What's New in Civic Education and Youth Civic Engagement Work .... (May 2005 Archive Section)

May 31, 2005


• Unite For Sight has many new service-learning volunteer opportunities in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe for Summer 2005, Fall 2005, and Spring 2006.  Opportunities are available in rural villages, urban locations, and refugee camps (including in the tsunami region). You can read about all of the opportunities at
  http://www.uniteforsight.org/intl_volunteer/ .

  May 20, 2005

  Michigan Campus Compact is now actively recruiting for its next cohort of AmeriCorps* VISTA volunteers. Help to build state-wide infrastructure among Michigan colleges and universities to assist children and youth in low-income communities. For more information and application please go to: http://www.micampuscompact.org/vistaprogram.asp .
  
  May 19, 2005Global Youth Connect, an international human rights organization for youth, has announced that they are recruiting young leaders (ages 18-25) to participate in a human rights delegation to Rwanda from December 29, 2005 - January 14, 2006 (tentative dates).
  
  This experiential education and service program will take participants to the capital city of Kigali, to Butare (the site of the National University of Rwanda and an area heavily affected during the genocide) and other sites in Rwanda to explore the range of human rights issues that are currently impacting Rwanda 's development.
  
  They invite interested young leaders to apply. They are looking for participants who are between the ages of 18-25, possess U.S. citizenship or residency, or are studying full-time at a U.S. college or university. Most importantly, applicants should want to expand their knowledge and understanding of human rights and social justice. The deadline to receive applications is July 5, 2005.
  
  For more information on the program details, costs, and how to apply go to: www.globalyouthconnect.org/countries/rwanda/delegation.html

  May 18, 2005

  Campus Compact's Second Annual CSD Professional Development Retreat will be held on July 25-29 at DePaul University in Chicago. Designed specifically for professionals in their first five years in the field, this retreat offers four and a half days of must-have knowledge. Some of the presenters and facilitators include:
  - Liz Hollander, executive director, Campus Compact
  - Marshall Welsh, director, Lowell Bennion Community Service Center, University of Utah
  - Patti Clayton, faculty fellow, Campus Compact and co-director, Faculty, Center for Teaching and Learning, North Carolina State University
  - Barbara Jacoby, engaged scholar, Campus Compact and director, Office of Community Service-Learning, University of Maryland - College Park
   
  Registrants from Campus Compact member campuses pay just $895 ($1150 for non-members), including tuition, most meals, and a host of vital print resources 30% off the non-member price. Through a special conference arrangement, hotel costs add just another $39 per night.
   
  More information, a draft agenda, and registration form are available at http://www.compact.org/csds/CSD_retreat.html . Or contact Pam Mutascio at pmutascio@compact.org .

  May 17, 2005

  The Public Education Network has posted the following:
  
  - State Farm Companies Foundation K-12 Public Education Grants Program for programs that improve teacher quality; Service-Learning programs that integrate core classroom curriculum with service to the community, and programs that incorporate the Baldrige criteria into education systems to improve overall effectiveness. Maximum Award: Varies. Eligibility: K-12 public schools. Deadline: June 15, 2005. For more information go to:
  http://www.statefarm.com/foundati/foundati.htm

  May 16, 2005

  Teacher Preparation and Students' Civic Knowledge and Engagement - A recent CIRCLE Fact Sheet by Judith Torney-Purta examines how teachers are prepared to provide civic education as well as teacher attitudes towards civic education. In addition, it explores how teachers' educational experience relates to students' civic achievement and civic engagement. The fact sheet is based on data from the IEA Civic Education Study and can be downloaded from http://www.civicyouth.org/research/areas/hs_civic.htm.

  May 13, 2005

  The North Carolina Campus Compact is in search of a dynamic and talented VISTA Leader to serve with the organization starting this summer for the 2005-06 academic year.  We have not yet received as many candidates as we hoped and would like for you to re-send a request to current AmeriCorps* VISTA members to consider this special opportunity.  Please share widely the attached position description and help recruit someone ideal for our growing program.  If you have any questions, please contact me John Barnhill at 336.278.7278 or http://www.elon.edu/nccc.
  
  May 12, 2005

  The following items highlight new Youth Voting content recently added to Pew Charitable Trust's Web site.  - Analysts Unclear On Effect Of Young Voters In Pitt Mayoral Race: An article from CentreDaily.com.
  
  - Today's Students Expect To Be Heard: An article from The Cleveland Plain Dealer.
  
  - Be Powerful, Be Heard: An article from Home News Tribune.

  May 11, 2005

  The CivicMind announces the following: - The CivicMind award for May is presented to the National Service-Learning Partnership, a national organization promoting service-learning for all young people. For more information, go to: http://www.civicmind.com/wnslp.htm . - “Discover Your Civic Autobiography” ( http://www.civicmind.com/ecivbio.htm ) helping to understand how civic experience shapes our lives - Additional service-learning resources available at (http://www.civicmind.com/service.htm ).

  May 10, 2005

  History Story & NCLB: Keeping the Marriage Together

  - Many educators and advocates for history education have been critical of the Bush Administration and the U.S. Department of Education for turning their backs on history education. Some believe that the No Child Left Behind law, with its focus on reading and math, is pushing history out of the curriculum. At the link below is the text of a recent speech given by Michael J. Petrilli, Associate Assistant Deputy Secretary in the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Innovation and Improvement. He argues that policymakers can react to concerns about curriculum narrowing in three ways: (1) Get rid of NCLB; (2) Amend NCLB to require testing in history; (3) Find ways for NCLB and history education to get along. Petrilli spends most of the speech explaining why option #1 is a bad idea. He then submits that #2 is going to be a long shot, since "more testing" is not an argument many folks are likely to support right now in Washington , DC . At the end, he offers a few -- admittedly thin – ideas about how to address #3. This speech was meant to be provocative, and to start a conversation. The author welcomes your ideas about how we can maintain history education in the age of NCLB at: michael.petrilli@ed.gov . For more go to: http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=H-TAH&month=0505&week=a&msg=6koWFgSRT3G7a9mNvbElKA&user=&pw >=

May 6, 2005

• This month's Dirksen Center 's online Communicator Update – a web-based e-newsletter providing educators with news and ideas to improve the understanding of Congress features the following:

  - Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress. This site gives online access to the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, with entries for all who have served in the House or the Senate, as well as updated versions of the House and Senate guides to research collections and bibliographies of Senators.

  - Center for Legislative Archives, National Archives and Records Administration. The National Archives is the official repository of the records of House and Senate committees. If you are interested in learning how to access the records of Congress, this site is the place to begin.

  - Congressional Research Service Reports. The Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C., Inc. (LLSDC) makes available on its Legislative Source Book Web site a new Web page entitled Selected Congressional Research Service Reports on Congress and Its Procedures which includes some 36 alphabetically arranged CRS reports, most of which have never before been made available on the Web.

  - First Federal Congress Project. One of the most interesting features of this site is an online exhibit that covers fourteen topics related to the work and accomplishments of the first Congress. The site will eventually have an online teacher's guide but even in its present form it provides a wide array of original sources, engravings, portraits, etc., all of which are placed in historical context.

  - Library of Congress. All students and teachers should be familiar with this site it offers students of history and government interesting places. For example, The American Memory Project is bringing online important congressional records and publications. A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation is a web site designed to make these records more accessible to students, scholars, and interested citizens. Additional materials will be added to the site every few months.

  For more information go to: http://www.webcommunicator.org/

  May 5, 2005

• How Generation Y is Redefining Faith

  - A recent CIRCLE-supported study by Anna Greenberg compares young Jews, Catholics, Protestants and Muslims and their relationship to both religious identity and institutional religion. The report, entitled, "OMG! How Generation Y is Redefining Faith in The iPod Era," was released at an event at the Brookings Institution which took place on April 11th. Download the report from CIRCLE's Site.

  May 4, 2005

• The APSA CivicEd Update announces the following on the IEA Civic Education Study, an award, some articles:
  
  - The IEA study will be recognized for its rigor and its value in shaping policy and practice relating to civic education by the Decade of Behavior Research Award in Democracy to be presented to Judith Torney-Purta at a Congressional Briefing in late May.  The American Psychological Association nominated her, and four other winners were nominated by the American Political Science Association, the National Communications Association, and the Association of American Geographers.  The Decade of Behavior is a consortium of 70 social and behavioral science organizations that promotes social and behavioral science research awareness on the part of the public and policy makers.
  
  - Among the recent articles using the IEA data base is "Teachers' Educational Experience and Confidence in Relation to Students' Civic Knowledge across Countries" (authored by Torney-Purta, Richardson, and Barber and appearing this summer in the inaugural issue of the International Journal of Citizenship and Teacher Education).   A CIRCLE fact sheet summarizing similar data can be accessed on http://www.civicyouth.org .

  - A second article by Torney-Purta, Barber, and Richardson is "Trust in Government-related Institutions and Political Engagement among Adolescents in Six Countries" in Vol. 39 of Acta Politica (2004).
  
  - A third article by Hooghe and Stolle entitled "Good Girls Go to the Polling Booth, Bad Boys Go Everywhere: Gender Differences in Anticipated Political Participation among American Fourteen-year Olds" appeared in Vol. 26 of Women and Politics (2004).
  
  - The IEA web page ( http://www.wam.umd.edu/~iea ) contains information about how to access the IEA international data set, and further assistance is available from CEDARS (Civic Education Data and Researcher Services, cbarber@umd.edu ) for those who wish to conduct secondary analysis of these data.

  May 3, 2005

• Presidential Freedom Scholarships
  - The Presidential Freedom Scholarships are designed to promote student service and civic engagement and honor outstanding service to the community. Maximum Award: $1000. Eligibility: High School Students. Deadline: July 1, 2005. For more information go to: http://www.nationalservice.gov/scholarships/

  May 2, 2005

• Education Week's April 20 edition feature article entitled “Leading the Way” is about student-run foundations across the country are empowering a new generation of teens to play larger roles in their schools and communities. To access the article or subscribe to Ed Week online go to: http://www.edweek.org .

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