Jefferson County Public Schools (CO), Santa Fe Public Schools (NM), and Oklahoma City Public Schools (OK) working with nation’s leading civic education provider to pilot teacher-created iCivics Educating for American Democracy curriculum

This fall, a select group of 8th grade teachers from three very different school districts are working with iCivics, the country’s leader in civic education, to localize and implement a new U.S. History curriculum based on the Roadmap to Educating for American Democracy (EAD).

Over the past year, iCivics and experts in history and pedagogy worked together with nine teachers to build a general curriculum based on the EAD Roadmap, a framework designed to strengthen civics and history learning in K–12 classrooms throughout the country. The nonprofit then selected three districts – Jefferson County Public Schools (CO), Santa Fe Public Schools (NM), and Oklahoma City Public Schools (OK) – to take part in a pilot program to localize that curriculum to meet the needs and interests of each district’s students and communities.

Each district’s social studies department is working with iCivics and community partners to support six teachers as they work together to modify the curriculum for their district and students. These districts will provide models for other districts to emulate after this pilot year.

The iCivics EAD curriculum centers on depth of knowledge and understanding, taking a project-embedded approach to engage students in learning that brings a full American history to life.

“Across the country, districts, teachers, students and parents are looking for a way to teach civics and history in a way that inspires students to become informed and engaged members of our constitutional democracy,” iCivics Executive Director Louise Dubè said. “Based on our work with millions of students over the past decade, we believe that the iCivics Educating for American Democracy curriculum will do just that. We are excited that these three districts have joined us in the forefront of efforts to strengthen how we teach one of our most important subjects, and we look forward to seeing how this curriculum will be implemented in the classroom to ensure that the practice of democracy is learned by each new generation.”