Educating for American Democracy Pilot Evaluation
History and civic education has not been a priority in American schools for decades, leaving young people wildly unprepared to participate in democratic society. Indeed, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 and the Race to the Top grants of 2009 largely neglected these subjects in federal policy. To make matters worse, the opportunities for high-quality history and civic education that do exist are inequitably distributed to White and economically advantaged students (Levine & Kawashima-Ginsberg, 2017). But research consistently shows that marginalized student populations benefit from innovative and student-centered approaches to learning when they are provided in schools (Atwell et al., 2017; Noguera et al., 2015). The Roadmap to Educating for American Democracy (2021), created by a diverse group of history and civic education scholars, provides a national framework and plan of action for educators to bring high-quality, inquiry-based history and civics content to students in grades K-12 across the nation.
The Educating for American Democracy Pilot Evaluation will examine the implementation of a new middle school curriculum aligned with the priorities of the Educating for American Democracy (EAD) initiative. The research will be undertaken in collaboration with iCivics, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting civic learning, and the architects of the curriculum. Ultimately, the goal is to scale and distribute the curriculum nationwide.
The new curriculum will be piloted during the 2022-2023 school year in three school districts chosen by iCivics to be broadly representative of the American public education system. The research team will assess the implementation of the pilot curriculum in these three districts, evaluating outcomes from the perspectives of both administrators, teachers, and students. The study will include approximately 15,000 participants.
Partners
Emma Humphries, Chief Education Officer
Christina Ross, Director of Implemention for EAD
Tori Saia, Coordinator for EAD
Sarah DeWitt, Curriculum Associate for EAD
Angela Clay, Curriculum Associate for EAD
Project Team
Information for Students and Families
To review the survey protocols and consent forms for students and families, click here.