September 2023: MCLC Newsletter

ACTION ITEMS 1-2

1) Advocacy Action Alert

Override Governor Healey’s Cut to Civic Education Funding! Action Needed!

Thanks to your support the Massachusetts Civic Learning Coalition was successful in its campaign in the Massachusetts Legislature to increase the Civics Project Trust Fund by 25% to $2,500,000. Yet, one week later we were extremely disappointed when Governor Healey vetoed the increase and instead reduced the Trust Fund by 25% to $1,500,000. MCLC members are now joining together to make a late summer push to restore funding for civic education. Click here to send a quick note to your State Senator and State Representative urging them to override the Governor’s veto.

As we celebrate the fifth anniversary of the signing of the Civics Education Law in 2018, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is poised to roll out Professional Learning Pathways (a comprehensive professional development program for teachers), make its civic education curriculum, Investigating History, available for Grades 4-7, grow the number of Civic Showcases to highlight the great work done by 8th graders and high schoolers in their community projects, and increase local grants for school districts to support their civics work. If the Governor’s veto stands, DESE’s progress in all these areas and others will need to be pared back. Please take two minutes to send a note to your legislators asking them to be a champion for civic education by overriding the Governor’s veto.

2) Get Involved! MCLC Open Paid Project Positions SY 23-24

As you are aware, MCLC is seeking candidates to fill a number of key part-time paid roles for 2023 - 24. If we are to expand our capacity as a coalition, it’s essential that we expand who is carrying out these projects. Most immediately, we are seeking candidates to fill three key roles:

Part-Time Communications & Membership Coordinator - to assist with producing the monthly MCLC newsletter using Constant Contact and other responsibilities. Payment and time commitment: 8-10 hrs/month. Payment: $75/hr.

Civic Learning Week Manager and Civic Learning Week Fellow - these two positions will design and carry out Civic Learning Week. Payment and time commitment: $5,000 for manager and $4,000 for fellow, with hours ranging from a few hrs/week to start, to 10-15 hrs/week as the event approaches. Note that these two roles may be combined for qualified candidates and could include greater payment, to be negotiated.

Contact: david.buchanan@icivics.org directly with any questions or information on suggested candidates.

MCLC NEWS (Interested in joining MCLC? Apply Here)

The Year Ahead, the August Retreat, and the Next Member Meeting

Next Member Meeting - 3 pm on Tuesday September 12, 2023

Welcome back members! We are looking forward to the coming school year with great anticipation. MCLC will be continuing - and expanding - our advocacy efforts to better engage educators and students. As in the last few years, we are looking forward to another Civic Learning Week (March 11 - 15, 2024) that will include sessions here in Massachusetts as well as an expanded set of events at the national level to build a broad base of support for civic education across the country.

In addition to our continued efforts in those areas, we are already taking steps to launch an exciting new project that promises to add new dimensions to our work. MCLC is launching a new initiative to directly engage youth. This topic was the focus of our discussion at the August Retreat that took place in person at the EMK Institute. The young people who joined us, from the Rhode Island Civic Learning Coalition and the Massachusetts Association of Student Representatives, added particularly important perspectives to the discussion. Following up on the retreat, we plan to take time at upcoming meetings, including the September Member Meeting to gain input from members and the students attending those meetings to further develop a plan for that work.

In addition, the September Member Meeting will include a review of the recently updated MCLC Goals and Strategic Plan, discussion of what success will look like this year as well as action to support our current advocacy to override the Governor’s budget, to ensure an increase of state funding this year. We hope you will join us to launch the new school year!

DESE UPDATES

CIVICS PATHWAYS HAS LAUNCHED

DESE is excited to announce the launch of the Civics Pathways – 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 Civics Pathways are developed and facilitated by Massachusetts teachers with the support of Project Zero and the Democratic Knowledge Project at Harvard University, iCivics, Emerging America at the Collaborative for Educational Services, and the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Whether facilitating the student-led civics project or supporting civics learning in other ways, teachers will find multiple avenues for support and resources. Click here for an overview of pathway offerings. Three pathways are currently open for registration (in person and online options available).

Pathway 1: Getting Started with the Student-led Civics Project (September 26, 2023 to February 08, 2024)
Pathway 2: Going Deeper with the Student-led Civics Project (November 07, 2023 to February 28, 2024)
Pathway 3: Foundational Civics Pedagogies, Grades 6-12 (January 10, 2024 to April 22, 2024)

Additional pathways for K-5 educators will begin in Fall 2024. (Sign up to be notified when these pathways are open for registration.) If you’re a Massachusetts public school educator, we hope you’ll join a workshop or course. Please share this announcement widely so as many teachers as possible can benefit from the Civics Pathways opportunity. For questions, email: carin_aquiline@gse.harvard.edu

HISTORY AND SOCIAL STUDIES LEADER MEETINGS

DESE has set up a number of new network meetings for the coming year. As with last year, this will be the main network for any and all leaders who support social studies at the district or school level; we will continue to meet regularly for a combination of structured professional learning, problem-solving, and resource sharing, and networking

In addition, DESE will be running two more targeted network opportunities:

Elementary Social Studies Collaborative Network: This brand-new network will support leaders who are seeking to strengthen social studies at the elementary level through shared learning and action planning. Meetings will focus both on pedagogical priorities for high-quality elementary social studies and the logistical realities of implementation in an elementary setting.
Investigating History Leaders Network: This network is designed for school and district leaders who are supporting DESE’s Investigating History curriculum in their districts. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the curriculum’s instructional approach and the pedagogical shifts that Investigating History may require of teachers, sharing successes and problem-solving the challenges of curriculum adoption.

You can view schedules for the networks and register for them here.

The following updates were shared last month as well, but you may have missed them in the summer months:

SPRING 2024 MCAS GRADE 8 CIVICS FIELD TEST

Over the last few years, DESE has been piloting an innovative history and social science assessment for 8th grade civics, in response to renewed calls to action both within the Commonwealth and nationally to bolster civic learning and strengthen our democratic institutions. In school year 2023–24, DESE plans to conduct a required field test of the grade 8 civics assessment across all schools enrolling grade 8 students, tentatively scheduled for the end of April through early June 2024. See the DESE website for more information about the design of the test and practice tests .

DESE will conduct informational training sessions this coming school year in preparation for the civics field test. These sessions will be announced in the Student Assessment Updates and will appear on the training opportunities web page. If you have questions, please contact the Office of Student Assessment Services at mcas@doe.mass.edu or 781-338-3625.

INVESTIGATING HISTORY CURRICULUM

Earlier this summer, DESE released units for grades 5 -7 for the new Investigating History curriculum, an open-source curriculum for grades three through seven, offered at no cost to schools, with opportunities for robust teacher support and professional development for adoption and implementation.

Massachusetts Council for the Social Studies Conference October 22-23, 2023

Registration for the fall conference is now open. This year it will take place at the Cape Codder Resort and Spa in Hyannis, MA and will also feature site-based workshops at various locations on November 7, 2023. The theme this year is preparing students to become critical consumers of information and learning. We hope to see you there!

Job Posting - Design Studio Project Lead Coordinator

An initiative of the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics (ELSCE) at Harvard University, the Design Studio is a consortium of ethics and civic education initiatives. The Design Studio is led by Dr. Meira Levinson, faculty member at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). Two Design Studio affiliated initiatives, the Democratic Knowledge Project (DKP) at ELSCE and Educational Ethics at HGSE have partnered to implement a project funded by the Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery initiative. This project will develop and pilot summer professional development institutes and short online sessions over a two-year period, as prelude to creating open-access digital learning resources. Programs would support K–12 educators who seek to learn how to teach about slavery and its legacies and related difficult issues, addressing both hard histories and contemporary controversies. See the full description of the position here.

Case Method Institute - Learn to teach history and civics by the case method with Harvard Professor David Moss, free of charge

All high school teachers in U.S. history, civics, and government classes are invited to participate in a special PD program offered by the Case Method Institute for Education & Democracy and Harvard Professor David Moss. The Institute has partnered with over 1,800 teachers to bring the case method--the core pedagogy used at many leading professional schools--to over 150,000 high school students across the U.S., along with original cases from Professor Moss's acclaimed Harvard course, "History of American Democracy." Each case presents students with a historically rich narrative, leading up to a key decision point and posing the perennial question: "What would you do?" Led by a teacher's use of carefully designed questions, students engage in rigorous, evidence-based discussion and debate to draw out key concepts from the case. Extensive data show significant benefits for students, including improved critical thinking skills, content mastery, and civic interest and engagement. The Institute invites high school teachers to learn more in this flyer and to apply for an upcoming workshop or asynchronous program at this link.

The We Are America Project

Are you an 8th - 12th grade English, history, civics, or humanities teacher? Will you join us in creating a new student-led dialogue around identity? The We Are America Project works with young people across the country to define what it means to be American — and to spark a new national conversation about American identity today led by the next generation. The We Are America Project is opening applications NOW for its 5th cohort of We Are America Teaching Fellows! Learn more Here! Apply Here!

SUBMIT YOUR ORGANIZATION'S NEWS FOR THE MCLC NEWSLETTER!

All members are encouraged to submit announcements for future newsletters. Not a member? Join us! For events being submitted by MCLC members - members will need to update the Google doc no later than the 20th of each month for events that will be happening on the 1st of the following month or later.

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