New documents on citizenship education

Posted by on September 10, 2004

The ECS National Center for Learning and Citizenship recently released two documents designed to help policymakers and education leaders develop policies that support effective citizenship education. Both are available on the ECS/NCLC Web site at http://www.ecs.org/nclc.

“Developing Citizenship Competencies from Kindergarten Through Grade 12: A Background Paper for Policymakers and Educators,” authored by Dr. Judith Torney-Purta and Susan Vermeer, defines citizenship education as including civic knowledge, skills and dispositions, and makes the case for starting to teach citizenship education in the early elementary grades through high school.

“Experts Offer Recommendations for Improving Citizenship Education” is based upon the principles in the background paper, and summarizes the work of experts in the field of citizenship education and policy, including policymakers, teachers, school leaders and researchers and scholars, to improve citizenship education. Their recommendations include reviewing state standards, establishing a community connection, and choosing among delivery options to develop a comprehensive policy.