Save the Date: Civic Learning Week—March 11–15, 2024

MA 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.

Advocacy

As you’ve probably heard, Massachusetts legislators voted in early October to override the Governor's veto of the increase in the Civics Project Trust Fund. 

Congratulations to all who have worked in this issue over the past five years. Civics is clearly a priority of the Legislature and we have all done a great job keeping the issue in front of them. With a 25% increase this year to $2,500,000 (a 67% increase from $1,500,000 over two years), local school districts and DESE will have more capacity to provide professional development for teachers, develop curriculum, and hold showcases to highlight the great work that students are doing out in their communities. See the Commonwealth Magazine article for more on the override. Clearly we have a lot more work to do, but kudos to MCLC's civic engagement work over the past two years that has helped to build back the civic education infrastructure here in the Commonwealth.

One takeaway from MCLC's successes at the Legislature is the importance of students, teachers, and administrators meeting and interacting with legislators. When our political leaders hear and see civic lessons or projects for themselves and/or meet with students and teachers they get a clearer sense of the impact of learning civics. 

As we look to the next season for advocacy, please think about opportunities that the teachers, students and administrators with which you work could have to interact with legislators and make the connection. Contact Matt Wilson at mwilson@discoveringnustice.org or our Advocacy Fellow, Dimtri Prezlawski atdprzeslawski@gse.harvard.edu  for materials on how to reach out, invite, and hold meetings or events with your local legislators.

BESE Presentation- Celebrating Five Years of Progress for Civic Education

in Massachusetts

This year is the fifth anniversary of the passage of the civics law here in MA as well as the anniversary of the adoption of the social studies framework, both of them key to all that has come since. We've been working with our friends at the MA Dept of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to celebrate the progress made and note areas for continued work with a presentation to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE). At the BESE meeting on October 24, MCLC members Ed O'Connell from Revolutionary Spaces and Matt Wilson, ED for Discovering Justice participated in public comment, and Dave Buchanan of iCivics and Co-Director of MCLC, joined our DESE friends to make a shared presentation to the Board - the MCLC statement here. Members of the Board made a number of very supportive comments.

Phillis In BostonRevolutionary Spaces

11/1/23-12/3/23

Weds-Sat 7pm-8pm; Sun 6pm-7pm

Phillis in Boston is an original new play dramatizing a key moment in the life of celebrated poet and enslaved author Phillis Wheatley. Written by Ade Solanke and directed by Regge Life,

Phillis in Boston explores the multiple struggles for freedom underway in 1773 Boston and centers on Wheatley’s relationships with her friend Obour Tanner, husband-to-be John Peters, abolitionist Prince Hall, and enslaver Susanna Wheatley.

This one-act play at Old South Meeting House in Boston will run for five weeks. Tickets are on sale now at RevolutionarySpaces.org and discounts are available for group bookings of 10 or more people. Contact Amanda Bertone Abertone@revolutionaryspaces.org