Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Momentum for nonpartisan civic education

Louise Dubè is the executive director ofiCivics. Civic Learning Week is cosponsored by the Farvue Foundation, iCivics, Microsoft, the National Archives, the National Archives Foundation, the National Council for the Social Studies, and the SN Charitable Foundation.

Headlines and conversations all around us tell us just how rare agreement on any topic is. Yet despite our myriad divisions, Americans from across the political spectrum agree on the importance of civic education, that we need more of it, and that it should be better funded.


What’s more, Americans agree that fundamental civic knowledge should be a centerpiece of that education. And we agree that civic skills are crucial. Time and again, parents indicate the desire for their kids to gain concrete skills that will help them be successful in life and work—a high-quality civic education does just that. Parents and educators, alike, want the very best civic education for our kids.

Civic education is a lifelong endeavor. As school districts across the country are looking for innovative ways to teach civics in a way that meets the needs of today’s student population, philanthropies and Fortune 500 corporations are looking to up their investments in civics and community engagement. Leaders from every sector are looking at how to engage in civic learning to sustain a healthy democracy, and new research is supporting the field.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

This is the momentum that is fueling more than 100 organizations to come together March 6–10 to take part in the first-ever national Civic Learning Week. Additionally, 20 states have officially endorsed this week that provides an opportunity to celebrate the important role civic education plays in sustaining and strengthening our constitutional democracy.

The week will be marked by a half-day opening forum on March 7 at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and scores of in-person and online events across the country throughout the week. At the events, attendees will learn about new research in civic education, engage with thought leaders about innovations in the field, and have the opportunity to connect around a shared commitment to civic education.

This agreement and shared commitment does not mean civic education will look the same from state to state, or school district to school district—nor should it.

Difference is a feature of democracy—not a bug. But differences in viewpoints cannot undermine our commitment to prepare our citizenry to be informed and engaged members of our self-governing society. To solve our common problems we need more, not less, engagement across differences. Despite the partisan nature of our political system, the teaching of civics and our commitment to civic education must remain entirely nonpartisan.

The kinds of strides we’ve seen over the past years in our shared commitment to civic education have been possible because individuals, organizations, and policymakers have set aside individual and organizational interests to work together even when they disagreed:

●In the year-end omnibus bill, Congress made a significant down payment by increasing the federal allocation for civic education from $7.5 million to $24 million.

●In the last biennium, 16 states adopted 17 policies aligned with the CivXNow Coalition’s State Policy Menu. And the 2023 spring legislative session shows promise with more than 50 bills to advance civic education filed so far in 21 states.

●The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the U.S. Department of Education funded—initially under the Trump administration and continued under the Biden administration—the landmark Educating for American Democracy initiative that provides an inquiry-based framework for excellence in civics and U.S. history for all learners.

These are advances we celebrate. They represent down payments toward an increasingly healthy democracy. Join us in-person or online for Civic Learning Week—and let’s demonstrate that we stand united behind civic education.

Read More

The Evolving Social Contract: From Common Good to Contemporary Practice

An illustration of hands putting together a puzzle.

Getty Images, cienpies

The Evolving Social Contract: From Common Good to Contemporary Practice

The concept of the common good in American society has undergone a remarkable transformation since the nation's founding. What began as a clear, if contested, vision of collective welfare has splintered into something far more complex and individualistic. This shift reflects changing times and a fundamental reimagining of what we owe each other as citizens and human beings.

The nation’s progenitors wrestled with this very question. They drew heavily from Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who saw the social contract as a sacred covenant between citizens and their government. But they also pulled from deeper wells—the Puritan concept of the covenant community, the classical Republican tradition of civic virtue, and the Christian ideal of serving one's neighbor. These threads wove into something uniquely American: a vision of the common good that balances individual liberty with collective responsibility.

Keep ReadingShow less
We’ve Collectively Created the Federal Education Collapse

Students in a classroom.

Getty Images, Maskot

We’ve Collectively Created the Federal Education Collapse

“If we make money the object of man-training, we shall develop money-makers but not necessarily men.” - W.E.B. Du Bois

The current state of public education has many confused, anxious, and even fearful. Depending on the day, I feel any combination of the above, among other less-than-ideal adjectives. Simply, the future is uncertain. Schools are simultaneously cutting budgets and trying to remain relevant, all during an increasingly tense political climate.

Keep ReadingShow less
Recent Republican policies and proposals limiting legal immigration and legal immigrants' benefits and rights

An oversized gavel surrounded by people.

Getty Images, J Studios

Recent Republican policies and proposals limiting legal immigration and legal immigrants' benefits and rights

In a recent post we quoted a journalist describing the Republican Party as anti-immigration. Many of our readers wrote back angrily to say that the Republican party is only opposed to immigrants who are present illegally.

But that's not true. And we're not shy of telling it like it is.

Keep ReadingShow less
The Importance of Respecting Court Orders
brown wooden chess piece on brown book

The Importance of Respecting Court Orders

The most important question in American politics today is whether Donald Trump will respect court orders. Judges have repeatedly ruled against his administration.

But will he listen?

Keep ReadingShow less