The
Campaign for the Civic Mission Schools was created to expand and
improve civic learning in our schools, grades K-12. The Campaign
works with its 40 coalition partners, the Campaign's Steering
Committee, to bring about changes in state, local, and national
policy that promote civic learning and implement the
recommendations in the Civic Mission of
Schools report, published in 2003 by Carnegie Corporation of
New York and CIRCLE (Center for Information and Research on civic
Learning and Engagement at the University of Maryland). The report
reflects a broad consensus among scholars and practitioners that
most young Americans have a poor understanding of representative
democracy and their role in it and that the schools need to play a
major role.
The Campaign's initial phase is five years. It
operates on two advocacy tracks: national and state.
On its national advocacy track, the
Campaign
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Brings national attention to the importance
of improving civic learning in our schools |
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Encourages the federal government to
allocate the creation of stronger policies and increase funding to
the states for civic education |
| • |
Advocates for more effective school reform
based on active student engagement in their schools and
communities |
| • |
Works to improve the National Assessment of Educational
Progress civic assessments by testing a larger sample of
students |
| • |
Heightens awareness of the need to close the civic learning
achievement gap |
On its state advocacy track, the
Campaign
| • |
Develops communications tools to support
state advocacy |
| • |
Makes a comprehensive set of civic learning
resource and practices available online |
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Provided two years of funding for eighteen
state coalitions, and provided technical assistance to strengthen
their states' civic learning policies |
| • |
Persuades state legislators, education
officials, teachers, business and community leaders, parents and
students that civic learning is vital to the health of our
democracy |
The Campaign is Hosted by the National Council for the Social Studies. Funding for the Campaign comes from
Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John S. and James L.
Knight Foundation, the Annenberg Foundation, the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation, and the Ford Foundation.
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