Month: February 2021

New Game, New Partnership: Promoting Global Civics with the Council on Foreign Relations

Posted on by Luke O'Connor

As global tensions rise in Europe and the COVID-19 pandemic enters its third year, there is an increased urgency to help students build an understanding of U.S. foreign policy.

Our new game, Convene the Council, created in partnership with the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), uses digital gameplay to teach important foreign policy and global civics lessons in an engaging way. Students who play Convene the Council step inside the Situation Room and assume the role of the president of the U.S., making foreign policy decisions through 20 different fictional foreign policy scenarios that reveal how foreign and domestic policy are intertwined and how decisions made in one corner of the world can affect us all. The game’s scenarios challenge students to use critical thinking skills to determine how the U.S. should respond based on recommendations from the president’s closest advisors.

As two organizations with the shared goal of empowering students and lifelong learners with the know-how needed to be responsible citizens, we are proud to have partnered with CFR on this game and to bring global civics, which expands and modernizes the field of civics education for our globalized era, into the spotlight.

This game was made in partnership with the Council on Foreign Relations, with support from The Peter G. Peterson Fund – New York Community Trust.

Play the Game

Meet the Council on Foreign Relations

CFR Education focuses on global civics, providing students with the knowledge, skills, and perspective—the global literacy—required to navigate our interconnected world, and preparing them to confront our era’s most pressing issues.Global civics recognizes that the world is more interconnected than ever before; that we live in an era when ideas, behaviors, products, and news spread more quickly and broadly than at any other time in history; and that the challenges and opportunities that define our era don’t stop at one country’s borders.

CFR is working to put global literacy back into the spotlight by meeting students where they are with relevant, compelling case studies and innovative multimedia content.It also acknowledges that learners of all ages must be equipped with the tools necessary to steer through the churn of the daily news cycle and a social media landscape often littered with misinformation.

CFR Education’s teaching global civics has involved using the intense, international popularity of Korean pop music to help students understand concepts like soft power; serving up avocado toast as an example of how the global supply chain affects what’s for brunch; and going behind the firewall to highlight how computer viruses now operate as modern-day tools of foreign policy.

Explore global civics resources from the Council on Foreign Relations:

CFR’s two award-winning digital learning products, World101 and Model Diplomacy, provide an essential baseline for a global civics curriculum and encourage learners ages 14 and up to embrace a world that functions on the fundamental principles of democracy.

  • World101 is a growing library of free educational resources that makes complex international relations and foreign policy issues accessible to all learners using videos, interactive maps, infographics, quizzes, and online teaching materials.
  • Model Diplomacy is a free classroom simulation program that invites students to step into the shoes of decision makers on the National Security Council or United Nations Security Council to debate the world’s most pressing issues.

CFR also recently released its first-ever music video—a guaranteed bop!

Education and Philanthropy Leaders Larry Kramer, Andrea Foggy-Paxton, and Gerard Robinson Join iCivics’ Board of Directors

Posted on by icivics

Kramer, Foggy-Paxton, and Robinson will play a critical role in iCivics’ expanded scope to help create an American school system that is committed to providing high-quality civic education to all students.

iCivics today announced that three remarkable leaders in education and philanthropy, Larry Kramer, Andrea Foggy-Paxton, and Gerard Robinson, have joined the organization’s Board of Directors.

iCivics, which U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor founded in 2009, has long been the country’s leading provider of civic education content, creating online games and digital resources that are now used by more than 120,500 educators and 7.6 million students annually. All of its content is free to use and completely nonpartisan. 

The organization has expanded its scope in recent years and has embarked on a strategic mission and plan to help create an American school system that is committed to providing high-quality civic education to all students, regardless of the color of their skin, zip code, or native tongue—and to helping all young people build civic agency.

Kramer, Foggy-Paxton, and Robinson will play a critical role in iCivics’ expansion, as each brings a unique professional background and personal perspective to the Board, as well as an incredible depth of knowledge and experience in education. 

“I am delighted that our Board will benefit from such great talent,” says iCivics’ executive director, Louise Dubé.” We have added significant depth of expertise in strategy, education and policy, which will be very useful to iCivics as we seek to expand and re-imagine civic education to strengthen our constitutional democracy.”

American legal scholar and non-profit executive Larry Kramer has been President of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation since 2012. He has guided the foundation in maintaining its long-standing commitment to areas of concern, such as education, and has overseen initiatives to respond to pressing and timely problems, such as democratic dysfunction and cybersecurity. Kramer previously served as the Richard E. Lang Professor of Law and Dean of Stanford Law School. Earlier in his career, he served as law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr, and as professor of law at the University of Chicago, New York University and University of Michigan law schools.

“I’m honored to join the Board of iCivics and contribute to its important mission of strengthening civic education in America,” Kramer said. “I welcome the chance to work with the talented team at iCivics and its broad coalition of partners to help ensure that every young person has the knowledge and skills necessary to fulfill their potential to be an informed, engaged participant in civic life.”

The founder and CEO of Foggy-Paxton Consulting, Andrea Foggy-Paxton, has devoted her career to expanding excellence and equity in education in the non-profit sector, including hands-on experience with translating theory into practice and implementing innovative new curricula in the classroom. She served as the Managing Director for Partner Strategy for the Broad Center and oversaw the L.A. Promise Fund Schools Committee. Previously, she was the executive vice president at Reasoning Mind, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing first-rate math instruction for all students and worked for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, developing and managing innovations in professional development, high-school transformation, college completion and personalized-learning grants. Previously, she worked for L.A. Youth at Work, Rock the Vote, and Freedom Schools.

“I am excited to join the iCivics Board given the importance of civic education in my own K-12 experience and the overwhelming need to deepen and evolve our civics education across all grade levels so that every child is prepared to participate in our democracy,” said Foggy-Paxton.

Vice President for Education at the Advanced Studies in Culture Foundation, Gerard Robinson, has more than 30 years of professional experience in both the public and private sector. He has a significant knowledge of and commitment to education policy, both in theory and practice, having served as Commissioner of Education for the State of Florida and Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Previously, he was the executive director of the Center for Advancing Opportunity and was the director and president of the Black Alliance for Educational Options. He is the co-editor of Education for Liberation: The Politics of Promise and Reform Inside and Beyond America’s Prisons (2019) and Education Savings Accounts: The New Frontier in School Choice (2017). 

“Joining the iCivics Board is a great honor for me,” said Robinson. “I look forward to working with a group of people who come from different walks of life, yet, choose to walk together on a highway called civic knowledge to improve civic participation for young people and adults through technology, public policy, and fun.”

iCivics is still committed to creating high-quality, free and nonpartisan content that every teacher and school can use. But it will also look to the new Board members to help build upon the work of its new strategic plan to achieve a system-wide mind-shift about civic education, with the goal of putting in place new and more rigorous policies to ensure high-quality civic education in 20 states by 2026. 

In 2018, iCivics founded the CivXNow coalition—a cross-ideological movement of more than 150 influential organizations, foundations, universities and civic education providers who are collectively working to make high-quality and equitable civic education a centerpiece of modern education nationwide. 

And on March 2, 2021 it will help unveil the Roadmap to Educating for American Democracy, an unprecedented, cross-ideological effort to build excellence in civic and history education for all K-12 students. The Educating for American Democracy (EAD) initiative was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the U.S. Department of Education and was led by a team drawn from iCivics, Harvard University, Arizona State University, and Tufts University’s Tisch College of Civic Life and Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE).

“We are incredibly excited that Larry Kramer, Andrea Foggy-Paxton, and Gerard Robinson have agreed to join the iCivics’ Board,” the chair of iCivics’ Board, Wendy May, said. “We believe iCivics will benefit immensely from their diverse perspectives, relevant professional experience, impeccable reputations in the field of education, links to relevant networks of influence, and, most importantly, their deep commitment to the cause of civic education.”

For more information contact jacob@oneallen.com.

About iCivics
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor founded in 2009 to transform civic education and rebuild civic strength through digital games and lesson plans. It is the country’s largest provider of civic education content and is currently used by more than 120,500 educators and 7.6 million students annually. All of its games are free, nonpartisan, and available at www.icivics.org.  

iCivics, XanEdu Partner to Provide Students with Workbooks to Meet the New Massachusetts Civics Project Requirement

Posted on by icivics

CAMBRIDGE, MASS — iCivics, the country’s leading civic education provider, has partnered with custom content publisher XanEdu to help Massachusetts students discover the power of creating positive change. Through the partnership, teachers will be able to purchase materials that will help them fulfill the state’s new civics project requirement, which encourages students to use what they have learned to address problems in their communities.

iCivics, an educational nonprofit, has created a student workbook titled, Civics Projects: A Workbook for Civic Engagement, and an accompanying teacher’s edition that guides students through the six stages of nonpartisan student led civics projects outlined by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to fulfill the requirements of the state’s civic law, The Act to Promote and Enhance Civic Engagement.

XanEdu, which delivers custom content solutions to thousands of educational institutions each year, is teaming with iCivics to ensure that Massachusetts school districts can access and receive the workbooks.    

The student workbook answers a question posed by many Massachusetts educators as they prepared to teach the civics unit: “Where do I begin?” The student workbook and teacher’s guide, which was created by iCivics specifically for this project, provide the nonpartisan, high quality information to ensure students fulfill the requirement.

“We’re excited to be working with XanEdu to make our high-quality civics materials widely available to students and teachers in Massachusetts,” said Dave Buchanan, Director of Massachusetts Programs at iCivics. “Young people are often the source of many creative solutions to social problems in our country. This partnership will help them learn how to put what they have learned into action by experiencing the practical aspects of participating in democracy.”

Since it was founded in 2009 by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, iCivics has created a library of digital games and hundreds of digital resources that teach every aspect of civic life and engagement — from presidential elections to media literacy to the workings of local and county governments. All of the material is free and nonpartisan. The games are played by more than 7.6 million students every year, and used by more than 120,500 teachers nationwide.

The partnership with XanEdu comes at a time when educators in Massachusetts and across the U.S. are helping students to understand the complex and rapidly changing events in the world. More school districts have turned to iCivics to provide context for students as they attempt to understand news events such as demands for social justice in the summer of 2020, the 2020 presidential election, and the insurgency against the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

iCivics and XanEdu are taking that one step further by empowering students to translate that understanding of national and world events into action. The student workbook provides step-by-step instructions for how to start and successfully complete a civics project, and contains lessons on key content and vocabulary. Since it provides space for students to record research, track their progress and reflect on their accomplishments, the workbook serves as a student’s portfolio.    

The teacher’s edition includes all of the pages from the student workbook, plus answers, lesson plans and suggestions for activities.

“Our partnership with iCivics is one of our most exciting and rewarding projects in recent years, because it not only demonstrates to students the power of civic responsibility, it translates it into action,” said Brett Costello, Chief Operating Officer of XanEdu. “The iCivics curriculum shows students how to make an impact in their communities, and we’re proud to have a role in ensuring that they receive this most important message.”

About XanEdu

As the leading provider of custom education materials, XanEdu has been increasing student engagement and enhancing learning outcomes since 1999 by delivering innovative solutions across the education spectrum. Accessibility and engagement for all learners is our mission. Thousands of education organizations work with XanEdu each year to customize and deliver content that is affordable, engaging, and accessible, digitally and in print, for over 1.5 million students. We are committed to advancing the learning tools for tomorrow through innovative products and services that address evolving learning styles, incorporate cutting edge technology, and provide flexibility for customization while maintaining our commitment to affordability and accessibility for all learners. XanEdu is a privately held company headquartered in Ann Arbor, MI.

The Proof Is in: iCivics Games Strengthen Civic Knowledge and Dispositions

Posted on by Yuki Huang

This year, we had 37,000 students test two of our best election games: Win the White House and Cast Your Vote. In the first, you are challenged to build a winning campaign for the presidency: strategic messaging, fundraising, and polling included! In the second, you must discover what it takes to become an informed voter – values, key issues, and candidates’ stances – before casting a vote in an imaginary local election. Both games were modified. Slightly. 

Before game-play, students had to answer a short quiz. Questions assessed content knowledge (such as “What is an incumbent?”), but also civic dispositions – meaning a set of tendencies and qualities that lend to democratic character formation – such as “How likely are you to get involved in a political campaign?” or even “I plan on following the news around the next election.” Then, once they played the game, students answered those same questions.

The results exceeded our best expectations.

Students improved on every question. For questions touching on civics content, scores increased 26% on average; for questions touching on civic dispositions and behaviors, we saw an astonishing 38% jump. In other words, 30 pleasant minutes of gaming and a few clicks later: students gained knowledge on the Electoral College and voting, expressed greater personal interest in these topics as well as dispositions to take part in them.

Here is the good news: we have 14 more high-quality games that would benefit.

While simple on its face, such a tool has value for teachers. One Wisconsin civics teacher put it clearly, “pre- and post- assessments are a huge opportunity to determine what students are learning from playing the simulations.” We now have a model that can be replicated in all of our games. Moreover, questions could be personalized for the classroom or game, according to each teacher’s wishes. It would help them inform their classroom instruction on a national scale. To be clear, iCivics firmly believes that the best teaching involves, well, teaching. Games cannot replace educators – but they can empower their teaching. 

iCivics has pioneered game-based philosophy since 2009. Educational games, when done well, are one of the great tools of modern learning. Games involve students in the learning. Through simulation, students step into a new civic world. They become the President, a lawmaker, a community activist, a pamphleteer in 1787 (with the fancy wig, too), a mayor, and so many other roles. With iCivics, they get to do their jobs and explore their world. Most importantly: they see where they fit in it. 

Even at the tender age of 79, having never touched a video-game in her life, our founder Sandra Day O’Connor was convinced of the merits of edu-gaming. Today – nearly 12 years later – 120,500 teachers all across America agree. Beyond gains in knowledge and dispositions, games get young people to wonder, to ask questions, and to be open to learning. We inspire students for civics life. Only then do we teach it.

Written By Gabriel Neher

Gabriel oversees much of iCivics’ institutional fundraising, with a focus on foundation relationships. He serves as principal grant writer, and manages the grants and report calendar. Gabriel graduated from Northeastern University in 2015 with a degree in psychology and criminal justice.  

This research was made possible through the generosity of the Stanton Foundation.

Black History Month: Lesson Plans and Resources for the Classroom

Posted on by Luke O'Connor

Black history is American history, and February is an opportunity to introduce classroom discussions and reflections about how Black Americans have shaped our nation. In celebration of Black History Month, we are sharing resources from iCivics, as well as partner organizations to support learning and conversations in the classroom.

Five iCivics Resources to Use This Month

The Road to Civil Rights Lesson Plan

Discover the people, groups, and events behind the Civil Rights Movement. Learn about means of non-violent protest, opposition to the movement, and identify how it took all three branches of the federal government to effect change. Protest posters, fictional diary entries, and a map of the movement’s major events develop a greater understanding of the struggle for civil rights.

Brown v. Board of Education Mini-Lesson

This mini-lesson covers the basics of the Supreme Court’s decision that overturned “separate but equal” in public schools. Students learn about segregation and “equality under the law.” 

Little Rock: Executive Order 10730 DBQuest

When President Eisenhower authorized troops under federal authority to desegregate Little Rock Central High School in 1957, he became the first president since Reconstruction to use federal forces to help enforce equal rights for African Americans. Using the example of Executive Order 10730, students will explore how executive orders can be used to enforce the law. The story of integrating Little Rock Central High School doesn’t start or stop with Eisenhower’s executive order. Dive into the downloadable teaching resources to share more of the history with your students through the use of primary source documents. 

VIDEO: Ethel Payne: First Lady of the Black Press

More inclusive coverage of national and world events is due, in part, to Ethel Payne, the second Black woman to become a member of the White House Press Corps. In her position, she asked leaders tough questions and wrote hard-hitting news stories. Her persistence brought civil rights issues to a national audience and put Black people’s experiences on the front page.

Resources Page

Find all of our animated videos, lessons, and DBQuests for teaching Black history all month (and all year) long conveniently located together on a resources page.

Go to the Page

Resources From Our Partners

Black history is more than teaching about the civic strategy and achievements of the Civil Rights Movement. As we work to expand our resources to better integrate the contributions as well as social, political, and historical contexts of Black Americans in civics, we invite you to check out these collections from a few of our partners: