Transcripts For CSPAN2 Civics 20240705

Our next panel explore one of the most Critical Issues facing, president ial and Historic Sites today, the state of civics ihistory, education. Now it is my privilege to introduce our moderator and Julie Silverbrook senior director of partnerships and i civics. Joining her on stage is joni albrecht, director of the John Marshall center for Virginia Museum history and culture jay barth, director of the william j. Clinton president ial library and ohn bridgeland cochaired ceo move perfect and former director white house domestic policy l kaufman associate Department Director and Senior Researcher for rand. Please join me in welcoming our. Matt, thank you so much for wonderful introduction. Were going to dig right in to this ask this first question, which civics and history are two sides of the same relationship between the two . Well i think you put it well. They are the two sides of the same coin. I think they really Work Together. Maybe like gears one drives the other. I think one way that we look at itJohn Marshall center is that history really answers the why of civics. We look backwards to see how we govern and form communities today. And i think thats so important. And then i think civics answers the why does it matter now of y . And thats probably our biggest challenge is making history relevant . But civics can provide that. So weve just joined a museum. Were. And thats kind of what we do all of our lessons is really make that connection and i do find that thats where students also can place themselves. When you do connect to the now to the jd you want to weigh in on that and in particular, you know how that at the at the clinton library. Yeah, i mean, i think its well put might frame it just slightly differently is i think that for comprehensive civics youve really got to the the the where where it came from whether it was the founding period and the founding documents or whether its the civil war era and the the civil war amendments whether its the the changes expansions of rights that we see, the Womens Movement and the civil rights movement, the lgbtq movement. So but then that has to connect how it works, right . How those and how those rights have expanded over time. And then that Civics Knowledge is is created. Then there is the connection to Civic Engagement, right . Helping young people and people of all ages figure out what their skills and talents as citizens and make, putting those to use and. Thats that is where the real magic of civics happened is when you have civic now. So so acknowledge meaning, Civic Engagement and thats what were we try to do and partner a lot with the Clinton Foundation. Every program we do is collaborative at at the clinton president ial center. We take the lead more on the Civics Knowledge side they take a little bit more the lead on the Civic Engagement side, especially with with young people as. They develop their their skills. But thats ther with our ultimate of creating a more healthy arkansas, because thats where were located and thats where president clinton, i think really cares so deeply about continuing to make a better place. Great. John, you guys want to weigh in on this . Sure. History. I just want first thank Anita Mcbride and stuart mclaren. And this is the best organized summit i think ive ever been to. And grace mccaffrey for this panel. Just to build on what was said, you know, a democracy of all t on a welleducated and the founders actually worried a lot, you know, these men and women of enlightenment that a system so heavily predicated rights future generations would neglect their duties. And while theres no federal right to an education, the u. S. Consti single constitution, including the massachusetts constitution which predated our federal constitution by a decade put Civic Education at the center of the inquiry. And interestingly not just civic learning, but history. The humanities, arts, literature. And so i feel like history civics, you know, they breathe life each other. I mean, were moving toward the 250th anniversary of the declaration of independence in 2026. And so ive been rereading do celebrar at the bicentennial. One of the ones i found most inspiring was a piece by mortimer called we hold these truths. And in it it says, you most americans dont recognize any of the democ racy citizen, not president , not governor, not senators. Actually, the highest office in the land. And this notion that jeffrey and talked about the pursuit of happiness with a capital h wasnt an individual right, but a cooperative enterprise. We help one another achieve. And our communities andry are better for it. And when i was in the white house after 911 and the president asked me to create this initiative, and i looke how you know, Young Students doing on civics and history and in fact we didnt collect data on high schools mostly eighth graders. It was and that was 20 years ago when there werent the threats ocracy. We see today. So i think its fundamental. You have an understanding of democratic norms, values and institutions, but also where weve been as a country, the Great Stories that can inspire people to be great citizens in those great moments that che and others touched on. And i think of it as more from research perspective. I think about an outcome like Civic Engagement and how you need both Civics Knowledge schools. So im a School Researcher primarily, an education researcher, so you need that civics from about how our government works, what it means to live in a. But then, of course, you need the history to really feel like Civic Engagement is a deep value issue for you. So for example voting, thinking about voting as a piece of Civic Engagement, you need to not only know that our Founding Fathers fought for that right, butls the 19th amendment and womens and how hard fought it was for to gain that right to vote. And then the voter rights act of 1965 that outlawed discrimination or discriminatory acts against voting africanamericans who were trying to vote. So thinking about all of that really places a deep value on your own Civic Engagement. And so thats just one example of howgether to get you to that part where engaging civically and feel like youre really a citizen of this democracy. Well you guys have all teed up the next question so beautifully, which is for both civics and History Education often asked to what end, right . Are we creating a generation of citizen scholars . Maybe, maybe, maybe some of them will go on to do that. But really, we are creating the next generation of. So i want to talk a little bit about how in your work you have been able to history and civic to effectively inspire Civic Engagement. If you give, you know, particular examples from what your institutions have or efforts that youve been a part of. Jt what . I yeah, so i would say the library is one of the, National Archives of president ial libraries and together we of course, all share a common program, which is civics for all of us. And that a program that is primarily delivered, virtually and that has a lot of commonality to it than we all do our own local, much more nuanced programing as well. But in one of those civics for all of us programs which is of secondary level one is focused on the bill of rights. Theres this, you know, really great focus on a handful of of cases that end up at the u. S. Court that really, really show a lot of things about the democratic experience and they really focus on the case of fred kore case, the case of of of gideon, in terms and then a final case that really focuses on the gag rule and and its role in limiting voice, reproductive choices and all those cases, there this kind of deep dive into the history. Each of those things. It also then sws that, you know oftentimes justice or, some form of justice is dramatically delayed, that this is not an immediate win in a lot of cases. And i think thats a crucially important part of the understanding of civics, especially at the secondary level in that, you know, young people really need to that this these are often ongoing. There are there are there there are battles in all these institutions and these these battle bill of rights issues, they deal with all the different institutions of government. And i think thats a really great example of of the linkage between history and a very real high quality civic, Civic Education program. Johnny, this is, of course, what you guys do every single day. It is, yeah. So we we prioritize schools and and districts that have higher than average free reduced lunch qualification and lower than average so well rate for social studies and history. And so that places u1s oftentimes times in very underserved schools that probably dont have a dedicated civics or government d what try to do our best program that we offer, i think is six weeks in in time with students and we offer segments on civility thats called bridges. We do something called serve, which takes a piece of pop culture or a current event. We put a Historical Context around it. And then the constitu and and civics is really the through line. So it does end in a call to action. And that call to action might be something you alluded to is just you looking inside and finding where your place in the on it doesnt necessarily mean youre to make the decision to run for office office. But on the you know, how we find success and that is when you see a student who a marginalized student finding themselves in the constitution themselves in the democratic process, maybe for the first time is so rewarding. And, you know, we arerying to scale that up and, up and up. And i think all of us are that its its were all you know, in that same arena with that trying to i would say thats our goal is trying to have discover themselves as being a part of it and owning it is theirs. So talk about this we do this that isofix everything sort of student centered right . So youre youre putting the student in the drivers seat. Thats certainly what we do with our games, which i think were best known for. But we have lots of other resources and really the motivation is for that student to unpack, to learn and then to to engage how they see fit. So can you give us an example of a student centered program or resource and job great to to loop back you and then john has a particular initiative i want to talk about that was involved in well this is not very granular granular we start so we also do a segment on mock trial how to teaching the you principles of debate and usually the students start with debating the best fast how do that and so were building on something thats really close to home and something that they quite passionate about and. Then throughout the week, you knowind of gaining in their confidence and in their strategic skills. And then the last we debate something that has come up thats an actual issue america and our one of our most recent was going from fast food to debating lifetime of supremeurt justices. So it was great to leave with a big lead, but they went and it was really wonderful to see. They felt that they had a voice in that issue. Thats great. Yeah, we have a one that is grounded more were historically and are beginning to build out this series. But the one the one that we have thats been very successful was about whether whether the United States should have engaged in kosovo, obviously was a key decision in the clinton administration. And so we have a nice tight historical understanding of those events, key decisions. And then then students are really grouped, broken into groups to think about the variety of options and are the right paths and and the students come out conversation points about what should be done to say there was no there was no good decision here. There are always costs that come with this. But its a really great great example and it does then for students to engage in deep conversation that comes back to some of their own, but their own in local skills about this shared set of facts, which i think is a really thing, is that we have some consensus, and thats a crucial part of think a healthy democracy and the kind of democracy i think we would all like to have. So thats a thats a good example. Were going to build that out. Weve got one actually in the process now on the 1983 budget reconciliation and package were a key early economic decision. And in that case were working with economics to take that into two classes in the state. Model that i think plays very and obviously other president ial libraries other presi that. The Truman Library has an amazing decision room program as well, but i think those are those are reallyowerful tools. And i think they really make difference in students lives and bring this stuff life. Yeah. And i think also review the complexity of Decision Making and that a lot of times Decision Makers in our country throughout our history have been put in a position where they have to choose the less, less bad or least option available. And i think thats really thats a real mindset shift for young people in particular. John i that you organized an effort at the house that put the teaching of American History and Civic Education back at the center of our national priorities. Can you tell us about that effort and its continuing relevance today . Love listening though. I think we need to resurrect the 1993 budget negotiation learnings for the current environment. I remember with bob kerrey and people on a bipartisan basis in the congress, it was nothing short of heroic. So interestingly, after 911 i was in the oval office actually. We were spending with Anita Mcbride and others in the room you know, three, thremee tidomestic policy completely shifted from you know, working on education immigration comprehensive Immigration Reform with kennedy and a whole host of domestic issues to, you know worrying about curbside check in and arming pilots and the cockpit. But a week later, was in the oval office and the president said bridge, want you to create an initiative. And these his words that will foster a culture of service and responsibility. And in addition to growing these National Service programs, kennedys peace corps, clintons americorps, nixon senior, johnsons vista and creating a new National Service and volunteer infrastructure particularly to respond to disaster of all kinds. And there was an explosion in the country of of and goodness and decency. I looked at the needs scores and they were and i thought, well, you cant have citizenship and responsibility without american and Civic Education. So we first person i called was historian david mccullough, who became a really friend, he and rosalie. And he had written a book on john adams and of course, truman and others ando . What do you recommend . He said, um, train teachers and them at the president ial sites around the United States. I want them to go braintree, massachusetts, and learn about adams. The force that he was the force bigail was he was the driver of american independence. And my reaction to them was, oh my god, david, that was my civic spark. When i was 16 years old, my American Government teacher, jim powers in my American History, teacher john ellis, and i still keep in touch with jim powtook our classes talked about the merger civics in history. The hodge kentucky. I grew up in cincinnati, birthplace of Abraham Lincoln and then down to knob creek just down the road. And then we didnt go to pigeon creek farm in indiana or springfield. But we learned about them and. I said, you know, we learned that Abraham Lincoln was a 16 year old kid. He had eight massive decisions payments and losing office or nominations so. He lost his sweetheart. He had a depressive breakdown that caused to go to bed for six months. Failure after failure towards success. And yet became one of our greatest president s. And it it david was right it humor nice to the civic and historic story a way and it inspired then the other thing we learned we read gettysburg address and the two inaugural addresses on the on the way back if you can imagine that with different students reading different passages and ill never forget not since mcpherson was, the speechwriter for bush and ted sorensen for kennedy the spine tingling feeling i got reading those words and learning that lincoln had studied the bible and. One room cabin, and it inspired me public service. And so anyway, quickly after night and 911, we created a pretty massive American History and Civic Education initiative, a rose garden ceremony with ted kennedy, Lamar Alexander robert, who was mandating the reading of the constitution in the declaration of independence and constitution and day, which we quietly supported mandates are tough. We also made a 100 Million Investment through the National Endowment for the humanities and something called we the people that provided grants for president ial academies and teachers come in for two weeks heummer to be inspired by and learn about these places connected to president ial and other Historic Sites. And they made very large investments through the education for like the center for Civic Education the we the people program, some extraordinary programs that had a decent base. And the final thing did sorry this has been long was i went see Jim Billington the librarian congss and i said its difficult in a political environment to be Civic Education. Like whos education and what are you teaching . And theres always chatter and its worse today. And he said, you should have students read the original declaration of independence with what cuts struck and what cutting edited in put them in the original debate and let them have the inquiry and the debate. Archives, the library of congress, we launched something our documents, which was a 100 milestone documents from the resolution through the Voting Rights act of 1964. And it became the most popular program, the National Archives put forth and. It sort of sidestepped the political trauma, and it connected kids to the original record of American History in ways that i think made a difference. Long. Sorry, our documents are still online. The Constitution Day mandate still exists that its unconstitutional. I, like we just celebrated constitution ii and. So so thats great. I john and thank you for everything that you did to bring that to the fore and well circle back because i youre doing a lot now to this effort a. Again, before we go there, i do want to talk to julia, about your research about how educators are approaching education and in particular, how this work is complicated by the current and ever changing environment. Yeah. And then were all going to exit stage right . We dont want to take anymore. Ill just talk about about data yet. You know, i think the data by and large us that teachers need you all they need you so much you all have all this deep expertise in history and civics. And what we know from asking teachers what theyre doing in the classroom is that therprobably classrooms where kids are getting amazing Civics Education from teachers that care deeply it and have had some kind of preparation. But there are also certainly some where no one is getting Civic Education and. So thats just a really important trend to keep mind when we ask teachers about the most important aims for Civic Education that they have, there is no broad agreement. I think that the top one that 66 of teachers choose is independent and critical thinking. So thats good. Thats thats but only 23 reported promoting knowledge of civic political and social institutions. So theres just theres no broad agreement. And in addition, when teachers approach Civics Education, theyre given any support. You know, about a quarter of elementary nor a third of elementary principals and about a quarter of elementary secondary sorry, secondary principals that teachers get no curriculum materials for teaching, social studies none. So it becomes highly on the teacher and their knowledge and their moti places. I civics are amazing places that they can go and look for resources institutions like your own amazing and providing that support but their teachers need more and they need it at a scale that right now is just impossible to attain in the United States. Its so critically important. Right. So big part of what doing it is civics through will and that vreld of Civic Education called civics now is to reprise authorities Civic Education. So to make sure there are actually courses that require. Right. Theres a requirement that you get civics and history elementary middle and high school. Ideally, its longer than a semester right and that were providing that theres funding being provided to districts for professional development. How many people in this room provide learning professional development to teachers through their institutions . In part, its critically important work and teachers need more support. The onus has been on educators for so long to go find resources. Workforce. Civics early. I think Sandra Day Oconnor something to do with that i but you know, it was such a teacher driven up growth for i civics and thats really important and theres really important lessons to draw from that but it shouldnt be that the burden is on the teacher right. It should be easier for educators know the number of people in this room, number of people on the stage have, amazing resources on site resources, online resources that are free or low costs that they can avail themselves of. So be great journey and jt hear some of those i resources and opportunities and how youre navigating all of that in an increasingly complex political environment where if were being candid the culture war is squarely within our schools, which is historically where culture wars. I tend to be fought out in our schools, in the media. Now in 2023, online. Hmm. Yeah. So i will start by saying all of our resources are free all the time. So we do prioritize those under resourced, but any school that comes our way, we do try to serve them. So i guess would start by talking a little bit about the political arena and just our educators right now and i do think that institutions like ours have a real role to somewhat objective. Were outside of the school and while were aware of all of the that might be put on our curriculum, there is a little bit of separation. So weve seen an uptake for sure in our uptick in collaboration with educators talking about how we design our resources. It is the very same that you mentioned. Its talking to educators. First, we dont want to compete with we want to help them theyre asked to do more with less money and less time than ever before. And so we definitely dont want to add another burden on to them. So we actua delivery. Want google slides because theyre device agnostic and every student can use them on a junky laptop or on a phone or at home. So were just listening to the schools and trying to give them what they want. One of those things was we do have big full curriculum that is really rule of law centered, but wanted something that they could more bite sized chunks. And one of our new resources pop civ does that thats the pop culture current event resource. And then just real quickly on the the political arena, i think, you know, we just try to protect our space and make it free of politics. So do that by engaging multiple sides of of a viewpoint. Thats one tactic we use our probably primary and i know everyone will agree on this is we just get kids into the primary documents much as possible and we create interactive google slides. So it seems very low tech, but it works where theyre actually, you know, getting into the document and feeling like it but like again, that it belongs to them. Is theirs. Yeah. Yeah. I think thats all perfect. I do think that this this moment is one where all all of our president ial sites are very different in terms of what what level of freedom. We do have some some because of Funding Sources may feel very constrained especially in ce of our country. Others may have a lot more freedom. And i think the degree to which we have freedom, we have a responsibility to up and provide support, high quality accurate support, grounded in evidence especially primary documents, so that teachers can really be their best. And but we certainly seen we rely a lot upon partnerships with with other agencies other entities and some of those partners are really feel very shackled right now terms of their ability to provide information, especially because in many of our states. New laws have been we dont yet know what what the scope of those laws the easiest thing is to just hunker down and be quiet. I think that we to the greatest we cant be reckless, but to the greatest degree possible, weve got to go the other direction. Lean in and say we have this responsibility to do well, do this right. And now more t ever great that. I love what jesus because i think that when we gather data from teachers about how they dealing or noting limits to topics that can teach in the classroom oftentimes is that they stop addressing any that they think could possibly be controversial or make people. I mean, history has a lot uncomfortable moments. Its really hard for a teacher navigate. So what youre doing to help teachers actually figure out what feels good to teach in the classroom what is important and critical to teach that really critical to helping us make sure that everything that needs to be addressed in classrooms, is addressed because otherwise students could get nothing. You know, were hearing this too, educators who feel that its not safe, appropriate or even legal for them to address issues within the classroom. And so they just dont talk about it at all. And when we get inquiries like this, i point back to their state standards, which actually so this is the real tricky thing. Educators is their state standards this. And then there is legislation that sort of cabins the way in they can teach us. And thats why i think its so critically important if you have access to teachers either through Development Programs that youre hosting, you have access to teachers because theyre bringing folks, you know, their kids to your site, talk to them. Its so critically important to meet teachers where they are and the demands on teachers very different across all states. But, you know, theres a lot we can talk about on this. And i imagine that were going to get some questions. So i want to talk something that johns doingal unifying at a moment where the country feels really so. Can you tell us a little bit about the more initiative . I know a lot of the president ial centers in the room i civics as part of this you have over 100 partners. Can you tell us about the more perfect initiative where Civic Education fits into overall goals of that initiative . Sure. Just for context is, you know, anita and i Work Together 911 on this white house summit on democratic renewal and. We had to bring over president vera vico berger from latvia to talk about what it was like to live a country with the absence the rule of law, free press, free speech, etc. Because americans took democracy for granted, sort of like a wake up call. And i got this call from Justice Anthony kennedy. It seems like the Supreme Court justice there are always at the Center Including at the state levels to civic renewal. And he and he said, i am so alarmed by what im hearing. College campuses, im starting a program at the aba called dialog on freedom, where students crash land in a country called quest doesnt have any of the democratic norms values, institute them context of why these things are so important and valuable to protect. Now, fast forward 20 years later its day we see it. And so encouraged by a few folks who are affiliated with the president ial centers and condi rice and others. Weve pulled together something more perfect. You we struggle toward a more Perfect Union and remarkably, because the great people like tina, i see from the obama foundation, theyll be jay and stephanie, jay clinton and david at bush all 14 president ial centers come together, together with the National Archives foundation, the corporation for public broadcasting, which still has a lot of trust in local communities public media stations. Melody barnes is Karsh Institute of democracy at uva and. Over 100 partners. And its not rhetorical thing that the big idea is to advance five concrete democracy just like the world has is advanced Sustainable Development with some good effects and quickly civic learning is first and foremost. If young people dont understand democratic norms, values and institutions. In fact, adults dont understand those we actually see that playing out today in our institutions. Its alarming. The second is a rite of passage as you come of age to do a year or more of service or significant volunteering, learn how to work. General mcchrystal is one of our cochairs and he said through his 34 years in the us army that what the military did for him more than anything was bring people together across race ethnicity, background, income level, politics in shared common enterprise. We dont have that, you know, we get taxed. But thats not a enterprise. We vote thats an isolated voting stations a year or more of National Service would be a coming and congratulations to president clinton and, stephanie st and jay for the 30th anniversary of americorps coming. The ththeres whole movement afoot of all these organizations that are working across politics to get people solving problems together. And were trying to fuel that. Fourth is truste elections and Effective Governance so people enter a system thats fair and representing one of my favorite people was ruth ginsburg. Thats small little and with just an extraordinary heart and mind said, you know kids out of know we started out with such division. Yeah blacks American Indians men without property and women works included basically from you know being represented in our system. And yet constitution created a framework us to act together and do extraordinary things together. Were the country, the Founding National park system, the civil rights movement, the moonshot. Why dont we get back to that spirit in the final democracy goal . Is the one that president obama talked so eloquently about in our surveys show the american pe most worried about, which is access to trusted news and information. Ill just end this because it the country needs to do bold, audacious things, invest in their democracy. So with john paul for you the macarthur organized organized 21 other philanthropies theyre making a 500 Million Investment to revitalize local news in the United States because local news has been called democracys immune system. Without it, you know, you cant ferret out political corruption, dont have Civic Engagement. You cant even get about emergencies on and on and on. And thats exactly kind of spirit. We had this amazing with boeing. And i want to thank Sherry Carter and betsy martin and others on civic learning just yesterday. We want to bring that same to the other for democracy calls. So the kind of programs you hear, the kind of programs you have in the audience, you know were put on because if we dont have a healthy democracy where were not going to be america possible anymore, yeah, thats great. Its amazing. Collaborative partners that youve put together. I civics is really to be a p topic collaboration i want to pose two to the group and maybe ill start with you because you mentioned partnerships. How can organizations in the civic and history space Work Together to better support educators and students . And i hope everyone the room were all together here will about collaboration coming out of the president ial site summit. That you know some of the most important work of course we we do is with teachers and what i there are few things that i think we to think about there i think one is that all teachers need assistance who are who are doing this work i think some of the teachers who need the most assets assistance are Elementary Teachers who really have be limitations on Civic Education. Now for a while, those teachers have not do thoughtful age appropriate. It certainly is work and you can do some of the best civics work possible with little kids, right . I mean, some of the basic rules of democracy are some of the little rules. Right. And i think thats a real missed opportunity. Think many of those teachers just dont feel confident in doing it because they havent been prepared through teacher prep programs, which have in many ways appropriately skewed towards literacy and numeracy. But we know a lot has gotten lost in that. I think the other thing that teachers are really needing are networks of other teachers who can support them. You know, those folks that they can send a facebook message to at 10 p. M. When theyre, you know, out about their their next who somebody do you have a tool do you have a method out of the work to make this this happen. So i think thats something that we can really do with in that in that space. I think though we we do have to go beyond schools and we have to think about other other and i think we also need think beyond school aged folks and really begin to think about lifelong learning. And i think thats where some of the most Important Community come into play. And ill just give example that really has been very promising for us. Wesites but but but but we are have become part of the citizenship project which helps prepare green card holders to take the civics exam and in that case, that program has begun to work for us really well because. We partnered with a local Rights Groups who has the to the immigrant community, who knows the green card holders that need that service and help can make help make it happen. So i think partnerships are everywhere in work, both in school, out of school. And weve got to really make those those happen for kids of all ages and for for adults as well. Yeah fantastic. Johnny, how about you . Where where are you guys collaborating . And tell us little bit about how the collaboration came about and how its helping to address the need for educators that you feel you either couldnt or couldnt as well. S on your own as an organization. Yeah, thats a great question well, our one of our long time partners, the Virginia Museum of history and culture is now our parent organization. So i would say that was great union that happened a couple of months ago. And now we have access to their collection to help us teach and our schools are coming in and were also sending out through distance learning. So thats thing over pandemic. We had a lot of time talk to our educators more, more than we normally. And one thing that we heard across the board is that connection to subject Matter Experts really important to them. And had a long time history of working with attorneys and judges and Supreme Court justices and, state Supreme Court justices. So we have all of our civics is in the classroom. But one of the things that educators do really value is being able to book a program on with one of those experts and it can even be just a very specific question about american jury trials. For example during the Derek Chauvin murder trial, we had a positive for that. And then we had attorneys and judges speaking classrooms about that pro. I say thats one of our most successful and one that we really try to nurture as much as possible. It sounds like are responding to it really positively as well. They are. I think that they they they want to provide theirkind of its an added value. You know, its like the kids, the students hear from them all the time. And so bringing in someone whos you might wear a black robe to work and can talk about what that means and demystify is and also just adds part of that know what it means to be a student, a citizen. America is really becomes comes to life. Julia you may or may not have data on this, but im going to ask you the data question, which is, do you have any data that show that educators have any awareness when a collaboration between organizations take i mean, anecdotally, i do all of the Partnership Work for i i can tell you that teachers get really with institution especially when they like and they like the institution that were partnering with or they see the value in the collaboration is there as anyone tried to measure awareness that teachers have that these things are happening awareness about collaboration . I think teachers always know that they should be doing more of everything and when we ask teachers the biggest pressures on them making sure that they attend to math, reading is high that list and theres no assessment thats standardized in most states for civics. And so really schools and teachers and parents dont have any idea how kids are doing in civics. The like the National Assessment of educational progress tells us that like we are the lowest scores since the nineties in civics and history. And so theres really no way for teachers to how much they need some of the things that you all provide in some cases of course some teachers are very aware and for sure when ask teachers do you have access to experts for teaching in your professional development for anything math, reading, civudies. They say no that most dont feel like they have the access to the. But what you do, tony terms of going into those schools that are low resource that is huge because those are the schools that need it most and totally agree with jay about Elementary Schools as really needing t dont have necessarily that content expertise and they also feel a lot pressure to address math and reading and theyre trying to teach all subjects at the same time. And so its crazy. And so they they all need that support. And that, again, not to harp on it. But its super important professional is very important for educators. Its particularly acute for elementary educators because they think just by virtue of the content that we cover in the civics and history tends to lend itself. I think to a more mature audience. So out how you adapt that down to k through five is really challenging i civics has made first major investment in k through five through the creation of private eye history detectives. Theres development thats a part of that was supported ligress and so its important and the other thing is young kids cognitive we think about rules in a very different way than and High School Students do the young kids are primed to follow rules. Thats a great time to lay a foundation. Andaw is in those early green. You get to middle and high school. One of the great things about how do i how do i not have to follow that rule . So if youre looking to, you know, sort of imbue those values starting in the earlier grades laying that foundation makes se not just in terms of how you acquire knowledge over time, but also in terms of young peoples Cognitive Development makes much more sense to start there. And so t think not just in terms of how we support who have so much in the k through five space. They have toy have so competing demands on their time its also going to require us to look at the policy space to make sure that were actually creating classroom space, prioritizing and resourcing educators in k through five. Right. And then also making that that carries through into middle and high school. So we only have about a half hour a little less than a half hour. Lets left im going to ask one final question and then wed love to open it up to q a from the audience. So i think what im just going to askcould give me just one thing that you think could help educators feel better prepared t their students civic development. This is the thing that you think is is most important modifying one of our questions because i think we answered part of this but the one thing that is most critical i think its professional learning communities where theres theres quality content, but theres also an ongoing network of teachers who can they can rely on. And then its providing them connections to other institutions in their local communities where they can really bring Civic Engagement to life because i think thats a real its a for teachers to figure out how to make those connections. Sometimes helping them in making connections by bringing those partners the conversation from the get go, i think, is really what needs to happen. You you dont have to go in order. I would add. It has to be a priority in states and localities. Know, the best intentioned teachers, you know, were not going to be able to really focus on it. And so i just want to brag about civics first. Second, please because even in this tough and in the last couple of years, seven new states now have civics course requirements and middle and high school, which means 48 states a lot more work to be done particularly in teacher training and then and thats louise tebay and julie and sean healey and then daniel allen, who is at the safra center at harvard Leadership School developed and this is remarkable and educated american democracy roadmap that supports teachers and professional development. And it was both supported by the Obama Administration and the trump administration. Its sort of one of these rare places that transcends politics. And so theres a lot of gloom and doom sometimes in civic learning, but theres theres quite a lot of progress to be made. And i hope that systemic change at the state level keeps forward because thats critical to what jay talked about in terms of the partnership commitment. And interestingly, we have data that shows theres very strong bipartisan support for Civic Education aeffective tools we can use to improve what ails are constitute tional democracy. Now where that falls apart is how you teach civics and history in the classroom but at the at the very topevel, it is very clear that people across the political spectrum, in all walks of life believe that civics and history is essential to the healthy, functioning of our democracy. I totally want to just play off what, john just said about states. I feel like i study the role of states in ensuring teachers are using high quality good materials in math and reading and social studies and science and states have a huge role to play. Theyre not only in terms of just like embracing consistent standards because theres not a lot of consistency across standards, across states, but also potentially identifying materials are really well aligned with standards and saying teachers are these materials. Schools here, these materials me recommend that you adopt. Theyre really well aligned with standards and here are some professional Development Opportunities that are aligned with those curriculum. So really thinking about a coherent system support starts i think at the state for sure. I mean and youre doing amazing work at the federal level, but states have a lot of decision is that they could be making to support civics courses. I mean most of educational decisions happen at the at the state and local levels. Its sod for sites that are located within particular states civics now which is Civic Education Wide Coalition that civics leads. We have chapters in abby me how many seats . 4040 states as of today so come find or my colleague abby. Abby weve in the back if you want to be a part of that work in your state where your site is located at and you want to help prioritize civics, the classroom and also lifelong civicimportant. Please find abby. We love to plug you into that network with that. Id love to open it up to audience q a. There are two mikes over here in the center and please introduce ourselves. Tell us your name and where youre from. Hi, im dr. Jennifer. Im on the Lifeguard Committee at mount vernon and i want to thank i theres a above the entrance to neutral cathedral in e a lot of statues and most of them have had their head severed. And a lot of them have been reattached. And a tour guide told me once that it was because during french revolution, the people thought the statues were monarchs and, so they beheaded them, not recognizing they were saints. I think about that a lot when i see the statues and monuments being taken down here in our country, because for 250 years as generations of people have accepted as a way tell a story about a person history. But i think our current generation is not informed. They havent learned history. And as you had indicated in washingtons farewell address he said that an educated is vital for preserving our country. So i sponsor a program mount vernon. Its called. Excuse me, im freezing. It was freezing the artwork on that one. Its so its called the mount vernon prize in excellence for excellence in civics and history and we give a prize to our middle student and High School Student every year for an essay on mount vernon or washington and we give a prize to the teacher as well. So theres a little ripple effect. You know, its not wide reaching, but we do, obviously. You know we market it, give people opportunities all over the country, teachers come to mount, as you know a years ago i started an initiative to try to recognize november as national American History and founders month. 23 governors issue proclamations to recognize november as national American History and founders month. And the president issued a proclamation well. So far we havent got much traction. Traction. I thought it would be a great way to you know give teachers a month where they could say okay, we can on you know history and civics. So anywaam still working on that. But my question is, do you feel that or do you think theres enough emphasis on history when the teachers are getting their own education, even at the College Level . How much emphasis or how much requirement, how many how much requirements are put on teachers to learn history during their own education and before they go students. Its a great question, john. And i actually talking about this on our way to thisoo r trustees and alumni did a study maybe like six or seven years ago where they were looking at College Requirements for government and history and the number i cant remember what it was, was astonishingly low. Cases, even at our most elite Academic Institution you could satisfy the American History requirement by taking a course like American History through baseball which i mean, how many how many college age young people, you know, would prefer to or like American History through film right. Whilre thats really engaging and interesting and that would be a wonderful elective to take in college thats not giving you the cornell edge and when youact that we have been increase singly reducing classroom time in k through 12 were also not capturing young people who are going into Higher Education then its really not surprising one, that the nape show us what we see in ks of Adult Literacy civic historical literacy also show that they do not know very much about history or our system of and then you see some of our elected leaders and you see what they dont actually really know that much about civics or history either right and so thats why i think so many of us are invested in. What we do is that we see direct connection between young people. Right. And the founders. No new right. The washington talked about every major or founding figure, talked about the importance of education for the preservation of our constitution and our democracy. They understood that were not prioritizing that today really anywhere in our educational system. And jt, your, one of the hardest things is to figure out, how do you capture the Adult Learning population . Because who comes to president ial sites. A lot of times its who are already invested in learning president ial history its a small percentage of the population is a question of how do you break out of that and how do you reach the general population . And i think the more perfect initiative could do things especially the lead up to 2026, that could help sort of break into that a Adult Learning population. But if you look at the teachers in the classroom, if you say Civic Education has been, you know failing the course of the last 50, 60, 70 years, that means every educator in the classroom today did not receive an adequate Civic Education. And thats why professional development is so important. Thats why making sure that colleges are prioritizing theres an teacher preparation programs, teachers colleges are prioritizing this within classroom pedagogy is super superimpose, but it is not the only part. Teacher preparation. Yeah, i think that creates a real opportunity for for president ial sites to make connection i think that they getting those teachers who are on their way to the classroom thinking about the use our sites as as learning centers in collaboration with the classroom. I think theres a real opportunity but getting those really, really valuable. Thats an area where weve really over the years really tried to make connections with those teacher prep programs that thats where a lot of the action is now. Its a very challenging space right now because of all the challenges with with the shortage of teachers. But i think that that that an opportunity that everybody in this room has a real chance to take advantage of. I just say quickly, because i do want to get another question. Well, so glad you raised it. We also had we never talk about Higher Education my former College President , derek bok wrote this amazing piece in the chronicle of Higher Education about the crisis of Civic Education in higher ed. And it wasnt all that popular e theres a lot of pushback. But he called the question and in connection with democracy 360 summit in charlottesville a month from now Melody Barnes and our more perfect initiative and the lumina which provides funding a lot of these efforts is bringing together leaders i Higher Education to try to answer the question not only for teacher training but for students because students arent getting much of a Civic Education in higher ed either. So thanks for raising it. And if there are ways to partner, we always love to thank you. Question over here. Yes. So my sitting here im sorry, im erin adams. Thank you. Rector of education at Andrew Jacksons in nashville. So my immediate thoughts to this conversation one was the teaso that was wonderful. But the other was when i think about the teachers that we work with and they are k12 but thinking about those k12 folks, their frustrations often come down as expressed come down to an absence of resources that we may not be a able to provide them in our current of in our current setup of of how we do things. And what im specifically thinking is, you know, a teacher is put together an excellent lesson. Shes got compelling, you know, that should lead to great outcomes for the students but these are not being reinforced at home. Theyre not being reviewed at home. So all of the other educational settings that k12 students themselves in outside of the standard classroom, what can be done to to to strengthen areas of our society. You know, the lifelong education piece right to teach the adults how to follow up with the kids. Right. So im just curious if any of your organizations are spearheading more either about like inner learning collaborative intergenerational work or Family Learning components so that theres a Stronger Social Network piece to teaching Civic Education for students. Im first i would say one of our things we include all of our lessons is, conversation starters and those are really to take home. I mean you can do it in classroom, but theyre also for the kitchen table. It might be a lot of it ends up being, you know. We did a lesson on peaceful transfer of power. We might have opposing views more left a more right leaning conversation starter in that which is a way to kind, you know, keep things balance and something that kids can take home their families. Thats just one example. Yeah, one priority for i civics, which was something that we were encouraged to do by sonia sotomayor, who sits on our board, which is to translate more of resources into spanish. And that that is actually been really encouraging for interjet intergenerational learning in the home particularly homes where, you know the parents are first generation americans. So that thats one priority. But the idea of conversation starters, i also think, again this is where investing in the early grades is in our interest because when do you when as a parent do you want to take your kids to like possible place to get them out of the house because theyre toddlers and fearful crazy. Its in their early grades and so thats when you can capture young parents and then, you know, the question is, how do help inculcate habits of mind to continue you that into middle and high so Family Engagement in the classroom is hugely important i dont think anyone has come up with like the perfect formula for to do it there so many issues in kthrough12 of that its so hard to think about like well how am i going to take this piece of things on because theres theres really no Straight Line into peoples homes. Theres so many challenges that every family has to deal with. And so, you know, if you do something thats very sort of parent focused, you do tend to hit a more sort of affluent Demographic Group than if you were to you try to do the same thing in a place where mom and dad have three jobs to make ends. Right. And so theres an equity issue. So i think that the question is the right one. And to just pushing on it. But i, i have always thought one of the, the critical things is get those families in early. And it just requires us to think about programing in a different way. Right . You want to make it playful for young people. So that a young families like yeah, i want to do this i just do i have a two year old. I just took her to mt. Vernon right now you know i already have like a vested interest in history and civics because of what i do. But, you know, you to do things that make it attractive for for young people to come to your for young families, come to your Historic Site and to keep those conversations going throughout that Young Persons life. From carter National Historical park located in plains, georgia and menino or i hope you know that miss is very much an advocate for mental health. So we have are in year two of a National Park Foundation Grant that looks at social and otional associated with learning for students, especially coming out of the pandemic through partnership group. The Rosalynn Carter institute for caregiving, the Georgia Department of Education Incorporated into them, into the curriculum. So im curious if any of your programs or initiatives have looked at social and Emotional Wellness in terms of the tough topics that we have to discuss . Yes. Yes. Yes. And first of all jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, what a gift to the country. They just keep on giving. And i just wanted to say, tim shriver and i started a National Commission on, social, emotional academic developing because this the science was so powerful that kids if theyre put in front of a virtual environment they learn almost nothing. But if theyre connected socially, emotionally with a teacher, instructor, they can learn things. And also social Emotional Learning is a booster rocket to everything we already measure academically. And so social Emotional Learning, which often never gets discussed in these contexts, has to be at the center of the civic inquiry, particularly if we want civil dialog, log, empathy, good listening skills, collaborative problem solving and all the things, you know employers, the country are looking for in their workers. So, beth, i think is a big question. Youve raised and i think, you know, a good challenge the civic learning in American History fields to put particularly now social Emotional Learning at the center of educational inquiry. Thanks for raising it, emily. Are you seeing anything in your in your research on, the connections between ethical and civics in history . I think that many teachers are embracing aclu as a civics of course there are states where harder to do that than other states. But i would say also talked a lot about elementary. And i think that is where teachers have social and Emotional Learning and how important it is. I think really evident at this point that its really needed at the secondary level too in a lot of different ways, especially as students grapple with these really difficult issues that are being brought up, School Safety is making many childreners. I have two teenagers at home feel really a little bit anxious sometimes in school. So i think its really something to think about the secondary level, too. How can that civic skill in that sense of its still skills in particular be addressed better . Joining jane you want to weigh in on. Sure, i would just say that we you know in part because of the schools and students we serve, we do that at the forefront and understand that not everyone comes to conversations about citizenship from the same place to we have to really approach that with understanding and empathy and as much consideration as we can give to that. So we do to put place another priority on in the educators that we to the schools and and again that relevancy piece i remember when i was in eighth gradeis is personal to me i had a Family Member who was in prison and i that was my year of civics and i remember feeling like this didnt apply me that my because thats what do you know you take on the shame of your family and in a very small way i you know i felt that shame and thought civics didnt apply to me so and then i was asked to be in a civics honors course and. I thought the teacher had the wrong student, he persisted. So i just being aware that when talk about rule of law, ill bring that up again. That means so many Different Things to so many and so we do have that awareness and the educators we hire to be our on site folks have to have some training in emotion, you know in psychology and in forgetting the word for it. But making sure that theyre have an ability to have this conversation when a student might be triggered. Yeah, no. Huge i think its a very important point. I think the important the real important point about about secondary, because i think theres a real hesitancy to go there. Theres less and less of a space to do it than than at the elementary level and and the clinton dafoun an. And weve been, of course working with them on there helping to provide support for an Organization Called the health information, which is about peer to peer education in, the high school level, where every in law school district, every ninth grader will get help good, high quality based health education, both physical health, as well as social and emotional. And that will be coming from their peers. Theyre 11th and 12, 12th grade School Members who are going to be trained on that, and then well provide that information back down to ninth graders so that there is this commune idea there is built around these issues. I think its its a really Exciting Program that the Clinton Foundation has has has taken the lead on. And and and ive gotten to work on a little bit. And i think its a very exciting, very Promising Program tastic. Two more questions over here. Less than 5 minutes left. So awesome. Thank you. Hi. Name is morgan atkins. I am one of the White House Historical Association Section leaders. And i also work at the policy center with our democracy team. Im 23 years old, so i just voted for president for the first time in 2020. And there are now tens of thousands of younger americans who will be voting for the first time in 2024. And in our line of work, weve already said 2024, starting. I mean, new voters are starting to see the debates like the one happening tonight who is going to be the next potential nominee for president. And i was wondering if you all had an idea of how not only teachers, but Community Leaders around new voters can be doing good job of making sure our young voters are informed and prepared for the polls especially, we see rises in deaths and misinformation. Thats a good question. Yeah. Who wants to start on that with say quickly youre fabulous by the way you give me hope for the next generation. Yeah. Jane eisner who is at the inquirer, wrote this incredible book called i think youre taking back the vote. The idea was, you know, we have bond bar mitzvahs. We have know people get their driversse. Its a big deal across different cultures and traditions. Why dont we ritual allies, the right to vote and really celebrate it and connect it to civic knowledgeo you make an informed and so i recommend her and her idea which i think was really quite to engage and the Circle Center at Tufts University is working on these issues related to engag youth. One of the things that they highlight are that some states and some organizations especially like i think about the committee of 70 and philadelphia are trying be the polls as something that, you know, we need poll workers so badly and so getting that education for kids is a great thing. And also preregistration is something theyre thinking a lot about. Automatic registry in when kids turn a certain age, also letting them know, hey, youre registered to vote. Now, isnt that i think some states course have laws for that and some states are not. But advocating for that, an approach, i think, is another way to get kids of thinking about voting early. Yes. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Well, i think we also to go back to the policy issues. I mean, i think in in too many states has taught the cognitive civics class is taught to early. It needs to be closer to the graduation date ideally 11th grade so that so that students are really thinking about turning and you can really connect the dots the classroom and the live lived experience. And i think thats a thats an area where some policy work really does need need to happen to make for stronger bonds there and we are working on that those of us who are working on education policy and i think also priority rising Information Literacy in inside and outside the classroom. And so you know, did you feel like you got any information coursework when you were high school or in Higher Education . I definitely did, but i would say i was an exception, right . Yeah, i would say nobody in room is is not the exception to the. But thats critically important is helping people of all ages. Right. Not young people. If you look at whos particularly susceptible. Its actually of older populations. But younger populations are as well so really building those Information Literacy skills i think are super important. I love the idea of making voting a rite of passage really big deal in my family when we all voted for i was a congressional election, you know for my first voting election. T like for all of them i sort of like very celebratory and having that become a norm would be a great goal for america. Like create little packages like voter celebrations for for young people by voting for the first time. That will be a midterm congressional election. But in a way, i think thats actually its most important to you. People pay more attention and voter turnout is higher during president ial election years. It would be great to do it during a Midterm Election and you get bonus points if actually research your state and local candidates and didnt just do sort of like a stream or get see what unleashed. Ah. Got work to do. Thank you. My name is charlie hyde. Im at the Benjamin Harrison president ial site and we didnt coordinate questions, but theyre interrelated. And that, i think part the reason that civics can be so tractable to teach is that so often it like an abstraction. And so trying to find ways that you model civics and action is important. So you would be very curious to hear your thoughts on examples of good modeling of civics and action. And i mean i can share for example this is the direction like our minds going as an organization you know things as simple as. Thats something that each of us as an organization is in a position to do or serving as a place where naturalization ceremonies can actually occur. I think that one third of president ial sites and libraries serve in that capacity. So again, thats a way of us being able to kind of model this in action rather than just the abstraction where its not just a packet, but youre actually seen this happen in real life to real and you know, events in those emotions and that that spirit of investment that i think ultimately makes Civic Education take were out of time. I will just say if youve ever been part of a naturalization ceremony they probably one of the most singularly moving civic experiences can have if you are hosting them at your sites, open your doors to the general public to see that its just so incredibly moving to see people who have to become american citizens who have gone through theourney of learning. And i think its so so thats one i think you know pretty easy way if youre already doing it advert wise that its happening right to the public. Of. Because i think so few people get the privilege of getting to see that. I think also you know inspiring through historical examples is also great way to make more concrete what we mean by checks an balances what we mean by civic courage you know giving those examples have them at your own sites but you can point people to other historical figures and i think really focus also at times on the historical that dont get the monuments that get the Historic Sites. Those are really important voices to elevate as well and particularly as we become an increasingly diverse nation. Its really important that young people see themselves in all of the civic examples that we to know in in all of our work if we can elevate those examples as well it feels really important. Yeah, i think we are we are out of time. I know matt has a special announcement that i have a vested interest in him delivering in so. Well thank you julie, joan e. J. , john and julia. Five days. Its just its too bad. We couldnt have gotten a j into the title. The but i guess if five panelists with is its good for this excellent discussion and such an important issue facing our country our communities our schools. We appreciate your insights and perspectives and i hope everyone will give more thought to how they can get more involved in Civics Education at their respective historic and muums and in that the White House Historical association thrilled to announce our new partnership with ai initiatives this week. The association of ai civics will be releasing a new Spanish Language version, one of ai civics most popular games executive command, which i hope some of you have played it already. And maybe now youll be more inspired to play. This game has been played more than 16 million times already and we are excited to make that game even more accessible now for Spanish Speaking students communities. Additionally next year, we will launch a brand new game that students greater insight into the presidency and some of the historical decisions faced by our leaders. We aim to teach students how to engage with and consider different perspect devs think critically about the issue at hand and make based decisions. These skills are essential not only for creating an informed citizenry, but also ultimately in sustaining our democratic norms. Institute oceans, values and democracy. We are proud to partner ii civics on this game and we look forward sharing it with you once its next year. Thank you again and thank you to our panelists. I would like to turn the program over to dr. Patrick spero executive director of the washing john president ial library. Pat joined mt. Vernon in