CEHD News

By Todd Wetzel

A democratic government is “of the people, by the people, for the people,” President Abraham Lincoln said 144 years ago in his Gettysburg Address. It requires citizens to be actively engaged in civic and political affairs.

Statistics show, however, that civic engagement in this country is endangered.

A 2006 U.S. Department of Education Civics Report Card study revealed that only about 25 percent of students tested in fourth, eighth and 12th grades had a proficient knowledge of civics and government. Findings in 1998 were similar.

“Having informed and engaged citizens who can promote and sustain our democracy is a mission of public education,” said Natalie Stiglitz, director of the Office of Civic Education and Engagement in the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) at the University of Louisville.

CEHD is addressing civic involvement by playing a key role in an initiative to improve civic education in Kentucky.

“Our goal is to provide opportunities for students and civic educators that deepen knowledge and skills in curriculum, instruction and assessment to improve civic education and engagement,” Stiglitz said.

UofL is part of the Kentucky Workgroup on Civic Literacy and Engagement, which Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson formed to discuss ways to increase civic participation among Kentucky citizens. The group also includes representatives from Northern Kentucky University, the Kentucky Department of Education and each branch of Kentucky government. Since 2003, the group has gathered and analyzed data on civic education in Kentucky.

Kentucky requires high school students to take three social studies courses in which issues of government and civics must be addressed, Stiglitz said. The state, however, has not established a required course in government and civics, and social studies course offerings differ among high schools.

“Some schools offer a dedicated course on government and civics, but other schools simply incorporate parts of those subjects into other courses, such as U.S. history,” Stiglitz said.

There is a national trend, she continued, to require high school students to take a dedicated course in government and civics. The Office of Civic Education and Engagement is working with teachers from across the Commonwealth to design such a course to support teachers with resources if one becomes required in Kentucky.

The College of Education was instrumental in organizing the Kentucky Teacher Network for Excellence in Civic Education and Civic Engagement, a network of more than 250 social studies teachers from throughout the state that shares resources and discusses, develops and implements ideas about civic curriculum, instruction and assessment.

The network is developing new lesson plans on the forms of government and the origins and branches of the U.S. government. These lesson plans will be part of a five-unit government and civics course that should be completed by next June, Stiglitz said.

Tim Holman, an eighth grade American history and government teacher at Louisville’s Meyzeek Middle School, is on loan for a year from Jefferson County Public Schools to help Stiglitz manage the teacher network and organize professional development opportunities.

“Unfortunately, for some of my students, eighth grade is the last time they will have any formal civic education,” he said. “I want to use my experience to strengthen civic education in Kentucky. I also want to grow as a teacher to encourage my students to become better engaged as citizens.”

For the last two years, UofL has hosted the annual meeting of the Southern Coalition for Civic Literacy and Engagement, a consortium of civic educators from 14 southern states that collaborates and shares resources on the successful strategies that have implemented by member states. The college also has hosted several seminars for teachers on various civic education topics.

“Students need to acquire the knowledge, skills and dispositions to be productive citizens, including a belief in liberty, equality, personal responsibility, honesty and a sense that individuals can make a difference in society,” Stiglitz said. “Better civic education for students will lead to a higher quality of life for everyone in Kentucky.”