Questions of how to support students in conversation across and about different perspectives regularly appear in discussions about civic engagement. Students with clear political positions and a desire to engage with political institutions, however, are themselves a rarified group on many campuses. The gulf between students who seek to engage…

This fictional case presents the challenges school districts face when developing a new curriculum. After the school board voted to create a global studies program at Northern High School, the social studies supervisor had the responsibility of designing and implementing the curriculum. With only a few months to implement the curriculum, the…

The 19th Amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920, a year after being passed by Congress. It extended the right to vote to many women, but not all. Excluded from this landmark constitutional victory were women like Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, who was born in Guangzhou (then Canton), China, in 1896, but who immigrated to New York as a child. From 1882 to…

College campuses have taken on increased responsibility for mobilizing young voters. Despite the discipline's commitment to civic engagement, political science departments play a minimal role in this programming. This article outlines a course structure--including learning objectives, course outline, and assessments--that treats a campus-wide…

During the 2016 election season, the authors--a collection of staff, faculty, and students at a rural, four-year comprehensive college--piloted a new format for a student-driven, campus-wide, nonpartisan voter mobilization campaign anchored in a political science course and supported by a credit-bearing internship and advanced graphic design…

At a time when voters are keenly focused on the cost of living, housing affordability has become a hot political issue in many parts of the country, including New York State. Policymakers, grappling with what they can do to make housing more affordable, are actively seeking to reform longstanding local exclusionary zoning laws, policies that…

Classroom voting can be an effective way to stimulate student discussions. In this pedagogy, the instructor poses a multiple-choice question to the class, and then allows a few minutes for consideration and small-group discussion before students vote, either with clickers, cell phones, or a non-electronic method. After the vote the instructor…

For over a decade, students and parents in New York City have organized in coalitions across boroughs to fight for an equitable, just school system for all public school students. In a time when the Department of Education (DOE) centralized all power in the hands of one mayor and one schools chancellor, the Urban Youth Collaborative (UYC) and the…

This article presents what the authors consider to be the ten top websites for teaching about issues in the election season. These include: (1) The Annenberg Political Fact Check--a non-partisan organization that assesses the accuracy of candidates' information in ads, speeches, and debates; (2) The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Ads…

This article examines voting results for school district budgets in New York from 2003-2010. Despite annual local property tax increases, 91.9% of proposed school district budgets were approved by voters during the period examined. Using data from the New York State Education Department (NYSED) and the American Community Survey (ACS), several…

Despite the recent turmoil in the U.S. economy, most libraries that were tracked by "Library Journal" won their referenda at a rate just slightly lower than 2007. Nearly three-quarters of operating referenda passed. Building referenda under $10 million passed at a whopping 85%, with those over $10 million batting slightly better than…

The core purpose of the Interstate Survey series is to survey statistically representative statewide samples and report the "levels" and "gaps" of voter opinion, knowledge, and awareness when it comes to K-12 education and school choice reforms--particularly with respect to state performance, education spending, graduation…

Following reports of irregularities in the May 1973 school board elections of New York City, the New York Commissioner of Education asked the author to identify the difficulties encountered by the voters and candidates, on both election day and in the period for registration and nomination which preceded it, and to recommend such changes in the…

Maintains that the expansion of voting rights to African Americans and women is an appropriate topic for Social Studies courses. Discusses suffrage in New York state between 1848 and 1920. Includes a table depicting the women's suffrage campaign in New York state and a list of other resources on the topic. (CFR)

The stated purpose of this article is to report new findings from the New York City suburban area which confirm the importance of favorable attitudes toward integration to financial support for integrated public education: 211 parents having the majority of their school-aged children in public schools in Westchester County were interviewed.…