The Civics Academy for Middle School Teachers

Helping to restore the civic mission of Florida's Schools

Our nation's founders envisioned public education as having a primary responsibility for producing enlightened citizens. In fact, their vision "...assumed that all education had civic purposes and every teacher was a civics teacher." For a variety of reasons, however, the civic mission of public education has been eroded over the past half-century. Available evidence points to a resulting disengagement - particularly among young people - here in Florida as well as in other parts of the nation. In 2006, the Florida Legislature took note of the weakened condition of the state's civic culture and made a first significant step toward the goal of strengthening civic education. With the passage of HB 7087, districts were required, for the first time, to offer at least one semester of civics at the middle school level. This is a critical beginning. Because civics and government have not been included in Florida student assessment system (FCAT), available evidence points to the conclusion that civics has often been ignored at both the elementary and middle school levels. The requirement for at least a semester of civics at the middle school level thus creates an important opportunity to address the civic mission of Florida's schools.

To help Florida's school districts use the legislature's mandate to significantly enhance civic education in the state, the Joint Center, with financial support from the Helios Education Foundation, has launched a two-year initiative that will provide civics professional development opportunities to middle school social studies teachers throughout the state.

In partnership with the Center for Civic Education and the Florida Law Related Education Association, the week-long professional development program will focus on two nationally recognized tools for active civic learning.

• We the People...the Citizen and the Constitution is the premier constitutional education program in the country. It combines a six unit textbook with a mock congressional hearing.
• Project Citizen provides an opportunity for students to learn about state and local government through a 'hands on experience' where they solve community problems.

A matching donation from the Center for Civic Education will provide free classroom text materials to all teachers who participate in the program.

Read more about The Civics Academy for Middle School Teachers.