Describes Lawton (Michigan) Elementary School's "Road to Success" program, which emerged from concern for students' knowledge of civics and ability to participate as effective citizens. Explains that an important aspect of the program is its focus on Core Democratic Values. (CMK)

Describes the Comprehensive Social Studies Assessment Project (CSSAP), a collaborative effort by 23 states aiming to develop assessments for upper elementary, middle, and high school students in history, geography, civics, and economics. Explains that CSSAP aims to initiate a professional development program, implement a portfolio assessment, and…

Analyzes six U.S. civics and history textbooks used in grades seven through nine to determine what messages these texts convey to young people about the nature of civic life. Explores the results in three sections: (1) learning about the nature of democracy; (2) national identity and loyalty; and (3) diversity. (CMK)

Presents the historical development of civic and moral education from the perspective of five periods. Addresses the differences in political ideology and the relationship to civic and moral education. Discusses the three types of responses to the controversy of character education content and issues related to methods in character education. (CMK)

Reports on the changes, and the process of how the changes occurred, in the social studies core curriculum within the Gateway School District, located outside the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Focuses on the creation of the integrated U.S. and world history courses. Includes the curriculum themes and topics. (CMK)

This article relates the experiences of a fifth-grade teacher who was determined to find a creative way to engage her students in civic life. The educational standards in her state (Washington) required that fifth graders learn about the basic structure and work of government at the state and federal level. Realizing that students tend to enjoy…

As a multicultural nation with aspirations to an international peacekeeping role, Canada makes an interesting context in which to study global citizenship education. This article is based on research conducted in Ontario schools. It examines how individual teachers have prioritized global citizenship issues in their teaching, in the context of…

Oratory is now gone and is virtually an anachronism. And by the same token, declamation has lost its place in the prevailing pedagogy. To memorize a speech and deliver it expressively is a throwback, a relic of an earlier century. In an era when individuals, and pluralism reign, memorizing and reciting a speech is often dismissed as mechanical,…

This article features Project 540, a national civic education program directly engaging high-schoolers in the democratic process. Project 540 is a dynamic and moving initiative that brings students full-circle to produce civic action plans based on what their school and community have to offer. The author emphasizes that civic participation based…

In this article, the author discusses viewpoints on civic education reforms postulated in "Where Did Social Studies Go Wrong?," a book published by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. The book begins with a legitimate concern about the need to educate youth to care about political life; a noble mission, dating at least to the Greeks.…

This study incorporates the perspective of deliberative democracy in proposing a framework for evaluating relationships between civic education and political development. Findings support a conception of deliberative learning as a process in which interactive curricula result in the diffusion of discursive inclinations to families and peer groups.…

It is no secret that schools do what they can to teach citizenship. It is perhaps not so well known, except to specialists, that citizenship is a much contested concept once one gets beyond its basic definition as membership in a recognized sovereign state. Historical struggles and political debates over its meaning have made citizenship an arena…

Whether they are learning about long division, Longfellow or a long-lost civilization, students often want to know how the subjects they are studying will help them in "real life." One of the primary responsibilities of teachers is to prepare students for "real life" as informed, engaged and inquisitive citizens. A great way to cultivate these…

Researchers have been studying children's knowledge, thinking, and attitudes about government for several decades. However, the studies focusing on elementary students, and especially primary students, have little or nothing to say about children's ideas about democracy or democratic government. That is because children at these ages have not yet…

Using panel data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS), this study empirically analyzes the relationship between two forms of civic engagement--student government and community service--and educational progress made after the eighth grade by addressing the following questions. Does civic engagement affect academic progress…