The 235th anniversary of the Constitution this weekend gives us much to celebrate and much to do to bring the foundations of our democracy to life for youth. In today’s divisive political climate, educators need clarity and leadership from administrators, support from the community and an active partnership with parents in order to foster essential civic skills like media literacy and civil discourse.
Input from the Utah Civic Learning Collaborative’s recent listening tour strongly affirms the need for a more robust approach to civic teaching, one that embraces civic learning opportunities across all academic disciplines and grade levels while ensuring an evidence-based approach to measuring and improving learning outcomes.
Utah educators know the importance of a high-quality civics education, and they have many promising ideas about what that entails; but they are continually hampered by pressures to drive performance in academic areas that are regularly tested. As one administrator noted, “Civics gets less focus than language arts, math, and science because it is not tested. There is no accountability.”
In passing House Bill 273 (Civics Education Amendments) the Utah Legislature made a good start in addressing many challenges described by educators in the listening tour. HB273 included grant funding for evidence-informed local innovations in teaching constitutional and media literacy and academic service learning. In order for this to be successful, school districts across the entire state should be competing for these funds and renewing their commitments to the “civic mission of schools.” But right now, there are glaring inequities between rural and urban districts.
We commend Utah lawmakers for giving Utah a much-needed jump starts on improving civics education. But Utah educators also need to be part of a national conversation about how to prepare young people for civic life. Many school districts need to build the institutional capacity to center civic learning before they can contemplate innovative approaches.
A new federal bill presents that and many other opportunities. The proposed Civics Secures Democracy Act, now before Congress, would invest $1 billion annually into civic education at the local level to truly center civic learning and historical thinking skills in the K-12 experience. Utah would receive a minimum of $3.6 million annually over five years should the CSD Act pass.
Eighty-five percent of the funds allocated to states will be redistributed to local school districts, ensuring that curricular decisions will remain under local control. Best of all, the updated bill is deficit neutral, earning “bonus points” for providing compelling civics lessons in federalism and fiscal stewardship.
Utah educators told us exactly what they need to take civics education to the next level: more direction, more resources, stronger partnerships with academic and nonprofit partners and more support for assessment. These are some of the key priorities of the CSD. The CSD supports learning communities about how to prepare young people for civic life, even the messy parts.
With the HB273 grants program underway, Utah is poised to significantly advance the “civic mission of schools,” but we will only achieve this if we address the crisis of faith in American institutions described by Yuval Levin.
As fans of the “Utah Way,” which brings different perspectives together to find innovative solutions to perplexing problems (civics life at its best!) we’re guessing that most Utahns are displeased with the state of civic life today and want to restore faith in American institutions. There’s a similar spirit animating the CSD. Utah’s congressional leaders should get behind it.
Doug Case
Doug Case is president of Utah Boys State and commander of the American Legion State of Utah.
Judi Hilman
Judi Hilman is facilitator of the Utah Civic Learning Collaborative.
