Hallmarks of a Burgeoning Field
Let me start by noting five signs I observed at the event that suggest organizations and leaders in the civic education field are poised to make a constructive difference.
The first is the emergence of a powerful and shared framework for what civic education should consist of and do in the years ahead. While multiple sources have informed this framework, the overarching contribution has come from the Educating for American Democracy (EAD) initiative. The promising and sturdy roadmap for civic education that EAD has developed accomplishes several things. It speaks to and integrates both history and civics at all levels of K–12 education. It enables teachers, schools, districts, and states to adapt the framework from the bottom up, avoiding the problems of top-down national mandates. It candidly acknowledges creative tensions and design challenges rather than glossing over or resolving them in ways that work for one constituency but not others. It includes and does justice to the great and the good as well as the bad and ugly parts of our nation’s history—as the vast majority of Americans on both sides of the partisan divide expect civic education to do.
Second, and on a related note, the cross-ideological coalition of civic educators that came together to produce the EAD roadmap and that continues to advance its recommendations may ultimately prove to be as important as the document itself. These leaders include, to name just a few, Danielle Allen of Harvard, Jane Kamensky of Monticello, and Peter Levine of Tufts, all of whom have bona fides on the left, as well as Paul Carrese of Arizona State University, Checker Finn of the Fordham Institute, and David Bobb of the Bill of Rights Institute, who have equally strong reputations on the right. Having diverse leaders of this caliber continue to champion the vision of civic education that they share sends a powerful message to potential skeptics who might otherwise subject it to a crossfire from their ideological foxholes.
Third, involving civic educators working in higher education has brought additional substantive credibility and insight as well as fresh thinking to the field. Alongside the university-based scholars noted above who are participating in EAD, my AEI colleagues Benjamin and Jenna Storey are making a timely contribution through their work to develop and expand the emerging field of civic thought and university-based centers and programs that are nurturing it. The Jack Miller Center is another key institution on the center-right that is supporting research and teaching on America’s founding principles and history in post-secondary education. The efforts of these leaders and groups, and the scholars they have enlisted, are improving civic thought and education not only at the university level but also, increasingly, in K–12 education.
Fourth, in an emergent development, theorists and practitioners in the field are seeing civic learning in formal educational settings as one component in a broader system of civic formation. This system includes extracurricular activities like debating clubs, political unions, and student exchanges; programs developed by enterprising libraries and museums; community, state, and national service opportunities; military service and veterans’ groups. Pulling the camera back even more, civic formation also includes the lessons young people learn and the examples they observe in the families and neighborhoods in which they grow up.
Social entrepreneurs and innovative funders have joined forces to start all sorts of nonprofits and programs that spur these broader patterns of civic formation. An especially compelling example is the National Civics Bee, an annual competition for middle schoolers “to enhance civic literacy, skills, and participation.” The Civics Bee is hosted by The Civic Trust and is underwritten by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and the Daniels Fund, among other supporters. The Civics Bee dissolves the apparent yet ultimately false dichotomy between acquiring deep content knowledge and action-oriented—dare we say fun?—civic learning. It enables students to opt in and go as far as they can based on their interest and dedication without having to rely on schools or teachers who may not be interested or up to the task. And it is intergenerational, involving the parents and grandparents driving the kids to these competitions and participating along with them in the audience.
Fifth, this rapidly growing field has been supported by iCivics’ ongoing work as the backbone organization supporting nonprofits and civic educators working within it. iCivics enables progress in the field in a number of different ways—for example, by orchestrating the EAD process, hosting CivxNow (the state-level policy advocate for the field), and raising money to support common projects and public goods that other groups can take advantage of, such as Civic Learning Week. Like all good field catalysts, iCivics is helping the whole become much more than the sum of its parts.
Taken together, these five signs represent the good news for civic education. The bad news is that there is currently not enough far-sighted philanthropy flowing into the field to realize its promise, especially given the recent cutbacks and upheaval in federal funding. Stalwarts like the Carnegie Corporation, the Hewlett and Stuart foundations, the Daniels Fund, and the Jack Miller Family Foundation are notable exceptions that prove the rule.
