Attendees:
Steering Committee members: Susan Griffin, The National Council for the Social Studies; Bill Galston, University of Maryland; Sheilah Mann, Ed O'Brien, Street Law Inc.; Judith Torney-Purta, University of Maryland
Others: Peter Levine, Gary Homana

Meeting Summary

Web Site Review (Attachment A)
Gary gave an overview and demonstration of the web site and reported on membership, the CivicMind Award that the web site received in February 2003, new sections added to the website, communication strategies, and current/upcoming work. Members were impressed with the work on the NACE site and provided two suggestions 1) to keep the Advocacy section as a main link from the homepage and 2) develop a quarterly newsletter for members. (Attachment A)

NACE Contributions to Civic Education
This discussion focused on a number of issues regarding the steps that NACE could take to ensure its continued success as an alliance of over 200 individuals and organizations committed to civic education. Agreeing that the website is currently the most powerful way to communicate the work of NACE among its members, the Steering Committee generated ideas that would help disseminate information while engaging its membership more actively in the organization.

The Steering Committee returned to the proposal for a quarterly newsletter that could include items such as 1) a summary of references from "What's New," 2) a general list of funders of civic education, such as corporations, federal, individuals and foundations, based in part on suggestions from members and 3) information about civic education activities on the state level.

Agreements:

• NACE will distribute a quarterly online newsletter to members, as suggested earlier.
  Members will be given an opportunity to indicate if they do not want to receive it.
• NACE recognizes the importance of providing for online discussions among its members. However current difficulties with monitoring led the Steering Committee to decide not to support developing this service at this time but consider doing so in the future.

Immediate Activities for NACE

Committee members identified two important activities: 1) the need to clarify and identify NACE's role regarding involving members and increasing membership and 2) getting a grant to further NACE work that will include how NACE will encourage awareness and use of The Civic Mission of Schools especially by its members and their constituents. This discussion began with an exploration about how to incorporate members' activities by starting a Spotlight Section to call attention to the objectives and accomplishments of specific members. Committee members decided to invite All NACE members to volunteer to prepare the text for its spotlight feature. The invitation should be open to all NACE members. There should be a template for organizations to use in preparing the text. A template would assure comparability in the length and focus of spotlight features.

Next, the discussion focused on advising members about how to make use of the recently released report The Civic Mission of Schools as well as report on what they are doing to disseminate and adapt parts or all of the report. A template or list of opportunity options could serve this purpose. The promising practices and the recommendations sections were discussed regarding this template. The Steering Committee decided that the recommendations be given priority, although the promising practices are also important. Categories could be developed to collect information about 1) what members are doing to ensure that civic education becomes mandated in their states, 2) what activities or plans that they have to implement the recommendations of the report and with what successes so far and 3) what members could do. Members who are active, especially those who contribute to the Spotlight section would provide other members with useful information. It was suggested that a letter outlining the purpose of the Spotlight Section and how to obtain copies of the report with a summary of the recommendations accompany the template.

Two concerns were raised 1) would it be a problem that not all NACE members were involved with the report and 2) how to ensure that members are making efforts on behalf of the report. The Steering Committee acknowledged that the concerns were important but believed that many members are already following up on the report and its recommendations in some way. Given the significance of the work and the past success of the Advocacy Section, it is likely that members would contribute information about what they are doing. In addition, it was believed that this activity would help them to clarify what they are doing, how to proceed, and set expectations for their organizations work in connection with The Civic Mission of the Schools.

A question was raised regarding additional reports focused on the civic mission of youth organizations and the civic mission of corporations and whether plans were being considered for the development of such reports. Steering Committee members said that these reports could stimulate important work but no plan for these is underway.

Agreement:

• An immediate focus of NACE should be to work with the membership to identify their current level of activities on behalf of The Civic Mission of Schools and encourage more activities. A NACE subcommittee will develop a template and accompanying letter that would help members coordinate their current efforts and suggest a menu of new approaches to publicizing and using the report. Members' activities would be included in Spotlight features.

Funding for NACE
Acknowledging the success of NACE within a relatively short period of time and limited resources to attract a broad and influential group of members and contribute to the field, the Steering Committee moved to a discussion of the need to secure additional funds for future operations.

The Steering Committee focused on the responsibility of NACE to its membership. They agreed that it is essential for the NACE to be clear about its advocacy role to its members and potential funders and its work for collaborations among and assistance to all members.

It was suggested that there is a need to clarify the relationship between NACE and CIRCLE, which may not be clearly understood by its members, since both organizations are housed at the University of Maryland. There is a definite distinction between the two organizations. NACE and CIRCLE have different responsibilities and funding streams. At the same time, it was acknowledged that given their proximity to each other, there is an open relationship between them. NACE, as an alliance of hundreds of organizations supporting civic education across the country, is engaged with CIRCLE (one of its members) and dissemination of The Civic Mission of the Schools is an immediate but not exclusive opportunity for action. NACE is committed to cultivate and encourage comparable collaboration with its other members.

The next topic was the need for a clear structure and governance of NACE. Currently, NACE has no bylaws and has an interim set of individuals voluntarily serving on the Steering Committee and the three Task Forces and working to advance the mission of NACE. A question was asked whether a final decision regarding the structure of NACE was made during its previous meeting. Members said that during that meeting no detailed proposal was selected, among the several options proposed and considered.

It was suggested that NACE needs to create a set of by-laws and governing structure identifying how it will be responsible to its members. A description of the structure should follow a statement of its objectives and principles. Steering Committee members agreed to provide for 1) rotating terms for members of the Steering Committee and Task Forces, 2) establishing new task forces as needed and 3) seeking funding to sustain NACE without competing with member organizations for grants.

A discussion ensued regarding the importance of at least an interim part-time director. Several ideas were generated. Given current operation conditions and obligations of other NACE members, there was a motion for Sheilah Mann, who has recently retired from the American Political Science Association, to serve in this role to pull together the proposal and budget for NACE. She would also serve as liaison to the Steering Committee and Task Forces, as well as be responsible for timelines for work accomplishments. Given the needs of NACE the proposal should be placed on the fast track. Peter Levine suggested that he could assist in these efforts.

Agreements:

• NACE will establish a governing structure to institutionalize the organization and allow it to seek support for its operation, following the three principles recorded earlier. This should be accomplished while a proposal for funding - $50,000 a year for two years - is prepared and submitted. It is essential to prepare a proposal immediately.
• NACE should continue to be based at the University of Maryland because its ongoing institutional contributions are valuable.
• The Steering Committee endorsed Sheilah Mann to be the acting-director of NACE for this period of organizational development and funding. (She asked all of the Steering Committee members to send emails with their ideas for the grant proposal and NACE's organizational structure. An immediate suggestion was for a one-page depiction of the organizational structure, including the provision for rotating the membership of the Steering Committee and Task Forces.).

Review of Recommendations from the Advocacy Task Force and Research and Outcomes Task Force. (Attachment B)

Ed O'Brien presented recommendations from the Advocacy Task Force. The first item discussed involved The Civic Mission of Schools report. He proposed that the Steering Committee take a strong position supporting the report because it presents recommendations that are congruent with the work of NACE members and to fulfill NACE's advocacy mission. Given the in-depth discussion regarding the report earlier in the meeting, the Steering Committee agreed to adopt the three recommendations from the Task Force on behalf of the report.

Agreements:

• NACE will strongly support the widespread dissemination of The Civic Mission of Schools report and will work with Carnegie and CIRCLE to do so.
• NACE will develop a list of activities that members can do to promote these efforts and identify exemplary practices for using the report. (Confirming the agreement recorded earlier in the report.
• NACE will ask CIRCLE to send copies of The Civic Mission of Schools to each NACE member and ask them if they would be willing to disseminate more copies.

The next topic was whether or not NACE should sign on to other coalitions and endorse or support other civic education materials, legislation and programs. Since NACE members join coalitions, NACE doing so should not be necessary. There was a lengthier discussion about NACE representing members when legislation about civic education is being drafted. Would NACE be willing to support legislation for civic education? What are the obstacles to doing so? Would NACE work to influence legislation through visits with legislators and civic education alerts to its members?

The Steering Committee acknowledged that although NACE was not set up to specifically weigh in on legislation, doing so is consistent with its mission. The advantages and disadvantages of taking a position on legislation were identified. The advantages would be 1) having a role in influencing legislation, 2) mobilizing and utilizing the expertise and resources of members, and 3) including this significant activity in a grant request. Disadvantages cited included 1) the concern about splintering the Alliance since not all members may agree on legislation and 2) the ability to form a strong enough coalition to lobby behind a specific piece of legislation which depends on the ability of NACE to organize its members.

NACE would be a more lively and relevant organization if it responds to legislative opportunities. It was argued that NACE should organize delegations to the Hill to work on behalf of civic education activities broadly (not only in schools) and members interests, NACE should inform members when NACE judges involvement to be appropriate and desirable. It was suggested that legislative involvement would not create conflict within NACE if the bill were on behalf of the collective good of NACE members. Legislation to provide resources for NACE members would be a collective good.

There is an immediate opportunity to influence and support legislation. Senator Alexander has introduced a bill that would allocate resources for civic education to academies for teachers' continuing education, academies for student and an alliance of civic education teachers. NACE's position on legislative involvement is timely and appropriate. Contacts with Senators would help. Next steps for a NACE role in representing members' interests on this proposed legislation are to identify individuals or groups among its members to present them directly to Congress and anticipate issues about S.504.

Other potential activities for NACE involvement include 1) notifying NACE members about important legislative developments, possibly through email alerts and 2) encouraging members' involvement in the legislative activities of their states. The forthcoming Education Commission of the States report could identify pilot states to target work for action.

Agreements:

• To fulfill its advocacy role, NACE should move to take on activities that are more public and prominent.
• NACE should take positions on civic education legislation, when it furthers its mission and is in the interest of its members.
• NACE members must be informed and given the opportunity to opt out of any formally submitted position in the name of all its members. A five business-day window will be provided to allow members to withdraw from such sponsorship.
• The Advocacy Task Force will be responsible for 1) making broad procedures and priorities for legislation, 2) forming NACE positions for legislation and advocacy on important legislation subject to the approval of the Steering Committee and 3) working with NACE's members to identify with who is available and particularly qualified to present NACE's position, perhaps through a subcommittee. Karen Studwell, APA, should be contacted for information about legislation and possible assistance in advocacy.
• NACE will not endorse other coalitions. It will, however, support dissemination of certain materials and information as deemed appropriate by the Steering Committee in consultation with particularly qualified members.

Research and Outcomes Task Force (Attachment C)

Judith presented the recommendations of this task force for an immediate activity to collect references and instruments on evaluation and assessment. She is interested in developing two networks to implement the assessment and evaluation activity, one for secondary and one for higher education. She is attempting to organize another ad hoc meeting at the International Society of Political Psychologists (ISPP) in Boston this summer.

Judith described assessment projects underway for major civic education programs that should provide models for the Task Force for NACE members. It would be helpful to look at projects that have several models to look at the information. Along with the IEA and other instruments, there is considerable work to develop evaluation and assessment instruments. She is currently involved in a project with the Political Education Project (PEP) of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Qualified scholars are collecting pilot data in order to develop the instruments for collecting pre and post data from the undergraduates in the courses selected for the project. And she is involved with Child Trends' examination into factors associated with positive youth development.

A proposal to examine the validity of the indicators and measurements used by the evaluation instruments would be useful and might secure NSF support. A grant for doing so would support secondary analysis, opportunities for workshops, panels at professional meetings and important references that NACE could highlight on the web sight for use by its members.

Judith is interested also in having the Task Force participate in a study of textbooks. Steering Committee members associated with the ABA's Commission on Public Education recalled that the ABA commissioned Nancy Brown to develop an evaluation instrument for a study of civics and government textbooks. Nancy Brown reported on the study at a 2001 meeting of the ABA's Committee and Commission on Public Education. Sheilah and Ed will check on the status of this project at a forthcoming ABA meeting.

The ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Sciences/Social Studies Education at Indiana University would have reports on evaluation of civic education projects. NACE members could be encouraged to use this ERIC collection. Judith will call John Patrick to propose a collaborative activity with NACE. Possible "products" are: an ERIC Digest on assessment and an ERIC monograph-paper and online-with directions on how to access the ERIC archives. She suggested that John be invited to join the Task Force.

The ABA and The National Council for Economic Education might have references to assessment instruments and might collaborate with NACE on future projects.

Agreement:

• The Steering Committee approved the focus on evaluation and assessment.

Assignments:

• Minutes of this meeting will be sent to the Steering Committee for review and then sent to the membership.
• Gary and Peter will send the Alexander legislation to members of the Steering Committee and the Advocacy Task Force. The Advocacy Task Force will take action immediately.
• Ed will follow-up with an email asking for suggested changes regarding the legislation.
• Sheilah will follow-up with a draft grant proposal that incorporates the activities agreed on by the Steering Committee.
• A second student, Adam Goldberg will be invited to be a member of the Steering Committee. Gary or Judith will contact him.

Summary of Final Agreements

NACE Contributions to Civic Education

• NACE will distribute a quarterly online newsletter to members, as suggested earlier. Members will be given an opportunity to indicate if they do not want to receive it.
• NACE recognizes the importance of providing for online discussions among its members. However, current difficulties with monitoring led the Steering Committee to decide not to support developing this service at this time but consider doing so in the future.

Immediate Activities for NACE

• An immediate focus of NACE should be to work with the membership to identify their current level of activities on behalf of The Civic Mission of Schools and encourage more activities. A NACE subcommittee will develop a template and accompanying letter that would help members coordinate their current efforts and suggest a menu of new approaches to publicizing and using the report. Members' activities would be included in Spotlight features.

Funding for NACE

• NACE will establish a governing structure to institutionalize the organization and allow it to seek support for its operation, following the three principles recorded earlier. This should be accomplished while a proposal for funding - $50,000 a year for two years - is prepared and submitted. It is essential to prepare a proposal immediately.
• NACE should continue to be based at the University of Maryland because its ongoing institutional contributions are valuable.
• The Steering Committee endorsed Sheilah Mann to be the acting-director of NACE for this period of organizational development and funding. (She asked all of the Steering Committee members to send emails with their ideas for the grant proposal and NACE's organizational structure. An immediate suggestion was for a one-page depiction of the organizational structure, including the provision for rotating the membership of the Steering Committee and Task Forces.).

Advocacy Task Force and Research and Outcomes Task Force

• NACE will strongly support the widespread dissemination of The Civic Mission of Schools report and will work with Carnegie and CIRCLE to do so.
• NACE will develop a list of activities that members can do to promote these efforts and identify exemplary practices for using the report. (Confirming the agreement recorded earlier in the report.)
• NACE will ask CIRCLE to send copies of The Civic Mission of Schools to each NACE member and ask them if they would be willing to disseminate more copies.
• To fulfill its advocacy role, NACE should move to take on activities that are more public and prominent.
• NACE should take positions on civic education legislation, when there is an opportunity to do so.
• NACE members must be informed and given the opportunity to opt out of any formally submitted position in the name of all its members. A five business-day window will be provided to allow members to withdraw from such sponsorship.
• The Advocacy Task Force will be responsible for 1) making broad procedures and priorities for legislation, 2) forming NACE positions for legislation and advocacy on important legislation subject to the approval of the Steering Committee and 3) working with NACE's members to identify with who is available and particularly qualified to present NACE's position, perhaps through a subcommittee. Karen Studwell, APA, should be contacted for information about legislation and possible assistance in advocacy.
• NACE will not endorse other coalitions. It will, however, support certain materials as deemed appropriate by the Steering Committee in consultation with particularly qualified members.
• The Steering Committee approved the focus on evaluation and assessment.
  

Attachment A
NACE: Steering Committee Meeting
March 19, 2003
Website Update

I. Membership (224 members)

II. NACE receives The CivicMind Award - Feb. 2003

III. What's New
- Frequent updates and additions
- Moved to homepage
- Added date of when posted

IV. New Sections
- Voting Matters (fall)
- Special Focus Section (winter)
- Steering Committee members
- Task Forces and meeting notes
- Fellowships and Grants

V. Communication strategies with members/others
- Provide updates re NACE work and information in the field. Careful not to overwhelm.
- Notice via the members email lists to invite/increase visitors to our NACE site.
- The Civic Mission of Schools report the next special focus piece

VI. Current and upcoming work
- Update/expand membership list
- Section on state work - contacting various individuals re interviews
- Special focus section (The Civic Mission of Schools and service-learning)
- News from the field
- New strategies for membership communication
- Archive What's New

Attachment B
National Alliance for Civic Education
Research Task Force
Notes from August 30, 2002 Meeting at the 2002 APSA Annual Meeting in Boston

Attendees: Judith Torney-Purta, University of Maryland, Chair, David Campbell, University of Notre Dame, Sheilah Mann Richard Niemi, University of Rochester and Susan Sherr, Rutgers University.

Summary of the Discussion

Main Topic: The discussion focused on identifying a particular activity for the Research Task Force that would contribute to the objectives of NACE members.

The meeting began with the participants exchanging information about the projects on civic education and engagement that they are undertaking. Susan Sherr described the National Student Voices Project that adopts the Annenberg Curriculum and is being implemented in New Jersey by the New Jersey Civic Education Consortium. David Campbell cited his research on civic education in different types of schools-public, private, parochial. Dick Niemi cited the research on the NAEP responses to the same questions students answered in the 1988 and students in the 1998 Civics Report Card. He and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse are developing a protocol to evaluate the "We the People" program for the Center for Civic Education.

The discussion then turned to determining whether there is a specific topic or type of research that might be especially useful to scholars and practitioners. The participants recognized that significant work is under way to add to research on civic education and civic engagement. But, they agreed that more work needs to be done to develop instruments and protocols to assess civic education practices. Focusing on assessment was one of the possible activities on the agenda that Judith Torney-Purta, Task Force Chair, circulated before the meeting. This activity should be useful to schools, agencies governing schools, policy makers, civic groups and NGOs and as well as scholars.

Recommendation
A next step for the Task Force could be collecting information about existing assessment practices and practitioners. Lists of instruments, questions, sources and evaluators could be posted on the NACE web site http://www.cived.net and could be followed by a study of the assessment instruments that would lead to recommendations for developing broad common indicators and guidelines to evaluate civic education programs and interventions. Concentrating on program assessment was considered by the Task Force members at the meeting to be a valuable addition to civic education research and practices.

Attachment C

National Alliance for Civic Education
Advocacy and Outreach Task Force
Meeting Notes from March 12, 2003

Attendees:
Task Force members - Ed O'Brien, Street Law Inc., Chair; Annette Boyd Pitts; Mabel McKinney-Browning, American Bar Association; Todd Clark, Constitutional Rights Foundation; Jim Davis; Susan Griffin, The National Council for the Social Studies; Karl Kurtz, National Conference of State Legislators; Andy Smith; and Nancy Tate, The League of Women Voters
Others - Sheila Mann, Peter Levine, Gary Homana

Meeting Summary

The conference call was scheduled in order to prepare recommendations from the Task Force for the upcoming NACE Steering Committee meeting next Wednesday, March 19. The conversation focused on two main issues: 1) The level and type of NACE involvement in coalitions; in endorsing reports, activities and programs of other organizations; and taking positions on proposed legislation, and 2) the role of NACE in disseminating the recently released Carnegie/CIRCLE report The Civic Mission of Schools.

1. NACE involvement in other coalitions and endorsement/support of other civic education materials, legislation and programs

A rich conversation revolved around the role of NACE in other coalitions' work. Task Force members discussed several issues including 1) the implications of collective support vs individual support, especially since different member groups have different agendas; 2) levels of support among members for specific NACE items of participation and 3) NACE's need for funding to support its activities and if seeking grants would be viewed as competing with its members.

Recommendation: Task Force members questioned whether NACE should speak collectively on behalf of its members and acknowledged the drawbacks of endorsements. Nonetheless, NACE has an important advocacy role. The Task Force recommended that NACE be able to express support for coalitions, grants and other opportunities supportive of civic education on a case-by-case basis. At the same time, it recognizes that each member has its own position on issues. Therefore, NACE should communicate the proposed positions to members and provide a reasonable amount of time for responses from those who choose to opt out of support for specific items, while still maintaining their membership in NACE. The Steering Committee will be asked to develop the timeline.

2. Support for The Civic Mission of Schools

Task Force members were very supportive of The Civic Mission of Schools report. They agreed that it is an important and useful document confirming the need for civic education and suggesting ways for affective civic education. Peter Levine indicated that Carnegie and CIRCLE are developing a dissemination plan, and would like to know NACE's position and interest regarding involvement.

The Task Force agreed that NACE should strongly support (not endorse the report itself) widespread dissemination of the report and that this position should be made clear to NACE members. The Task Force agreed that NACE is a portal for dissemination and options were discussed regarding how this would be done with the report. Members discussed how to encourage NACE member organizations to call their own members attention to the report and suggest how it can be used at as many local, state and federal levels as possible. NACE could encourage members by providing suggestions for strategies to do so. These include: a link on the NACE website; highlighting information from the report, e.g. posting recommendations on the website; strongly encouraging members and nonmembers to utilize and disseminate the report, providing ongoing feedback to NACE or CIRCLE about this use; and the creation of a mechanism on the website for members to discuss topics. It was felt that only members opting in for specific discussion topics should receive such messages.

Recommendations:

• The Task Force recommends that NACE strongly support the widespread dissemination of The Civic Mission of Schools report and will work with Carnegie and CIRCLE regarding these efforts.
• It recommends that NACE develop a list of activities that members can do to promote these efforts and identify exemplary practices for using the report.
• It recommends that NACE ask CIRCLE to send copies of The Civic Mission of Schools to each NACE member and ask them if they would be willing to disseminate more copies (Carnegie has printed another 10,000 copies).

3. Other Advocacy and Outreach Issues

The other issues recommended for consideration by the Steering Committee include: 1) Identification of exemplary legislation and administrative policies that support civic education, 2) Development of a plan to inform and engage members in advocacy and outreach for civic education, starting with the report, 3) Creation of online mechanisms that support member interaction and opportunities where they can support one another's work and 4) Exploration of how to get funding to augment NACE's staff capacity to accomplish assignments. The role of NACE in lobbying on the federal level will be an item for further discussion. As it was felt that NACE should have a role but that members might not agree on the exact legislative position NACE might take.

Some members of the task force voiced concern that they were not hearing enough from NACE about what it was doing and that it needs to become more visible with the members.

Recommendation: The task force recommends that NACE develop an internet mechanism for members to exchange of information. However, it was felt that any member should not be able to send any information he or she wants to any other member and perhaps a moderator would be needed to decide what was appropriate information for dissemination to members.

Recommendation: The task force recommends that NACE develop quarterly updates to membership regarding focus of NACE, task force and steering committee updates, and opportunities for involvement.

4. Next Steps

• The Steering Instead of setting up the next meeting, Ed O'Brien offered to send out an email regarding decisions made by the Steering Committee and then we will decide how best to proceed.