What's New in Civic Education and Youth Civic Engagement Work .... (December 2004 Archive Section)

December 22, 2004

• LISTENING TO TEACHERS: CLASSROOM REALITIES AND NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND
  The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University (CRP) has released the findings of a survey that collected urban teachers' opinions regarding the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). The survey asked teachers to evaluate both the theories at the heart of the NCLB and the impact of the law in the classroom. The report outlines the teachers' complex and nuanced views of NCLB, agreeing with many of the law's goals but expressing concern that aspects of its implementation may be negatively impacting curriculum, instruction, and the ability of under-performing schools to attract and retain teachers. They also evaluate their schools, share their opinions regarding specific aspects of the law, including sanctions such as public school choice and supplemental services, and they inform policy decisions by suggesting the types of resources they believe are integral to improving student achievement.
  

  December 21, 2004

• In Durham, North Carolina, hundreds of community, civic, and education leaders have signed a "covenant" pledging support for public education. This document has galvanized community support for schools and refocused the district's efforts to close the achievement gap, writes Kay James. To read more go to: http://annenberginstitute.org/VUE/fall04/James.htm.
  
  
• Below is an item on youth voting recently added to The Pew Charitable Trust's website. If you are interested in receiving regular email alerts from Pew go to: http://www.pewtrusts.com.

  - 12/14/2003 - Political Candidates Court the Youth Vote by Appealing to Rock Stars: An article from the Chicago Sun Times.
  

  December 20, 2004

• Public Education Network Weekly NewsBlast online resource announces the following:

  - Volvo Butterfly Award for Child Heroes" Volvo is currently accepting nominations for their Butterfly Award in honor of Alexandra Scott. The Butterfly Award honors child heroes who have shown extraordinary conscience, care and character in helping others. The award is a $25,000 contribution to a charity selected by the winning child hero and his or her family. The Butterfly Award recipient and family members will also have a chance to attend the final Volvo for life Awards ceremony in New York City as special guests. The award was created in honor of Alexandra Scott, who won a special Volvo for life Award. Alexandra Scott was a little girl who was diagnosed with cancer when she was only a year old. At age four, Alex started a lemonade stand to raise money for children's cancer research. By the time she was seven, Alex's lemonade stand had become an international movement, with kids around the world selling lemonade to fight cancer. When Alex died of cancer, at age eight, she had raised over $700,000. Now her dream lives on, with her family, and children around the country continuing to raise money for her fund. The deadline for nominations is January 10, 2005. For more information on the award and to make an easy on-line nomination, see: http://www.volvoforlifeawards.com or http://www.alexslemonade.com

  - "Christopher Columbus Awards" Teams of middle school students are invited to enter the Christopher Columbus Awards, a free awards program that challenges students to explore opportunities for positive change in their communities. Teams of up to four students and a coach must identify a community issue and use the scientific process to solve it. Coaches may be teachers, parents, community leaders, or mentors. Teams do not need to be affiliated with a school to enter. Application deadline: February 14, 2005. For more information go to: http://www.christophercolumbusawards.com

  - "MLK Day Service Grants" In honor of Martin Luther King Jr., between 30-40 grants are available from the Points of Light Foundation and the Corporation for National Service in the amounts of $2,500, $5,000 and $10,000 for projects to honor and celebrate MLK. The Points of Light Foundation, through the generous support of the Corporation for National and Community Service, is pleased to offer MLK Day Service Grants that mobilize more Americans to observe the MLK Day holiday through service and implement high quality, high visibility service projects that engages volunteers in meaningful activities and strengthen communities on January 17, 2005. This grant competition is open to Foundation members and nonmembers. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis (Monday, Dec. 6th, 13th, 20th) and will be awarded on a rolling basis between Dec. 10th and 23rd. All applicants will receive notification no later than December 23rd. The RFP for the MLK Day Service Grant is available at: http://www.pointsoflight.org/

  To subscribe to PEN go to: http://www.publiceducation.org/subscribe.asp
  

  December 17, 2004

• The CivicMind Award for December 2004 recognizes The Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the University of Minnesota. The Center develops public work initiatives that enrich democracy through the work of ordinary citizens on projects of lasting civic significance. If you have nominations for CivicMind Awards contact TheCivicMind@aol.com.

  In addition, the CivicMind is offering a new workshop on how to make civic participation personally rewarding, challenging, and fun. Through written exercises and group discussion participants learn how to maximize their aptitude and skills for civic participation. For more information on the workshop go to: http://www.CivicMind.com/qshops.htm.
  

  December 16, 2004

• The Practitioners' Conference on Civic Education will the January 13-15, 2005 at the Hotel InterContinental in New Orleans. This interdisciplinary conference will draw together K-12 educators and counselors, university teacher educators, state coordinators and policy makers, school and university administrators and staff from youth-serving community based organizations. The conference will include work on: service-learning, moral education, character education, democratic education, violence prevention and substance abuse prevention.

  The Preliminary Program and more information are available at the following website: http://www.civicedconf.org. There are over 100 workshops, panels and roundtables at the meeting. The Preliminary program contains a short overview of each presentation.

  The plenary address at the conference will be given by Carolyn Pereira from the Constitutional Rights Foundation. Ms. Pereira is the Executive Director of the Constitutional Rights Foundation of Chicago.

  The conference registration fee is $295 for professionals and $245 for students and includes two full breakfasts, two plated lunches, and refreshments. The early registration rate will be honored for the next few days. You can go to the website and download the form in PDF format (www.civicedconf.org/practicereg2005.pdf). The EIN number is printed at the top of the registration form. If you are paying by credit card, you can complete the form and simply fax it; if you are paying by check, just complete the form and mail it in. You should receive an response email in about a week acknowledging that your registration has been received. For room reservations, call 1-800-445-6563 or 1-504-525-5566.
  

  December 15, 2004

• JUST RELEASED! Long-Term Study Reveals Positive Impacts of Americorps Service. Serving in AmeriCorps has positive effects on members' civic engagement, according to a five-year study to be released today at the National Press Club by David Eisner, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service.

  "The first rigorous scientific study of AmeriCorps tells us that people who take the AmeriCorps pledge and fulfill their year of service end up as more engaged citizens than they would have been had they not participated in AmeriCorps," said Eisner. "National service programs are important contributors to the long-term civic health of our nation"… December 14, 2004, Corporation for National and Community Service.

  To read the full report go to: http://www.nationalservice.org/news/pr/04_1214.html.
  

  December 13, 2004

• REMINDER: The Center for Youth as Resources (CYAR) is pleased to sponsor the Civic Engagement Series (CES) in Washington, D.C. This initiative will be a series of presentations relating to some form of civic engagement, volunteerism, voting, national service, and other topics. All of the presentations will be held at the CYAR office (1717 K Street, 13th Floor) and open to the public.

  Each presentation will feature an expert on one of the topics listed above with an informal presentation lasting 20-30 minutes. Following each presentation, a discussion and Q and A period will take place for an additional 20-30 minutes.

  The next presentation, to be held on December 16, at 12:00 pm (noon) features David Skaggs, Executive Director of the Center for Democracy & Citizenship, a program of the Council for Excellence in Government. The mission of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship is to improve the performance of America¹s representative democracy. Mr. Skaggs is also Counsel to a Washington-based law firm and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Colorado. These positions follow Skaggs' twelve years of service in Congress (1987-99) as U.S. Representative from the 2nd Congressional District of Colorado (the northwestern Denver suburbs) and three terms in the Colorado House (1981-87), the last two terms as Minority Leader. He will be speaking on the Civic Mission of Schools. For more information, contact CYAR Director Shuan Butcher at (202) 261-4131 or sbutcher@cyar.org.
  

  December 10, 2004

• AMERICAN HISTORY AND CIVICS EDUCATION ACT OF 2004

  - The bill, introduced in the House on Nov. 16, 2004 by Rep. Roger F. Wicker (R-MS), was passed in the House on Nov. 19, 2004 and in the Senate on Dec. 7, 2004

  - Authorizes the Secretary of Education to award up to 12 grants, on a competitive basis, to entities with demonstrated expertise in historical methodology or the teaching of history to establish: (1) Presidential Academies for Teaching of American History and Civics that may offer workshops for both veteran and new teachers of such subjects; and (2) Congressional Academies for Students of American History and Civics. Allows such grants to be made from funds appropriated for FY 2005 or any subsequent fiscal year for the Secretary's Fund for the Improvement of Education.

  - Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to the National History Day Program to continue and expand its activities to promote the study of history and improve instruction.
  

  December 9, 2004

• Healthy, properly nourished students who feel safe are better able to concentrate on their work, attend school on a regular basis, and perform well in class and on tests. Despite such research findings, however, discussions about improving student achievement often occur separately from discussions about schools' roles in addressing health and safety concerns. Federal, state, and local policies are being formulated to address each concern, yet policymakers frequently fail to consider intersecting student health and achievement as they develop school improvement policies. Although academic achievement is a key mission for schools, it is not the only goal. Public schools also prepare students to be healthy, productive, moral citizens with an appreciation for a range of knowledge and dispositions, including culture and the arts. By including such knowledge and skills as well as a supportive environment, schools help students develop physically, socially, emotionally, and cognitively. Those that satisfy these basic needs find it easier to help students improve their behavior, attitudes, and achievement, writes Theresa Lewallen. For more go to:
  http://www.ascd.org/publications/infobrief/issue38.html
  

  December 8, 2004

• The Brookings Institution announces the following:
  
  - "How Well Are American Students Learning?" a report by the Brookings Brown
  Center on Education Policy (November 2004). To read the report go to: http://www.brookings.edu/gs/brown/bc_report/2004/2004report.htm.

  December 7, 2004

• Public Education Network Weekly NewsBlast online resource at has provided information on "Grants Available for National Youth Service Day" indicating that Youth Service America announced the availability of hundreds of grants to implement community service projects surrounding National Youth Service Day. With support from the U.S. Department of Justice, the Constitutional Rights Foundation and CRF Chicago, Phi Alpha Delta, the National Youth Court Center at the America Probation and Parole Association, and Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, Inc. are offering grants to support projects for National Youth Service Day, April 15-17, 2005. For more information go to:
  http://www.pnnonline.org/article.php?sid=5597. To subscribe to PEN go to: http://www.publiceducation.org/subscribe.asp
  

  December 6, 2004

• The Center for Youth as Resources (CYAR) is pleased to sponsor the Civic Engagement Series (CES) in Washington, D.C. This initiative will be a series of presentations relating to some form of civic engagement, volunteerism, voting, national service, and other topics. All of the presentations will be held at the CYAR office (1717 K Street, 13th Floor) and open to the public.

  Each presentation will feature an expert on one of the topics listed above with an informal presentation lasting 20-30 minutes. Following each presentation, a discussion and Q and A period will take place for an additional 20-30 minutes.

  The next presentation, to be held on December 16, at 12:00 pm (noon) features David Skaggs, Executive Director of the Center for Democracy & Citizenship, a program of the Council for Excellence in Government. The mission of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship is to improve the performance of America¹s representative democracy. Mr. Skaggs is also Counsel to a Washington-based law firm and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Colorado. These positions follow Skaggs' twelve years of service in Congress (1987-99) as U.S. Representative from the 2nd Congressional District of Colorado (the northwestern Denver suburbs) and three terms in the Colorado House (1981-87), the last two terms as Minority Leader. He will be speaking on the Civic Mission of Schools. For more information, contact CYAR Director Shuan
  Butcher at (202) 261-4131 or sbutcher@cyar.org.
  

  December 2, 2004

• The Coalition for Community Schools' 4th National Forum's "Community Schools: The Time is Now!" will be held March 9-11, 2005 in Chicago. It will bring together leaders and advocates to discuss new strategies on how to create schools as centers of community. A great opportunity to gain new tools, ideas, networking to help better integrate community resources and services into the schools to achieve improved outcomes for young people. School administrators, teachers, parents, youth, local elected officials, and leaders from youth development organizations, health and human services agencies, community-based organizations, and philanthropy are all invited to join us at this Forum. For more information go to:
  http://guest.cvent.com/i.aspx?1Q,P1,7DE88679-8C38-4EEB-8579-FE8C65311016
  

  December 1, 2004

• The Brookings Institution and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life announces the following report release:
  - "How the Faithful Voted: Political Alignments and the Religious Divide in the 2004 Elections" Held on November 17, participants in this discussion, sponsored by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Brookings Institution, discussed what the election's outcome says about the religious and cultural divide in the American electorate; how Bush captured the Catholic vote; the growing political clout of evangelicals; and whether religion helps explain how Latinos and African Americans voted. To read the report on moral values, go to: http://www.brookings.edu/comm/events/20041117pew.htm or http://pewforum.org.
  

  
  

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