Working together to build new civic learning opportunities for all Massachusetts students | |
MCLC Advocacy and Civic Learning Week Action Items | |
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Happy New Year All! With Civic Learning Week and our annual advocacy campaign lifting off, we are entering our “All Hands on Deck” phase of the year. Check out the opportunities to get involved and support these key projects for the year. Thank you for supporting the coalition. We have more impact together!
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How to Help - At a Glance
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Contact Matt Wilson, MCLC’s Advocacy Manager, for more information on how you can help with planning MCLC’s advocacy events. See the projects listed below, under Advocacy - How You Can Help. mwilson@discoveringjustice.org
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Civic Learning as a Unifying Force Beyond 2024
National Civic Learning Week and Massachusetts Civic Learning Week
As in previous years, MCLC will be hosting state-based events and the National Civic Learning Week will hold high profile events on the national stage, all with the goal of bringing together students, educators, policymakers, and leaders to further energize the movement to make civic learning a top priority. The theme this year is Civic Learning as a Unifying Force Beyond 2024. See the National Civic Learning Week flyer for more information.
We are planning to make some changes in MA Civic Learning Week this year to address recommendations following last year’s event. Those changes will include:
- Focus on teacher & student/classroom facing sessions, youth engagement, and sharing stories about work happening in schools and communities
- Reduce total number of sessions to build better attendance
- Ask that organizations hosting sessions manage the logistics, other than scheduling and promotion, independently
- Keep sessions short and as focused as possible
Although we are still finalizing the sessions, some of the events that MCLC will be hosting during Civic Learning Week include:
- Opening event with a leading public official and student - All grades
- A panel discussion among youth civic leaders on how the became engaged in this work - Middle/High School
- Zoom with a Judge for elementary and middle/high school classes to learn about the judicial system directly from a judge - Elementary session/separate Middle and High session
- An interactive session on the presidential election with the JFK Library - Elementary
- A simulation on a current pressing issue - Middle/High School
- Discussion of careers in civics, on how panelists navigated their way into career paths related to civic engagement. - Middle/High School
- Student to student discussion of reflections on their student-led civics projects - Middle/High School
- Professional learning on topics in civic education for educators
…. And more! Don’t miss out. Bring your classes.
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MCLC Communications -
Help to Plan MCLC Messaging for this Election Year
How to Help
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Please support MCLC’s outreach and communications this election year by helping to draft key messages about how civics education strengthens democracy. We’ll leverage the heightened media attention this year to make the case. This project will only involve two meetings. For more information, contact Wendy Rivenburgh wrivenburgh@edc.org.
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Advocacy Update
We enter 2024 in good shape. DESE has a $2,500,000 budget to work with (a 67% increase over the past two years) and they are ready to increase the number of Civic Showcases, roll out the Civics Pathways Program to provide professional development for teachers, and is projected to increase the amount of local Civic Education distributed to school districts by 33%.
MCLC’s goals for this year are to maintain funding levels in the state budget and both broaden and deepen our support with our state legislators. We need to work over the next six months to make sure our leaders see civic education in action and hear the stories of the impact that civic education has had on students and teachers.
How You Can Help:
Contact Matt Wilson, MCLC’s Advocacy Manager, for more information.
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Support outreach to promote the following priority projects
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MCLC will host a Civic Learning Week Event at the State House for legislators and staff that features students’, teachers’, and administrators’ stories from the field. We need to identify speakers and folks to help coordinate the event.
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Publicize Civics Project Trust Fund Grants to encourage more school district applications and increase money going to local districts. The Grant RFP is expected to be public in March.
- Recruit and encourage legislators to attend state and local civic showcases. Showcases will be held in late May and June.
- Support and encourage MCLC members to engage local legislators in local civic education opportunities.
Share the new Civic Education Advocacy Fellow position with your network and likely candidates. To help with our advocacy and public education work, we are hiring a Civic Education Advocacy Fellow who will work full-time from January through May. This role is a paid position.
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MCLC Youth Engagement in Action! | |
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Our very own Sean Simonini and Ahmed Othman of MASR (Massachusetts Association of Student Representatives, a recent new member of MCLC) and other members of MASR, recently advocated for expanding resources for financial literacy at a hearing at the MA State House. Sean and Ahmed are currently leading MCLC’s new youth engagement work. In reflecting on the experience last week, Sean had these comments:
Of course, the concept of expanding financial literacy is, in itself, a very important topic. But there's a lot to be said about the fact that, 2 years ago, there was no infrastructure like MASR to support students and specifically students serving on school committees, to connect with their legislators in a way that can make meaningful change.
With almost 20 students in person to testify on top of a whole coalition of other advocates, I think it really shows that young people, as a result of the 2018 civics law (of which MASR is somewhat a byproduct), are starting to view themselves not just as students of the governmental process, but active participants in it.
Although many of the attendees had already been to the State House before, Representative Hamilton (lead sponsor on the bill) and Representative Turco (a cosponsor) gave the group a nice tour of the state house, letting the students onto the House and Senate floors, and showing them the amazing view of Boston Common from the balcony.
We were incredibly grateful to everyone who helped make this possible, but the biggest kudos goes to all of those kids who spent countless hours crafting testimony, taking the day off to go testify in person, and dropping into offices to tell their own elected officials why they should support H.4199 "An Act relative to personal financial literacy."
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Massachusetts Civics Project Showcases
This spring, DESE is excited to celebrate the work of 8th-12th grade civics students across the state! Through “science fair-style" showcases, students will have the opportunity to share their civics projects with local community advisors and each other, receive feedback on their work, and be recognized for their civic engagement.
This year, DESE will be hosting three regional Civics Project Showcases. These events will run 9:30am-1:30pm on the following dates:
- Tuesday, May 28: Bridgewater State University (Bridgewater, MA)
- Monday, June 3: DCU Center (Worcester, MA)
- Friday, June 7: UMass Amherst (Amherst, MA)
See the DESE website for more details about the Civics Project Showcases
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Note for districts partnering with Generation Citizen: Our partner organization, Generation Citizen, will be hosting their annual Civics Day on Monday, May 20, 2024 at the EMK Institute in Boston for all Generation Citizen (GC) school and district partners. If you are a GC partner (your students are using GC’s Action Civics curriculum), please complete this form by March 15, 2024.
You can reach out to Adam Westbrook, GC Program Director, with any questions awestbrook@generationcitizen.org.
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Civics Pathways - Free Professional Learning for Educators,
by Educators
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DESE Civics Pathways is a professional development initiative that offers free, teacher-designed and led professional learning focused on K-12 civics instruction that educators can personalize for their needs, learning preferences, and schedule. The Pathways are developed and facilitated by Massachusetts teachers, Project Zero and the Democratic Knowledge Project at Harvard University, iCivics, and the Collaborative for Educational Services. Whether facilitating the student-led civics project or supporting civics learning in other ways, teachers will find multiple avenues for support and resources. Overview of pathway offerings.
Three pathways are currently open for registration:
Pathway 1: Getting Started with the Student-led Civics Project
Pathway 2: Going Deeper with the Student-led Civics Project
Pathway 3: Foundational Civics Pedagogies, Grades 6-12
Note the addition of sessions for Pathway 3: Foundational Civics Pedagogies, Grades 6-12
- Workshop 1: Culturally and Linguistically Sustaining Practices:
A Foundation for Civics Learning
- Self-paced Online Learning: Powerful Practices to Support Civics Learning
- Session 1: Learning Through Inquiry
- Session 2: Engaging with Primary Sources
- Session 3: Developing Media and News Literacy
- Workshop 2: Navigating Difficult Topics and Controversial
Conversations in the Classroom
DESE Pathways Teacher Leadership Opportunity in PreK-5 Civic Learning
(with compensation and PDPs)
Are you a PreK or elementary school teacher in a Massachusetts public school? Are you passionate about helping your learners practice civic skills and navigate civic choices? Apply to take a leadership role developing professional learning opportunities for Massachusetts teachers with the DESE Civics Pathways project.
The Pathways project is convening a cohort of Civics Teacher Leaders to develop and facilitate workshops and online courses for PreK and elementary school teachers that consider how to integrate civics with early literacy and embed civics in the elementary classroom. As a Civics Teacher Leader, you will support the learning of teachers across Massachusetts, develop your professional learning design and facilitation skills, and deepen your own learning by engaging with fellow teacher leaders and civics experts.
Civics Teacher Leaders will receive compensation and PDPs for their work.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: Monday, Feb. 26, 2024; 9am
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Media Literacy Contract Opportunity
The Office of Literacy & Humanities at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is seeking to increase attention to media literacy education in state policy and resources, especially as it relates to civics.
We are looking for a partner organization to conduct a landscape scan of the current state of media literacy education policy and practice, and provide recommendations for future work in Massachusetts, with a focus on the news and information literacy dimensions of media literacy.
The selected partner organization will be awarded a contract with DESE of up to $300,000 for this project over approximately 15 months. This work will meaningfully inform how the state of Massachusetts implements media literacy education in the coming years.
Details about this opportunity are available on COMMBUYS, the state’s procurement website. Please follow the link and view the document called “Attachment A” for complete details. Interested organizations will submit their proposal via COMMBUYS.
Proposals are due to DESE on Feb. 28, 2024 at 12:00PM.
Interested organizations are invited to an informational session on January 25 at 10am EST to discuss this opportunity and ask questions. Register via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0vc--sqT4iHt1OHwof-OnbBslR0NMrxoTy
Organizations active in media literacy education are encouraged to submit a proposal. Feel free to share widely with other organizations or colleagues who may be interested.
Please contact Katherine Tarca at MA DESE katherine.tarca@mass.gov with any questions.
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Grant Opportunity
Investigating History is DESE’s new free, comprehensive, inquiry-based social studies curriculum for grades 5-7. Whether you’ve been using Investigating History already or are interested in adopting it next year, DESE’s new grant opportunity, offered in partnership with the One8 Foundation, can help you take the next steps in your Investigating History journey next year! Funding is available to support districts experienced with Investigating History with the costs of onboarding additional teachers (Track A) or to help districts new to the curriculum provide educators with professional development and print materials for 1-2 units of the curriculum next fall (Track B).
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Member Events and Announcements | |
The planning committee for the annual Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement conference for higher education has asked that MCLC members share the call for proposals | | |
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The Massachusetts Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and Discovering Justice are partnering to host a Bill of Rights Month student essay contest, open to all high school students who reside in Massachusetts. The students who win first, second, and third place or honorable mention will get prizes and attend an in-person celebration at the courthouse! You can find more information on this flyer. Please pass this flyer/email on to any high school students who you know are passionate about human rights or any teachers/school leaders in your network. The contest is due January 31, 2024.
The question this year is: If you could add an amendment to the Bill of Rights, what right would you protect and why?
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National History Day- Enroll & Save the Dates | |
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National History Day - Enroll and Save the Dates
National History Day (NHD) is a research project for students in grades 6-12 that is powerful, flexible, and accessible. Using the NHD framework, students conduct research on a historical topic of their choosing and present their work as a documentary film, website, performance, paper, or exhibit. Participating schools often host a showcase spotlighting student work (think science fair, but for history!). Students also compete in a Massachusetts Regional Contest in March, the State Contests in April, and the National Contest in June. National History Day in Massachusetts is sponsored by the Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS).See the MHS Newsletter here for more information.
SAVE THE DATES!
- Saturday, March 2, 2024 Regional Competitions in Stoneham, MA & Foxborough, MA
- Sunday, March 10, 2024 Regional Competition in Leicester, MA
- Saturday, April 6, 2024 MA State Competition in Winchester, MA
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