Civics

Internet Sites:

• Justice Learning
Justice Learning is an innovative, issue-based approach for engaging high school students in informed political discourse. The web site uses audio from the Justice Talking radio show and articles from The New York Times to teach students about reasoned debate and the often-conflicting values inherent in our democracy.
http://www.justicelearning.org/teachingmaterials.asp

• The Civic Mission of Schools
Written and endorsed by a distinguished and diverse group of more than 50 scholars and practitioners, The Civic Mission of Schools summarizes the evidence in favor of civic education in k-12 schools; analyzes trends in political and civic engagement; identifies promising approaches to civic education; and offers recommendations to educators, policymakers, funders, researchers, and others.
http://www.civicmissionofschools.org/

• Justice Learning: Civic Education in the Real World
A collaboration of NPR’s Justice Talking and The New York Times Learning Network, Justice Learning is an innovative, issue-based approach for engaging high school students in informed political discourse.
http://www.justicelearning.org

• The Role of Civic Education
This paper defines civic education, the essential components, where and how it takes place, the need to improve, and the relationship between civic education and character education.
http://www.civiced.org/articles_role.html

• Civic Education: Recent History, Current Status, and the Future
This paper was presented at the American Bar Association Symposium, “Public Perception and Understanding of the Justice System,” Washington, D.C., February 25-26, 1999, by Charles N. Quigley, executive director of the Center for Civic Education.
http://www.civiced.org/papers_quigley99.html

• The Nation’s Report Card – Civics
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) regularly reports to the public on the educational progress of students in grades 4, 8, and 12. This site provides a link to the 1998 Civics results.
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/civics/

• National Standards for Civics and Government
Voluntary “National Standards for Civics and Government” for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade developed by the Center for Civic Education. More than three thousand teachers, scholars, parents, elected officials, and representatives of business and industry contributed to the Standards’ development.
http://www.civiced.org/stds.html

• IEA Civic Education Study
“Researchers surveyed nearly 90,000 14-year-old students in 28 countries during the second phase of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement’s CivicEducation Study.” There is a link to the pdf version of the first results in the Publications and Reports IEA section.
http://www.wam.umd.edu/~iea/

• CIVNET: International Resource for Civic Education and Civic Society
Includes a bi-monthly journal on civic society and resources for civic education practitioners.
http://civnet.org/frameset.htm

• Civics Online
“A collaborative, online project providing a rich array of primary sources, professional development tools, and interactive activities to help in the teaching of civics.”
http://civics-online.org/

• Facing History and Ourselves
National educational organization devoted to engaging students of diverse backgrounds in civic education.
http://www.facinghistory.org/facing/fhao2.nsf

• ABA Division for Public Education — K-12 Youth Education
“The schools program of the ABA Division for Public Education actively promotes partnerships among educators, legal professionals and others interested in educating children about the law and citizenship”.
http://www.abanet.org/publiced/youth/home.html

• The Death Penalty Curricula for High School
Individual state laws determine whether and how the death penalty is used in each state. Your students can explore history, law, state by state data, arguments for and against the “ultimate punishment”, and actual courtroom cases. This site includes teacher overviews and lesson plans for high school civics.
Teacher Edition: http://teacher.deathpenaltyinfo.msu.edu/
Student Edition: http://deathpenaltyinfo.msu.edu/

• ERIC Digest – The Concept of Citizenship in Education for Democracy (1999)
http://www.ericfacility.net/ericdigests/ed432532.html

• ERIC Digest – Education for Engagement in Civil Society and Government (1998)
http://www.ericfacility.net/ericdigests/ed423211.html

• ERIC Digest – Civic Education for Constitutional Democracy: An International Perspective (1995)
http://www.ericfacility.net/ericdigests/ed390781.html

Organizations:

• Center for Civic Education
5146 Douglas Fir Rd.
Calabasas, CA, 91302-1467
Phone: 818-591-9321
Fax: 818-591-9330
Email: cce@civiced.org
http://www.civiced.org/

• Youth Leadership Initiative
“The Youth Leadership Initiative is a national citizenship education and engagement program designed to involve students in the American electoral and policymaking process.”
2400 Old Ivy Road
PO Box 400806
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904
Toll-free: 1-866-514-8389
Phone: (434) 243-8468
Fax: (434) 243-8467
http://www.youthleadership.net

• Close Up Foundation
44 Canal Center Plaza
Alexandria, VA 22314-1592
Toll-free: 1-800-CLOSE UP (256-7387)
TTY: 800-336-2167
http://www.closeup.org/home.htm

• Constitutional Rights Foundation
601 South Kingsley Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90005
Phone: (213) 487-5590
Fax (213) 386-0459
http://www.crf-usa.org/

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