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Massachusetts, as part of reform that builds civic education into the curriculum each year from Kindergarten through high school, passed a law in 2018 to require that each student be offered an opportunity to participate in a student-led civic engagement project in middle school and in high school. As teachers and schools embark on planning for how the student-led projects will be org…

Library of Congress opens online exhibit: "Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote." Virtual Tour

Library of Congress Announces Reading-Writing Competition Winners - Students in grades 4 to 12 to write to an author about how his or her work affected their lives. 

 “As of last year, I started working with ELL students and have become far more cognizant of vocabulary.  I’ve always taken for granted that students know certain vocabulary words, but now I find myself going over many words and to my surprise, it’s not just ELL kids who benefit from it!”

-Kevin, Spring 2019 Online Accessing Inquiry course participant

Anticipating th…

How can we teach students the most vital skills to function as citizens? Since the early 19th century, preparation for civic life has been the central reason for public schools. As part of a multi-year effort to reinvigorate the civic mission of schools, in 2016 the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) added “readiness for civic life” to its core definition of what i…

“I’ve found that if I pick the right primary sources…[I can make the lesson more accessible]. For example, I just gave some students an evacuation poster (after Order 9066 [–forcing Japanese relocation to camps]) that was selected for its minimal text which was heavy on vocabulary they would know or be able to figure out such as dates and places. I gave other students letters to the editor abo…