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.
