Renewing the Civic Mission of Pennsylvania Schools

The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has made civic education a top priority. On Friday, April 18, PDE joined with First Lady of Pennsylvania Marjorie O. Rendell and PennCORD to unveil a web hub of resources for teachers to use when designing civics instruction. Education Secretary Gerald L. Zahorchak introduced the "Standards Aligned System" (SAS) to a group of approximately one hundred educators and civic organizations at the Governor's Residence in Harrisburg.

As a participant at the April 18 summit, I can attest to the value of seeing the vast array of resources brought to life by the PDE team. To demonstrate the effectiveness of designing instruction using the standards aligned system, PDE engaged the group in a lesson on the primary elections. Role-playing high school students, we walked through a lesson plan that incorporated all six components of the SAS: clear standards, fair assessments, curriculum framework, instruction, materials and resources and interventions. Once we understood how the pieces fit together, we went online to view the piece of the SAS that was the summit's main focus - the curriculum framework for civics.

Three pillars, "Participating in our Community", "Participating in a Global Society", and "Rights and Responsibilities of a Citizen", form the foundation of PDE's approach to civic education. I was pleased to see all of the following fleshed out for each content area and grade: Standards; Big Ideas; Concepts; Competencies; Essential Questions; Vocabulary; Exemplars; Materials for interventions, assessment and instruction; and supports for English Language Learners and Learning Support. To learn more about the voluntary model curriculum for civics, kindergarten through 12th grade, attend one of the mini-regional summits that will be held across Pennsylvania in coming months. PennCORD will keep you updated about the dates and locations of these regional summits.

PDE welcomes feedback from educators about the curriculum framework for civics on the social studies hub. To view the framework, visit the PDE home page http://www.pde.state.pa.us/sas and choose "SAS Applied to Civics." PDE has created a dedicated email address to receive feedback on the hub. If you wish to contact them with suggestions about what to add or delete, email ra-sas@state.pa.us.