is a system. Like, different regimes are out there. There are different ways that the rules are built and that you are supposed to follow. And so it is kind of like playing a big game.

I think there is a natural synergy to seeing a civic system and going, oh, let’s talk about laws and the legislative body, right? And how can you create a little system in a game that really helps people poke holes in it, or helps them reflect around a particular part of that process?

Bill of Rights Institute has a methodology, which is [that] there [are] the skills… the knowledge, but then there’s the disposition. And that disposition is what we played with a lot. It’s like, how do people show up? What makes them feel included …[or] excluded? When are they having fun? When are they not? Who is the person who’s facilitating or hosting the game? What energy do they need to bring in order for people to engage?

CERL: Are there challenges to designing civic-themed games?

PW: A lot of the work I do, aside from civic games, is thinking more holistically around what parts of games attract people. I’ve always wanted to bring a game that is the silver bullet that everyone loves. But I have over time realized that that is harder than you think. If you put a group of 20 students in the room, it’s pretty unlikely that all of them are going to align. And so it is more important to . . .bring three, four, five games into a space and see who steps forward and who steps back.

On the other side, there’s the skills, the game dynamics, the things you have to do to be good at a game. Risk taking, emotional intelligence, taking initiative, listening, problem solving, conflict resolution – all of these skills that you could transfer to any job, any part of your life. They’re in games too.

CERL: Do you have any favorite games?

PW: I really like bluffing games. When you put people who are book smart with people who are street smart into a bluffing game, all of a sudden the tide shifts in a strategic thinking sense. It’s like, who is the more aggressive, who is the more forward-thinking?

CERL: Do you think bluffing mechanics can be a way to teach media literacy?

PW: I think so. I think bluffing as a basic game mechanic is all about how much can you get away with, right? And if you are the person who is doing that, you learn how much are people willing to take before they’re like, “this credibility is dropping really fast,” or “I’m always going to call their bluff, even if they’re not bluffing, I’m always going to call it because I just don’t trust them anymore.”

So, yes, I think with the right reflection questions, bluffing can be very effective. I think if you don’t unpack it, it can be very detrimental because it can destroy trust very fast.

CERL: I think that kind of speaks to one of the big tensions in civic education. We want people, to an extent, to trust the system. But on the other hand, we also want to encourage skepticism.

PW: I mean, look at the big contentious thing at the beginning of this administration. The DOGE concept. Like, if you ask people, just flat out, is there too much overcreep in the government? I think a lot of people probably would have said, yeah, there’s probably some bureaucratic systems that got a little too big, a little too slow. But there’s a way to go way over the line of, “Well, let’s just cut everything and see what happens.” I think a facilitator, which is a lot of the role that I play with games, is helping tease that out.

A teacher, I think, does the same thing. If they know the types of questions and the ways that a conversation can go, they can guide people toward a path that makes sense. I found doing things with intention to be a prudent way of facilitating games.

CERL: We usually think of gameplay as an adversarial experience. But you’re talking about it more as a group experience.

PW: If you think about it, a sport is a really great example of both team and competitive play. If you watch basketball or team sports, you’ll see over time certain dynasties or certain teams start to dominate leagues because they have the skill sets on the team, but they also have the culture. There’s some really cool examples of someone who came from sports to see a team where they may not have a specific superstar, but yet they outcompete everybody because they know how to work together. That to me is super interesting, especially when it comes to civics.

CERL: What makes games an ideal way to talk about civic education?

PW: It’s a system. When you engage with different kinds of systems, I think you build a better understanding of how better ones can be created or amended.

I always think exposure and experiential learning is really powerful in that way. But like anything, if you don’t make time to make sense of it, it oftentimes will just fall aside. So ask that question. Be curious. [The] Socratic method is very much dear to my heart. So any way that you can help people reflect on what they just did, I think that’s helpful.

Peter Williamson is Co-Founder and Partner at Barometer XP, a Washington, D.C. company that uses play to build workplace culture and learning, and the founder of Game Genius, a nonprofit bringing play-based work to the DMV social sector. A former professional golfer who competed on international tours for five years, he now designs games and facilitation tools that help teams work better together. He holds a BA in Studio Art and Geography from Dartmouth and lives in Ellicott City, Maryland, with his wife and two-year-old son.

— Interview by Paul Sullivan, CERL Research Associate

“Project Citizen builds the teamwork, the collaborative skills, and the research skills that students are going to need to be successful in the real world.” - Samantha Fowler

Classroom civics instruction typically focuses more on knowledge-building and discussion-based activities than active learning and engagement. The Center for Civic Education’s Project Citizen provides a more participatory approach by getting students out in the community addressing real-world public policy challenges. As part of a three-year grant from the US Department of Education, the Integrated Civic Competencies (ICC) teacher professional learning program provides middle and high school teachers with the content knowledge and pedagogies to intentionally embed civic dispositions and skills into Project Citizen. The ICC Framework specifies a range of core civic competencies (pictured below).

Last week, CERL interviewed middle and high school teachers participating in the ICC Summer Institute for Maryland and Washington, DC. CERL asked these teachers about their motivation to participate in the ICC Program. They were excited about an experiential learning program that fosters critical civics competencies. Some teachers even saw the potential for Project Citizen to change their school culture.

Active Citizens-in-Training

American education philosopher John Dewey saw students as citizens-in-training and called for educators to incorporate experiential learning into their practice. ICC mentor teacher Samantha Fowler, who has taught Project Citizen for six years at Northwest High School, stressed that a project-based program helps students see beyond studying history and learning how government works to the impact on their daily lives. Echoing this notion, Alexander Korda, a teacher from Macy’s Lane Middle School, said he wants to help kids be responsible and informed citizens and “recognize how important studying history is. It’s not just dates and people long dead and past. It’s every day.”

Raihan Choudhury, second-year teacher from Parkdale High School, is looking forward to using Project Citizen with his inclusive classes of multilingual learners and students with disabilities. He has realized the importance of pedagogy and is very interested in the evidence-based approaches that can reach all students and engage them in American government. “What I want students to know is if you understand the process and you understand the system, then you will be able to understand what it takes to build coalitions or build networks. [I want to] help them understand the civic concepts and what it means to belong and be American, and to participate in what our government is all about.”

Lasting Impact

The ultimate goal of ICC is to inspire and equip students to participate fully in their communities and government long after the program ends. “...One of the most powerful things with Project Citizen,” said Fowler, “is that it allows students to really find their voice, to understand how the sausage is made…how does a policy actually change.”

“I’ve had students testify before the Board of Education after doing Project Citizen. They realize if I’m gonna change policy, well, then I need to sign up to testify, right? And it may not be about the project the class picked, but there might be another issue that I’m super concerned about and I’m gonna do that. And they have those skills because they built up that public speaking ability and that knowledge of the steps that need to happen to actually move policy.”

— Charlotte Peña - Research Specialist

This past week, the Civic Education Research Lab (CERL) at Georgetown University partnered with the Peace Ambassador Leadership Summit (PALS), an initiative under National Voices for Equality, Education, and Enlightenment (NVEE), for an immersive lesson and workshop on youth-led political and civic changemaking. Surrounding the core theme of Voice, Advocacy, and Civic Leadership, PALS high school students, ages 14 to 18, practiced civic skills, focusing closely on civic engagement and action planning alongside the CERL research team.

Students from this generation have many opportunities to create change (i.e. volunteering, voting, community activism, and online engagement). While today’s young people are deeply passionate about social issues, many are not as civically engaged in their communities due to factors like physical moves for family, education or work, which may make them feel disconnected from their communities. In addition, traditional politics can feel inaccessible, especially for those not yet able to vote. Voting participation is also low; one study found that voter turnout among 18- and 34-year-olds in mayoral elections in the largest cities averaged just 9%.

CERL introduced the students to an inspiring legacy of young changemakers who refused to let their age limit their impact. Examples included the U.S. abolitionists Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, and Abraham Lincoln; the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC); volunteer founders of the Scope It Out 5K Run/Walk for Colon Cancer Awareness; Mari Copeny (also known as “Little Miss Flint”); and students who recently lobbied for the Green New Deal DC.

During the workshop, the CERL team asked the PALS students to focus on a public policy in their local communities that impacts their daily lives. To help the students structure their own community blueprints, we provided a problem-solving framework inspired by the Center for Civic Education’s Project Citizen. CERL’s research has long shown that Project Citizen significantly boosts student civic knowledge and efficacy. Our adapted framework breaks change-making down into four manageable steps:

1. Identify a Problem in Your Community: Students were asked to look closely at their everyday lives and ask: What could be done better right where I live? They wrote down immediate issues they witness daily, ranging from local food insecurity to prominent educational inequities in their school districts.

2. Research the Problem: Students are encouraged to investigate the evidence. What data exists to prove this is a systemic issue? Finding the gaps in current efforts naturally bridges into the next step.

3. Propose a Better Policy: This is where students designed the alternative solution. They mapped out the best approaches, analyzed exactly who these new alternative policies would impact, and determined which level of government (local, state, or federal) holds the power to enact it.

4. Develop an Action Plan: Finally, students mapped out the concrete steps required to turn their policy into reality. This meant thinking strategically about the political landscape: Who would support this policy? Who would oppose it? How do we build coalitions to overcome those barriers? What can we do to tackle this problem together?

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PALS students split into small groups to collaborate on the problems they felt most passionate about. The students chose to tackle problems like limited education and accessibility to healthcare for the LGBTQ+ community, lack of funding for science in schools, insufficient teachers in schools, and insufficient counselors in schools.

The workshop culminated in a gallery walk, where students posted their completed action plans around the room and reviewed each other’s work. We asked the students to reflect on the process. Students discussed how they recognized the importance of data and research in addressing their problems and creating persuasive narratives, particularly for presenting their arguments to school boards and legislators. One student shared that the workshop strengthened his dream of creating an organization that will address food insecurity and health care in South American communities. Another shared her efforts to date to address food insecurity in her hometown and the roadblocks she’s encountered and continues to work to overcome.

Encouraging young people to brainstorm big ideas is crucial to building a just and democratic society. Local community issues directly shape their daily lives, making them tangible, urgent, and manageable entry points for action. Thinking critically about community gaps builds youth autonomy, validates their voices, and transforms them into lifelong, active change-makers in their communities. When a young person realizes their voice can shift a local policy, they are motivated to act.. They are no longer just spectators; they are becoming the leaders prepared to shape a more fair, sustainable, and compassionate world.

— Alyssia Thomas - CERL Research Associate

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Pew’s study identifies four distinct profiles of civic engagement among the American public. Drawing on survey data about political, civic, religious, and news-related activities, Pew classifies 9% of Americans as Mobilizers, who are heavily involved in politics; 28% as Connectors, who are active in their communities and participate in religious, civic, and lower-cost political activities; 31% as Spectators, who follow public affairs but largely remain on the sidelines; and 31% as Outsiders, who participate at relatively low levels across civic life.

However, among young adults ages 18 to 29, the distribution looks strikingly different. The shares of Mobilizers and Outsiders are similar across age groups, but young adults are far less likely to be Connectors—15%—and much more likely to be Spectators—46%. This does not mean that young people are uninterested in public life. Many are paying attention, discussing the news, and engaging with political information. What they often lack are ways to turn that attention into participation.

Pew’s findings show that young people are much more likely to engage with news and politics online. Fifty-nine percent of young people reported liking or saving a news post during the previous week, while almost two-thirds had privately discussed or shared news online. Both activities were more common among young adults than among older Americans. These forms of engagement matter. Saving an article can be a first step toward learning more about an issue, while sharing a story with a friend can begin an important conversation. Online spaces also allow young people to find information and connect with people.

Unfortunately, digital engagement can easily remain private. Young people may follow and react to an issue without ever finding a clear way to participate. Online engagement can expose them to politics, but becoming a Connector requires more than attention. It also requires relationships, a sense of belonging, and opportunities to act alongside others in a community.

Place-based civic education can provide that connection. By examining issues in their schools, neighborhoods, and communities in person, students begin to see public life not as something that happens only in Washington or on their screens, but as something happening around them. They learn how local concerns become public issues and how people can work together to address them, making civic participation feel more relevant to their own lives. Schools can give students an early point of entry into civic life. Rather than waiting until they are older, wealthier, or more settled, young people can begin developing the habits of listening, collaboration, and problem-solving in their current communities.

At our recent Civic Education and America’s 250th Symposium, co-hosted with the American Political Science Association, making civic education relevant to students emerged as a prominent theme. Several educators shared ways they help students learn about and participate in their local communities. At Western Connecticut State University, students in Howell Williams’ class examine Danbury’s legacy as the “Hat City,” exploring how the industry that helped build the city continues to shape its identity. At Morningside University, Chase Privett asks students to participate in campus, community, and political activities, helping them build relationships and practice the different skills each setting requires. Both approaches give students opportunities to move beyond observing public life and begin finding their place within it.

Project Citizen, a project-based curriculum from the Center for Civic Education, offers another model for helping young people move from Spectators to Connectors. Students investigate a problem in their community, develop a public policy proposal, and present their ideas. In the process, they learn to collaborate with peers, consider different perspectives, and engage with the institutions and people who shape public life in their communities. The program can also connect students’ online and offline worlds. An issue first encountered through the news or social media becomes something they can investigate locally and address with others.

We are excited to put some of these approaches into practice tomorrow with high school students attending the Peace Ambassador Leadership Summit at Georgetown University. Students will work through the steps involved in creating policy change, focusing on problems they have observed in their own communities. Our hope is that they leave with a clearer understanding of how public policy works, greater confidence in their ability to participate, and practical tools they can use when they return home.

Pew’s findings suggest that many young people are already paying attention to public issues. The challenge is showing them where and how they can act. Civic education can turn attention into participation, helping young people become more deeply connected to the communities around them.

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—Patrick McSweeney, PhD - Research Specialist

References:

Pew Research Center, July 2026, “How Americans Are Engaged With News, Politics, Religion and Civic Life.” https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2026/07/16/how-americans-are-engaged-with-news-politics-religion-and-civic-life/

Literacy is fundamental to civic education because students need the skills to examine and analyze non-fiction text, write expository and persuasive essays, and engage in critical listening and public speaking. The rich content of civics and history builds students’ vocabulary, background knowledge, comprehension, and disciplinary literacy. With renewed interest in primary source documents during America 250, history and civic educators can use these materials with students to demonstrate best practices for applying literacy skills.

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Looking back to the American Revolution, we can see that the movement relied not only on military courage and political leadership, but also on people who could read, write, gather information, revise ideas, and persuade others.

Benjamin Franklin may have understood the civic power of literacy better than anyone. We often remember him as an inventor, scientist, diplomat, and statesman, but he was also a printer and writer. Through newspapers, essays, pamphlets, satire, and political cartoons, Franklin helped colonists understand what was happening around them, question those in power, and begin to see themselves as part of a political community. He also took his message globally, persuading the French to join the war effort.

Thomas Paine showed how powerful clear writing could be. In Common Sense, he took a complicated argument for independence and made it understandable to ordinary colonists. He was not simply writing for political leaders or educated elites. He was trying to bring more people into the debate. His words not only explained the case for independence, but also helped create support for it.

Known as a great writer and thinker at only 33, Thomas Jefferson was asked to draft the Declaration of Independence that articulated why the colonies believed separation was necessary and made their case to the wider world. The Declaration set out ideas about equality, rights, and government that would extend far beyond the Revolution itself. Its influence came from both the power of those ideas and the clarity with which they were expressed. Looking back on the Declaration later in his life, Jefferson described it as “an expression of the American mind” that conveyed the “harmonising sentiments of the day” as expressed in colonists’ essays, letters, and public discourse.

The American Revolution was not only a military and political achievement: it was also a literacy achievement. Franklin, Paine, and Jefferson used literacy in different ways, but each helped encourage an uncertain public to move toward independence. Colonists encountered their arguments on the page, through public readings, and in conversations with one another. They had to weigh evidence and decide which arguments they found convincing.

These founders demonstrate why we should stop treating literacy and civic education as separate priorities. Schools can choose to integrate literacy and civic education: students improve their literacy skills while preparing them for democratic life. The two goals reinforce one another.

We should give students more opportunities to encounter meaningful civics and social studies content through what they read, discuss, and write. The integration of civics and literacy can help students build background knowledge, examine important ideas, read challenging texts, and think about their role in a community. Reading and writing become more meaningful when students use them to understand the world and develop their own voice.

— Patrick McSweeney, PhD - Research Specialist

The symposium came at an important moment. As the United States reflects on its 250th anniversary, educators are thinking carefully about how to teach the nation’s founding principles, its democratic challenges, and the role students can play in civic life. That work is especially urgent in a moment marked by political polarization, debates over the teaching of American history, and concerns about young people’s trust in democratic institutions.

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Panels covered a wide range of topics, including political thought, primary source documents, civic knowledge in challenging times, experiential learning, international perspectives on democratic education, K–12 civic education, and active learning strategies. Presenters from Duke University and the National Archives explored how students can engage with historical documents. Howell Williams from Western Connecticut State University shared how questions of memory and identity can be conveyed through a place-based lesson on “Civic Learning in Hat City.” Rachel Davidson-Humphries and Kirk Higgins from the Bill of Rights Institute, Donna Paoletti Phillips from the Center for Civic Education, and Emma Humphries from iCivics showed how the connection between civic knowledge and civic practice can be made in K-12 classrooms. Austin Barraza of San Diego Mesa College demonstrated how Ballotpedia can be used to develop the skills and dispositions needed for democratic life.

Making Civic Education Relatable

The importance of making civic education relatable was one of several themes that emerged from the symposium. Participants emphasized that students are more likely to engage deeply when they can see how civic questions connect to their own communities and experiences. Through place-based learning, classroom discussion, primary source analysis, and community engagement, presenters showed how civic education can help students understand that democracy is not only something they study, but also something they encounter in their day-to-day lives. Morningside University students in Chase Privett’s class engaged in university, community, and political activities outside of the classroom. Students in Katie Zuber’s class at John Jay College, CUNY, identified community issues they are passionate about, researched the problems, and built coalitions to solve them. For students in Mel Filmore’s class at the University of Oklahoma, understanding community issues meant studying the maps and treaties that have shaped tribal communities and the state of Oklahoma.

Learning Through Active & Experiential Means

Active and experiential learning were proposed as ways to effectively engage students. Presentations on simulations, games, community-based learning, classroom exercises, and K–12 resources showed how educators are helping students move beyond memorizing civic facts toward practicing civic skills. Dessie Zagorcheva from LaGuardia Community College, CUNY, discussed her students’ participation in debates based on simulations from the Council on Foreign Relations. Tracy Lightcap from LaGrange College engaged students through simulations from the Reacting Consortium. These approaches allowed students to deliberate, collaborate, make decisions, and experience the complexity of democratic life.

Navigating a Changing Educational Landscape

Participants also discussed the challenge of teaching civic education in a heavily polarized environment. Debates over history and identity, concerns about democratic norms, and rapid changes in technology are shaping classrooms at every level. These conditions create real challenges for educators, who must adapt civic learning to their students, institutions, and local contexts. Kelly Shaw of Iowa State University discussed how they are responding to changing state mandates and using it as an opportunity for expanding civic education.

But the challenges also underscore why civic education matters. Classrooms and universities can give students structured opportunities to examine evidence, engage across disagreement, and think seriously about their responsibilities in a democracy. Chapman Rackaway from Radford University highlighted how universities can prioritize civic education by measuring student growth through assessments and providing students with occasions for civic engagement. Joanna Kenty from The Renovator and Rutgers University-Newark and Joshua Jansa from Oklahoma State University both recognized that grad students play an important role in civic education, but need training and opportunities from their departments.

Continuing the Conversation

The conversations at Georgetown also raised larger questions for the field. How can educators help students feel a sense of civic agency while also giving them a realistic understanding of how political institutions work? How can innovative teaching practices be shared more widely, studied more carefully, and adapted across different classroom contexts? And how can civic educators continue to support one another in a moment when this work can feel both essential and difficult?

In the wake of America’s 250th anniversary, these conversations can and should continue beyond the symposium. Presenters will share resources through APSA Educate, giving other educators access to ideas, assignments, and materials they can adapt for their own classrooms. CERL and APSA will also continue to highlight lessons from the symposium and encourage further discussion about how civic education can meet this moment. The APSA Annual Meeting in Boston will provide an opportunity to build upon the symposium’s themes.

The most hopeful part of the symposium was the evidence that educators are continuing to respond with creativity, seriousness, and dedication. Across institutions and grade levels, scholars and educators are developing dynamic ways to help students not only understand democracy, but also realize that they are active agents in the democratic process.

CIVIC EDUCATION AND AMERICA’S 250th AGENDA

Political Thought & Primary Source Documents

• Teaching American Political Thought: Encountering the Constitution and Responding to Injustice, Alec Arellano, Rice University

• The Same Citizens, the Same Civics? Teaching Civics in the University Classroom and Beyond, Tingfeng Yan, University of Chicago

• Civic Learning in Hat City: Place-based History and Civic Engagement, Howell Williams, Western Connecticut State University

• Analyzing Tribal Treaties, Melanie Fillmore, Department of Native American Studies, University of Oklahoma

• Civics Isn’t a Given: Learning Opportunities Tied to Civic Outcomes in a History Class, Emma Humphries, iCivics

• The Politics of Memory, Identity & America’s 250th, Alexandra Reckendorf, Virginia Commonwealth University

Civic Knowledge in Challenging Times

• An Integrated Civic Education Ecosystem for America’s 250th, Chapman Rackaway, Radford University

• The Third Way: Navigating Partisan Motivations, Kelly Shaw, Iowa State University

• From Civic Learning to Civic Infrastructure: Scaling Democratic Engagement through CREATE and CREATE250, David Roof, Ball State University

• Teaching ‘Politics in the Time of Trump’, Joshua Koss, Eastern Michigan University

Civic Engagement & Experiential Learning

• Civic Engagement Experiences and Exercises: Learning about American Politics In and Outside the Classroom, Chase Privett, Morningside University

• Grad Students and Good (Academic) Citizenship, Joanna Kenty, The Renovator/Rutgers University – Newark

• Experiencing Civic Engagement in the Classroom, Katie Zuber, John Jay College, CUNY

International Perspectives on Civic Engagement

• European Models of Learning for Democracy: Study Circles, Folk High Schools, Project Learning and more, Titus Alexander, Democracy Matters

• Teaching Democratic Erosion: Pedagogical Strategies Using CFR Education Resources, Dessie Zagorcheva, City University of New York - LAGCC

K-12 Civic Education

• Universities as Engines for Civics Renewal, Matthew Bunyi, Duke University; Russell Bargmann, Duke University, Joanna Capps, National Archives Foundation

• Documents, Democracy, and Dispositions: Civic Competency Development in We the People, Donna Paoletti Phillips, Center for Civic Education and Diana Owen, Georgetown University

• Educating for Self-Governance: Civic Knowledge, Virtue, and Practice at America’s 250th, Rachel Davidson-Humphries, Bill of Rights Institute and Kirk Higgins, Bill of Rights Institute

Teaching Resources & Active Learning

• An Interactive Revolution: Reacting to the Past and Pedagogy for the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution, Tracy Lightcap, LaGrange College

• Using Ballotpedia to Promote Civic Engagement in an Online Asynchronous Course, Austin Barraza, San Diego Mesa College

• Active Learning Specialists in College Civics Courses, Joshua Jansa, Oklahoma State University

As we celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday, we remember the famous statement from the Declaration of Independence, that “all men are created equal.” Also present, and no less essential, is its conclusion, which states that “we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” Those words still have meaning today because we are all in this together. We are all bound together by our common American community. And that, perhaps, is the most essential civics lesson we can teach.

When we speak of civic education, our minds may gravitate more towards the “mechanics” of civics – teaching children what the three branches of government are, what the Bill of Rights is, and how to contact their local representatives. This represents what we would term “civic skills” and “civic knowledge.” They are an essential part of civic education – but only a part. Also important are “civic dispositions.” They are the “habits of the heart” that keep our democracy functioning. Civic dispositions include not only things like your propensity to vote, but also more abstract things such as political tolerance, concern for the welfare of your fellow citizens, and your overall sense of social responsibility. Civic dispositions, in short, reflect our sense of common community. And community lies at the heart of civics – both abstractly and linguistically.

The earliest known use of the term “civic” in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, comes in 1542, and is in reference to the “garlande ciuike,” or the “civic garland.” This was, in ancient Rome, a crown made of oak leaves and acorns that the Romans had traditionally presented to anyone who saved the life of a fellow citizen – an act which could be interpreted as the ultimate act of community.

That said, we don’t need to literally save each other’s lives in order to build a sense of community. What is essential, however, is to build a sense of connection with one another. To recognize the common bonds that bind us, despite the vast differences, both political and geographical, that define us.

One place attempting to build this sense of civic community is President Lincoln’s Cottage, a wonderful museum in the DC area where I worked for several years. The Cottage has taken on a unique approach to the 250th anniversary of the nation by celebrating that spirit of community through their “Crafting Connections” exhibit. Visitors to the exhibit are presented with crafting materials, and instructed to make a postcard for a stranger. After finishing, they are instructed to take a card from a previous visitor, as a little memento from someone they will likely never meet. And that, after all, is a key element of civic dispositions – recognizing our ties to people whose names we will never know. That, despite our distance, they are still our fellow citizens, entitled to the same rights and endowed with the same responsibilities. And that is a lesson which can be taught to Americans of all ages – both children and adults.

As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation, we should remember Lincoln’s own words about the Declaration of Independence. For Lincoln, the Declaration was not just a motto for the country, but rather the thing that defined the country. The Declaration, Lincoln said, united not just Americans whose ancestors had fought in the Revolutionary War, but also later-day Americans who had immigrated to the country from far-flung shores. It was, he said, the “electric cord” that binds us all together in one common civic community. So this Fourth of July, let’s remember the words of the Declaration, and the community it created as well.

— Paul Sullivan is a Research Associate at the Civic Education Research Lab, and a graduate student in Georgetown University's Communication, Culture, and Technology Program. He comes from a public history background, having spent five years as a professional educator at the President Lincoln's Cottage and the President Woodrow Wilson House.

But this wasn’t a beach vacation. I was in Monterey for one of the Center for Civic Education’s Project Citizen professional learning institutes. Around 20 teachers from California and Hawaii gathered for the week to learn how to engage their students in the public policy process.

At CERL, we are grateful for the educators who spend part of their summer continuing to build their instructional toolbox. Our research shows that these experiences matter for teachers. Professional learning helps teachers gain knowledge, greater confidence, and a community of educators they can turn to for support and inspiration.

A Look Inside the Institute

Over five days, participants at the California institute:

• Learned more about Project Citizen including completing a project themselves. On the final day they presented their work to the rest of the group.

• Received resources including lesson plans that integrate the civic competencies such as empathy, active listening, and collaboration.

• Learned from civic leaders, including former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, about public service and policymaking.

• Engaged with California history through The Apology, a documentary about Russell City, where Black residents were displaced through eminent domain. For many teachers in the institute, this history was not distant, but connected to the communities they serve.

• Explored the Monterey area’s local history and the public policy problems and solutions that have shaped the community

The findings below come from CERL’s recent evaluation of the James Madison Legacy Project Expansion (JMLPE), a We the People focused professional learning rather than Project Citizen. They help illustrate a broader point we see across this work: when teachers have time, resources, and support to deepen their civic instruction, they leave better prepared to help students practice democracy in meaningful ways.

Civic Knowledge

Strong civic instruction starts with teachers who feel prepared to teach the content at the heart of American democracy. Teachers who participated in the JMLPE program demonstrated significant gains in civic knowledge.

Overall, JMLPE teachers’ civic knowledge increased by 10%, compared to 4% for control group teachers. Gains were greater for teachers working with large numbers of students with disabilities (+17%) and English learners (+14%).

Confidence in Teaching Civics

Knowledge matters, but teachers also need the confidence to help students discuss complex issues, practice civic skills, and develop the habits needed for democratic participation. Teachers who participated in JMLPE were more confident teaching civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions than teachers in the control group.

On the posttest, a majority of JMLPE teachers said they were very confident teaching key elements of civic education:

• 71% were very confident teaching civic knowledge, compared to 63% of control group teachers.

• 58% were very confident teaching civic skills, compared to 46%.

• 51% were very confident teaching civic dispositions, compared to 32%.

These results demonstrate that the professional learning program increased teachers’ confidence in helping students develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed for civic participation.

A Community of Educators

Professional learning is also powerful because it gives teachers something they often do not have enough of, time with other educators who are working through the same challenges and possibilities. At our We the People National Symposium on Civic Education Research, Kirsten von Topel, a teacher at Alexandria City High School in Virginia, shared how important the network of teachers from her institute had been.

Her mentor teachers became people she could turn to when she encountered an obstacle. The other participants became colleagues she could trade ideas with long after the institute ended.

That is part of what makes these professional learning experiences so powerful. Teachers are not returning to their classrooms with only lesson plans and classroom resources. They are returning with a support system that can help sustain and strengthen their work.

And when teachers are better supported, students are better positioned to experience the kind of civic learning that helps them see themselves as participants in their communities.

— Patrick McSweeney, PhD - Research Specialist

That question shaped the first day of Civic Education and America’s 250th Teaching & Learning Symposium at Georgetown University.

Nearly thirty scholars and civic educators have gathered for the symposium, jointly organized by the American Political Science Association and the Civic Education Research Lab at Georgetown University and co-facilitated by Diana Owen (Georgetown University, CERL) and John Ishiyama (University of North Texas). Across three days, participants are sharing innovative approaches to civics instruction and scholarship at the K–12 and post-secondary levels in relation to America’s 250th.

Day 1 began with panels on political thought and primary source documents. Presenters explored ways to connect students with historical materials and help them see how debates over American history, founding principles, injustice, memory, and identity continue to shape civic life today.

In the afternoon, participants turned to civic knowledge in challenging times. State mandates and divisive politics can make this work more difficult, but the conversation also highlighted important opportunities. Across campuses, educators are creating ways for students to engage with the political system, practice difficult conversations, and reflect on their own civic growth during their time in college.

Several major themes emerged:

• The importance of making civics instruction relevant to students’ lives

• The civic knowledge and skills students need as they enter college

• Opportunities to strengthen connections between higher education and K–12 civic education

As Day 2 begins, we look forward to continuing the conversation with sessions on civic engagement, experiential learning, international perspectives, and K–12 civic education.

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Challenges

Educating for democracy is challenging in many countries at present. Misinformation spreads quickly, public debate can be uncivil, and there are violent conflicts both at home and around the world. In addition, civic educators are still dealing with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has hurt students’ academic progress, social interactions, and emotional well-being. Despite these difficulties—or maybe because of them—teachers have gone beyond the usual textbook-and-lecture approach and are giving students the chance to step into real civic roles. Learning by practicing democratic decision-making and action is one of the compelling ways civic education is evolving. Ensuring quality civic education for all continues to be the greater challenge.

Experiential Learning

Through experiential learning, students take on civic roles as they explicitly develop civic competencies. In project-based learning, for example, students work directly on real problems in their communities. The Center for Civic Education’s Project Citizen has students identify and research a problem in their school or community, propose a solution, and present a portfolio of their findings. Project Citizen has repeatedly been shown to improve civic knowledge and skills of students who participate.

Simulations and games offer another way for students to gain civic knowledge and skills while assuming the roles of civic actors in real-world scenarios. Mock trials, simulated congressional hearings, school-based elections, traditional board games, and online games can help students grasp complex concepts and processes, such as what constitutes citizenship, how local governments work, how laws are made, and how people negotiate disagreements in public life.

Research-Based Learning

In research-based civic learning, they dig into questions about how democracy works by collecting and analyzing data with the help of their teachers and classmates. This approach places an emphasis on “learning by doing” with students gaining hands-on research experience as they investigate questions that interest them. Ishiyama (2002) found that undergraduates gained the ability to think analytically and logically, organize ideas, and learn independently, especially when they are working with other students.

RBL and experiential learning can be combined to provide a rich experience for students. Duncan and Brown (2021) designed a Presidential Inauguration Research Program where students traveled to Washington, D.C. in 2017 to investigate whether Americans were deeply divided in their fundamental political views. They conducted interviews with elected officials, congressional staffers, and media executives. They engaged in ethnographic research and interviews with participants while attending the presidential swearing in and counter-inaugural activities. Students presented the results of their research at campuswide events and submitted articles to undergraduate research journals.

Evidence shows that these more active ways of learning can make a big difference in students’ civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions, and help prepare them to be thoughtful, engaged democratic citizens.

What do you think?

We want to hear from you. What challenges have you faced while teaching civics? What approaches have you taken to engage students and prepare them to be thoughtful citizens? Are there cutting-edge pedagogies that you see on the horizon?

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Read more in the full “Teaching Civic Education and Democracy” article.

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Civic Education for ALL Students

By Dr. Donna Phillips, President and CEO of the Center for Civic Education

When I first began teaching We the People as part of my 8th grade U.S. History course, it was with fully heterogenous classes. Because of No Child Left Behind, students who previously had been tracked into separate sections were now learning social studies together—gifted students, students with IEPs, students reading well above grade level, and students who struggled with traditional academic tasks. In these classes, the democratizing effects of We the People became crystal clear.

In We the People, students do not simply study constitutional democracy. They practice it. They work in teams, prepare arguments, respond to questions, listen to their peers, and work on something that is bigger than a grade. This experience creates citizenship moments where students are driven by the common good rather than individual outcomes. In those moments, civic education becomes more than content knowledge. Good civic education should make these opportunities available to all students.

At the beginning of the We the People process, students elect team captains who help organize the work for their teams to draft speeches for a simulated congressional hearing. If you’ve ever taught middle school, you know how this usually goes. You expect the straight-A student, the loudest voice in the room, or whoever happens to be the most popular that week.

But that year, the class, through popular vote, chose someone different. It was Asia.

Asia had significant learning disabilities. In fact, my social studies class was the only non-self-contained class in her schedule. Reading and writing were a challenge for her. Assignments took longer and required a lot of support.

But Asia was that student who was curious. She was genuine and warm and forgiving. She asked great questions and worked hard. Her classmates saw those qualities and valued them, knowing they would lead the class to success in the hearings. Sometimes our students really do get it.

And then there was Logan. School was also not easy for him, but he responded by checking out: not trying, being a contrarian, and doing the least.

Imagine my shock when the captains chose their hearing teams and Asia chose Logan for her team. I was skeptical that she (or any of my student captains) could get him to participate fully, but Asia smiled and said, “I’ve got this.”

Over the next several weeks I watched Asia make good on her promise. She got Logan to join. She got him to work and to buy in. I looked over and rather than seeing him slumped down low in his chair I saw him hunched over their speech making edits. The students all practiced questions together. They gave each other feedback. They turned in multiple drafts of their speeches and tweaked and tweaked and added new evidence until it was the best it could be.

They were pulling from what I call the class economy of knowledge. And then one day Logan turned in his first full assignment. It wasn’t even for a grade. I had long stopped grading them. They were doing this not for me, or an A, but for themselves and for each other. And for their own constitutional learning.

Something deeper was happening in that classroom. They were beginning to see themselves and each other differently. When students are asked to reason together about constitutional questions, new leaders emerge, different voices are valued, and students begin to see themselves as contributors to a shared civic enterprise. They were experiencing citizenship moments, and in those moments, the power of civic education became visible.

A century ago, John Dewey described schools as a kind of “simplified environment,” where students begin to understand how their actions affect the larger community around them. What I was watching in that classroom was exactly that. Students weren’t just learning about democracy—they were experiencing what it means to live in one. And that’s something many teachers who use We the People have observed for decades.

Asia and Logan and their class had a phenomenal hearing. In their reflections, Asia and other students noted that they now had new people to say “hi” to in the hallways and new ways of thinking about their obligations to one another and to the groups to which they belonged.

But not all civic education produces these outcomes.

Civic education that does not allow for the transformation of the classroom itself, does not generate these civic competencies. What makes programs like We the People different is the combination of deep constitutional learning with authentic democratic practice.

Through that work they develop not only civic knowledge and skills, but civic dispositions. They learn how to listen. How to disagree constructively. How to work toward a common purpose. And most importantly how to find value in one another. Thus, civic education for all is not simply about access to a course. It is about access to the full experience of practicing democracy.

Civic education is where students begin to see themselves, and each other, as participants in a democratic society. This lived experience, set against the backdrop of deep constitutional learning, shapes the dispositions formed in the embryonic democracy of the classroom so that students carry them into the wider society and act in morally and ethically responsive ways toward their fellow citizens.

Asia went on to take advanced level courses all through high school, graduated college and is working on a masters. She is immersed in the education, tech, and assessment world. Through We the People, she fortified her civic identity in powerful ways that continue to lead her to success. This is the purpose of civic education. This is a civic education for all students.

We will continue to share highlights from the proceedings and the conversations that shaped the symposium. One example is the panel “It’s Elementary: Civics and Literacy,” which explored how civic learning can support literacy development in the elementary grades. Rather than treating civics and literacy as competing priorities, the panelists made the case that the two can and should reinforce one another.

It’s Elementary: Civics and Literacy

Scott Abbott, Delaware Center for Civics Education;
Chunmeka Wayne, Memphis Shelby County;
Marcie Taylor Thoma, Maryland Council for Civic and History Education;
Rachael Overstreet, Nevada Center for Civic Engagement; Phin Ramsey, Maryland State Department of Education

Summary by Scott Abbott

The “It’s Elementary: Civics and Literacy” panel shared their insights into the ways that civics and literacy intersect in the elementary grades. This convening provided a critical platform to address the pervasive gaps that lead to the marginalization of social studies and civics at the elementary level. Yet, as the panelists shared, better paths forward exist. During our discussion, panelists presented evidence that civics should not be viewed as a competitor to literacy, but as an engine behind its development, one that should work in tandem with other subjects, such as English Language Arts and science.

The discussion began by acknowledging a sobering reality: the marginalization of social studies in elementary grades. Since the enactment of No Child Left Behind in 2001, at least 44% of school districts have reduced instructional time for social studies to accommodate the demands of math and English Language Arts (ELA), and this trend disproportionately impacts our most vulnerable learners. The result is a narrowing of the curriculum that leaves students without the knowledge or agency necessary for participatory citizenship.

Panelists repeatedly mentioned the role that social studies and civics can play in supporting literacy outcomes. Chunmeka Wayne noted that when “students are afforded the opportunity to engage with civic content, you can easily pull out those literacy concepts, practices, and skills.” This kind of integration happens frequently during students’ preparation for the We the People program’s Simulated Congressional Hearings. “Reading comprehension depends heavily on what students already know about the world…when students learn about democratic institutions and historical events, they develop the knowledge and vocabulary that helps them to make sense of increasingly complex text,” said Phin Ramsey. Ramsey also referenced the 2020 Fordham Institute study by Adam Tyner and Sarah Kabourek in which they found that “increased instructional time in social studies – but not in ELA – is associated with improved reading ability.” (Social Studies Instruction and Reading Comprehension, p.27). This connection between civics and literacy development makes sense, especially since “Robert Marzano found that 55% of academic language came from social studies,” according to Wayne.

While school administrators recognize the importance of social studies, scheduling pressures sometimes lead them to attempt to capture its benefits through integration with other subjects. Panelists noted that the research of Linda Bennett and Elizabeth Hinde (Becoming Integrated Thinkers, 2015) shows attempts at integration often lead to fractured, stealthy, or non-existent social studies instruction. “Healthy integration is not reading a story about George Washington’s teeth,” said Marcie Taylor Thoma. But panelist Rachael Overstreet expressed hope that combining access to high-quality curricular resources like the We the People book with professional development, assessment, and scheduling policies that preserve time for daily social studies instruction can support the development of civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions for elementary students.

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Read more summaries from the symposium and watch the panel below:

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We are pleased to share the symposium proceedings, which summarize the sessions, themes, and takeaways from two days of conversation about the future of civic education. The symposium was grounded in the work of the James Madison Legacy Project Expansion (JMLPE), which updated the Center’s We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution curriculum and strengthened teacher professional learning to better serve all students, especially students with disabilities and English learners. The JMLPE evaluation found that the curriculum significantly improved student outcomes, including gains in civic knowledge, civic engagement, and political efficacy.

Across sessions, participants explored how civic education can remain rigorous while becoming more accessible; how teachers adapt instruction for diverse learners; how students develop civic knowledge and skills through experiential learning; and how the field can make more informed decisions about curriculum, professional learning, assessment, literacy, and AI. Just as importantly, the symposium made clear that progress in civic education depends on collaboration across the field. With participants bringing perspectives from classrooms, research, policy, and civic organizations, the conversations underscored that expanding access to high-quality civic learning will take all of us.

The report also highlights one of the clearest lessons from the symposium: evidence matters most when it is connected to the daily work of teachers and students. From the Reservoir High School students who demonstrated a live simulated congressional hearing to the educators who shared strategies for supporting English learners and students with disabilities, the symposium showed what meaningful civic learning can look like in practice.

We hope this report serves not only as a record of the symposium, but also as a resource for educators, researchers, policymakers, and civic education advocates working to expand high-quality civic learning for all students.

Read the full symposium proceedings here, and visit our website for session videos and additional resources from the event.

The Spring 2026 Harvard IOP Youth Poll, a nationally representative survey of 2,018 18- to 29-year-olds, shows just how deep this frustration runs. Only 26% of young people say they feel hopeful about the future of America, down from 55% in 2021. Approval of both parties in Congress is similarly low, with only 26% approving of congressional Democrats and 25% approving of congressional Republicans. President Trump’s approval also sits at 25%, down from 29% in the Fall 2025 Youth Poll.

Young people feel alienated and powerless, with 50%, evenly split across parties, agreeing that “people like me don’t have any say about what the government does.” This low level of political efficacy could have consequences for voter turnout, as only 35% of young people said they would definitely vote. Broader distrust of the electoral system is also concerning, as only one-third of respondents said they thought the midterms would be conducted fairly.

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John Della Volpe, Director of Polling at the Harvard Institute of Politics, described how young people are feeling in the poll’s press release. “Too many young Americans feel invisible to the people in power — let alone represented by them.”

The state of our national politics has young people tuning out. The age group has serious policy demands, especially around the economy. But without major policy wins to point to, they feel their voice is going unheard.

CERL’s research suggests that young people should take a step back and think more about politics in their own communities, a location where they can have a huge impact. Local action may be one way for students to begin to see their place in the political system. The Center for Civic Education’s Project Citizen is a civics curriculum that has students work together to identify and research a problem in their community and propose public policy alternatives. Students study the problems and institutions that shape the world around them. Rather than treating politics as something that only happens in Washington, Project Citizen starts with the places students already know.

CERL’s evaluation of Project Citizen demonstrates the promise of this approach (Owen 2024). Students who participated in Project Citizen showed significantly greater gains in civic knowledge than students in a comparison group who received traditional civics instruction. After the program, they were also more likely to see voting as a civic duty, have an interest in government service, and develop civic skills that prepare them for effective citizenship.

Project Citizen helps students see the public policy process up close. Students frequently interview community leaders, including elected officials, business leaders, school officials, and activists. Through these conversations, students learn that politics is not always distant or unreachable. Local institutions may be imperfect, but they can be an entry point for young people to ask questions, raise concerns, and see how decisions get made.

Students will still encounter barriers, frustration, and adults who do not take them seriously. Project Citizen helps students to understand these realities and how they can move forward from setbacks as they work toward positive change in their communities. Democracy is not easy, but this real-world focus should help students understand how power works and let them practice engaging in the process. Young people have serious policy concerns, and they can be part of the solution if they are given meaningful opportunities to learn, participate, and be heard.

Young Americans’ frustration with national politics is real. However, the feeling of alienation does not have to be the end of the story. Civic education can help students see that politics is not only something that happens far away, but is also present in the communities where they live. Project Citizen shows that when students explore local problems and propose solutions, they can build their civic knowledge, skills, and political efficacy. Thinking locally may not solve every problem in American democracy, but it can help young people see they have agency.

— Patrick McSweeney, PhD - CERL Research Specialist

Today, fandoms are increasingly functioning as a gateway into civic engagement, particularly for young people. The same online communities built around loving the same music, movies, shows, and celebrities are also teaching people how to organize and participate collectively. In many cases, fan spaces are doing the work that traditional civic institutions once did, making participation actually feel accessible.

Media scholar Henry Jenkins defines fan activism as forms of civic engagement that emerge directly from fan culture and its existing social networks and shared identities (2012). Rather than separating politics from entertainment, fan activism blends the two. Communities initially built around shared cultural interests become capable of mobilizing around social or political causes. What begins as shared enthusiasm for a piece of media can eventually evolve into networks capable of fundraising and advocacy.

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There are already countless examples of fandoms channeling collective enthusiasm into civic action. The 501st Legion, a global community of Star Wars fans, who visit children in hospitals dressed as characters from the franchise, bringing hope and joy to communities (Johnson 2026). Author John Green’s “Nerdfighter” community has raised awareness and funds for tuberculosis awareness (Bender 2024). Meanwhile, BTS ARMY has become one of the most visible examples of digital fan activism, coordinating fundraising campaigns, flooding racist hashtags with fancams, and rapidly mobilizing around charitable and political causes online (Ekin 2020).

Fans already know how to build communities online. They create group chats, edit videos, moderate forums, circulate information, raise money, and coordinate meetups. This is the same infrastructure that participation occurs in. When a social issue arises, those same networks and organizational habits can quickly be redirected toward activism (Fiske 1989).

This is especially important because civic engagement itself has increasingly moved online and outside traditional institutions (Johnson 2025). Younger generations are starting to participate through more informal political organizations and democratized digital networks tied to identity and personal interest (Brough and Shresthova 2012). In many ways, fandom acts as an early form of civic apprenticeship. Even activities that appear apolitical on the surface can build the kinds of participatory skills and civic confidence that later translate into broader political engagement.

The emotional dimension of fandom is also politically significant (Duncombe 2012). Political participation is deeply tied to identity, belonging, and the feeling of efficacy (Siegel-Stechler et al. 2025). Fan communities create strong emotional bonds not only with the artists, music, stories, and cultural worlds they celebrate but also with one another. Those relationships can foster solidarity and shared purpose that is especially important at a moment when many young people report feeling socially disconnected. Recent research from CIRCLE at Tufts University found that roughly half of young people rarely or never spend time in person with their communities (Booth 2025). Economic pressures, declining public gathering spaces, and increasingly online social lives have contributed to broader feelings of isolation.

Online fan communities can fill that gap by operating as modern “third spaces,” or places outside of work or school where people form relationships and experience belonging (Hind 2026). Discord servers, Reddit forums, and convention spaces often become meaningful social environments where people feel connected to others through shared interests and emotional investments.

Ultimately, fandom reveals something important about the future of civic education. Traditional civic education often centers formal political institutions and activities, but younger generations are increasingly learning participatory skills through digital culture and online communities instead. Fan culture demonstrates that civic engagement often begins not with politics itself, but with connection and community.

— Nadya Hayasi - CERL Research Associate
— Kat Weiss - CERL Research Associate

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References

Bender, Maddie. 2024. “Can John Green Make You Care About Tuberculosis?” The New York Times, October 30. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/30/science/john-green-tuberculosis-nerdfighters.html.

Booth, Ruby Belle. (2025). “Youth Lack Community Connections that Are Critical to Civic Engagement.” CIRCLE, December 3. https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/youth-lack-community-connections-are-critical-civic-engagement

Brough, Melissa & Shresthova, Sangita. (2012). “Fandom meets activism: Rethinking civic and political participation.” In “Transformative Works and Fan Activism,” edited by Henry Jenkins and Sangita Shresthova, special issue. Transformative Works and Cultures 10. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2012.0303.

Brown, William J. 2015. “Examining Four Processes of Audience Involvement With Media Personae: Transportation, Parasocial Interaction, Identification, and Worship.” Communication Theory 25 (3): 259-83. https://doi.org/10.1111/comt.12053.

Duncombe, Stephen. 2012. “Imagining No-place.” In “Transformative Works and Fan Activism,” edited by Henry Jenkins and Sangita Shresthova, special issue, Transformative Works and Cultures 10. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2012.0350.

Ekin, Annette. 2020. “Are K-pop and BTS fans a new force for social justice?” Al Jazeera, July 1. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2020/7/1/are-k-pop-and-bts-fans-a-new-force-for-social-justice.

Fiske, John. 1989. Reading the Popular. London: Routledge.

Hind, Stephanie. 2026. “The New Third Spaces: How Online Communities are Rebuilding Connection.” Rolling Stone, January 5. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture-council/articles/new-third-spaces-online-communities-rebuilding-connection-1235492208/.

Jenkins, Henry. 2012. “’Cultural Acupuncture’: Fan Activism and the Harry Potter Alliance.” In “Transformative Works and Fan Activism,” edited by Henry Jenkins and Sangita Shresthova, special issue, Transformative Works and Cultures 10. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2012.0305.

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Siegel-Stechler, Kelly, Noorya Hayat, and Alberto Medina. 2025. “School Climate Are Key to Building Youth Political Efficacy.” CIRCLE, March 10. https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/sense-belonging-and-positive-school-climate-are-key-building-youth-political.

At CERL, we have the privilege of working with and learning from remarkable teachers across the country. This week gives us a chance to recognize the time, creativity, patience, and care that go into helping students develop civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Strong civic learning depends on teachers who challenge students to think deeply, work collaboratively, and practice good citizenship.

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The Center for Civic Education’s We the People curriculum offers a powerful example. The program culminates in simulated congressional hearings where students prepare answers to questions about the Constitution and then respond to follow-up questions from a panel of judges. As we wrote from the National Finals, this approach asks a great deal of students. They must synthesize research, develop compelling arguments, anticipate counterarguments, and recognize multiple perspectives.

The National Finals also demonstrated that this kind of learning takes a schoolhouse. Students do not arrive at that level of preparation on their own. They need teachers who guide them through the process, help them build confidence, and push them to do work they may not have believed they could do. The joy students show when they introduce their teachers is a reminder that behind every strong student performance is a teacher who helped make it possible.

We see the same commitment in the Center’s other flagship program, Project Citizen. In Project Citizen, students work in groups to identify and research a public policy problem in their community and propose a solution. This kind of project-based learning requires teachers to give up some control and allow students to take the lead as they investigate issues that matter to them. Through this process, students engage with their communities, contact public officials, conduct surveys, analyze policy options, and think creatively about possible solutions.

The projects students present to judges are often remarkable, but they are not possible without strong teaching. In our profile of Lindsay Stepanek, a West Virginia teacher, she explained that a successful Project Citizen experience helps students become connected to their topic, their group, and their community. Reflecting on her students’ showcase, Stepanek said, “I had such positive feedback from all of the judges, for all of my students, so I was just really proud and excited to see how well they did, and how much they grew through the process.”

Jeffrey Owen, who judged Stepanek’s students’ projects, recognized her impact. He argued that expanding Project Citizen requires communities to “find the best local agent you possibly can, and that’s get the right teacher.” Stepanek represented exactly that kind of teacher. She is organized, prepared, confident, competent, and equipped with “abundant skills as a mentor.”

Empowering All Students

The teachers we work with are also deeply committed to ensuring that all students have opportunities to practice and develop civic skills.

One of our favorite examples is Michelle Argent at the Baltimore Lab School, which serves students with language-based learning disabilities. Argent, a former professional actor and singer, adapted the traditional We the People simulated congressional hearing into a curriculum-based readers theatre performance. Instead of delivering a standard hearing, her fourth graders dressed as revolutionary-era figures and performed a script explaining the causes of the American Revolution, using words, gestures, sound effects, and humor to show their understanding. They then stayed in character as judges asked follow-up questions.

The result was both creative and rigorous. Students answered the core question, “What caused the American Revolution?” while also demonstrating that they could respond to unscripted questions and express their own ideas in front of judges. As Argent reflected afterward, her “goal now is to keep that high-level focus on questioning in the future.”

This commitment to reaching all students was central to the recently completed James Madison Legacy Project Expansion. The grant was designed to improve civic learning opportunities for students with disabilities and English learners through updates to the We the People curriculum and professional learning for teachers. CERL’s evaluation found that students with disabilities and English learners in participating classrooms made significant gains in civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions compared with students in control group classes. Those outcomes reflect the power of a strong curriculum, but they also reflect the skill and commitment of teachers.

At the We the People: National Symposium on Civic Education Research, Alexandria City High School teacher Kirsten von Topel described how the Center’s professional learning network helped her adapt the curriculum for her students. She credited her state coordinator, mentor teachers, and the teachers she met through her summer institute as people she could turn to for ideas, feedback, and support. Her experience illustrates another important lesson that behind every great teacher is a community of other teachers.

During Teacher Appreciation Week, we are grateful for the teachers who make this work possible. They help students see themselves as capable civic actors. They create classrooms where students can think, speak, collaborate, and act as part of a community. They remind us that strong civic education is built not only through curriculum and research, but through the daily work of teachers who bring civic learning to life.

— Patrick McSweeney, PhD - CERL Research Specialist

“We made it!”

A teacher from Montana who learned about We the People just five years ago at the Center for Civic Education’s Presidential and Congressional Academies could not contain his enthusiasm and pride in his students, who were equally jubilant. The hearing room at the We the People National Finals was filled with family and friends who had made the trek across the country to cheer on their team.

Getting to the National Finals is a special journey. It takes a schoolhouse of dedicated teachers, hard-working students, devoted parents, and committed community members.

The students competing in the National Finals represent thousands more in their states who have been taught the We the People curriculum. Working collaboratively in teams corresponding to the six units of the curriculum, students prepare statements addressing questions where they demonstrate their understanding of constitutional principles. Teams testify before a simulated congressional panel of community leaders, government officials, lawyers, academics, members of Congress and their staff, school and district leaders, and civic educators who ask probing follow-up questions. Often hearings are held in schools where students can share their knowledge with peers. To qualify for the National Finals, students compete in district and state-level hearings.

The We the People curriculum does not take a cookie-cutter approach to civic learning. Instead, it encourages individual students to find their own voices and at the same time come together with their team to craft a coherent statement. This is no easy task and takes months of tough preparation. After seeing 24 teams compete at the National Finals, it was clear to me that every team brought a fresh perspective to the material. It was exciting to enter the hearing rooms knowing that I would learn something new. While students demonstrated deep knowledge of American history and the Constitution, they put their own stamp on the material in their prepared statements and responses to follow-up questions.

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I have attended hearings that take place in the classroom and at the district level. We the People teachers, regardless of whether their class participates in National Finals, have the distinct ability to get students to understand and engage with the material while also developing civic and literacy skills. To me, the brief moment when students introduce their teacher prior to their hearing is most memorable. You can feel the gratitude that students feel toward teachers who have gone the extra mile to prepare them for this experience. Along the way, you know that there have been ups and downs, frustration and elation, struggles and victories.

The road to the National Finals can be challenging in unexpected ways. Getting to the National Finals takes considerable effort and dedication from teachers, students, and parents beyond the classroom. The experience of one team sums it all up. We the People teacher and advisor from Wauwatosa West High School in Wisconsin, suffered a heart attack playing pickleball while fundraising for his class. He made it to the National Finals with his team along with a large and very enthusiastic crowd of supporters. Wauwatosa West High School placed fourth overall.

— Dr. Diana Owen, CERL Director and Principal Investigator

This past weekend, 1,090 high school students and 50 teachers from 47 schools from across the country assembled outside of Washington, D.C., to take part in the Center for Civic Education’s We the People National Finals. Students showcased their knowledge of the foundations and institutions of American democracy through rigorous simulated hearings. This annual celebration of educating for democracy was especially meaningful this year as it coincided with the commemoration of the 250^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The Center’s flagship curriculum, We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution, turns 40 next year. The program was developed in 1987 through the Commission on the Bicentennial and was adopted as the principal civic education program of the U.S. Department of Education. We the People is taught in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. It has reached over 30 million students and counting.

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CERL has conducted ongoing research on the impact of We the People since 2014, mostly on students who are high-need or at-risk. The findings consistently show that elementary, middle, and high school students make large, statistically significant gains in core knowledge of America’s founding, government institutions, and political processes. Students learn skills essential for meaningful and effective civic engagement, including how to work in teams, collaborate, and engage in civil discussions. They develop strong literacy skills as they conduct research, work with primary source documents, compose written responses to questions, and make presentations at the simulated hearings. Studies of students who participated in the National Finals by Suzanne Soule (2003) found that We the People students were better informed and had higher rates of political participation and voting than high school seniors, college students, and adults. Over 90% of students who participate in National Finals intend to vote in elections going forward.

I have taught a good number of students who participated in We the People before coming to Georgetown, including a handful who competed in National Finals. They arrive on The Hilltop well-prepared and eager to engage in class and campus life. To a person, they have reflected on We the People as a formative experience that positively influenced their development as citizens and beyond.

We the People students take action when they see a need for positive change. A couple of years ago, I was contacted by Ivy from Incline High School in Nevada. She took part in We the People in both middle and high school and was passionate about the program. Her best friend, who attended school in the neighboring town, did not have the same opportunity due to lack of funding. Ivy conducted research to demonstrate the impact of We the People and presented her findings to the state legislature. The team from Incline High at the National Finals this year was inspired by Ivy. They placed in the top ten.

Coming next week: It Takes a Schoolhouse

— Dr. Diana Owen, CERL Director and Principal Investigator

References

Owen, Diana, and Patrick McSweeney. 2026. James Madison Legacy Project Expansion Program Final Report. Research Report. Washington, D.C.: Civic Education Research Lab, Georgetown University.

Soule, Suzanne. 2003. “We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution Knowledge of and Support for Democratic Institutions and Processes by Participating Students, National Finals 2003,” Center for Civic Education, Calabasas, California.