Restoring the Balance between Academics and Civic Engagement in Public Schools
Washington, D.C. – Although the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 refocused a generation-long emphasis on the importance of “core” subjects such as math and reading in our schools, this heightened concern with academics has a blind spot. The preoccupation with reshaping academics and raising academic performance is perceived by a growing number of Americans as overshadowing a task of no less vital importance: educating children and youth to become engaged members of their communities as responsible and informed citizens.
Throughout 2004, three consecutive roundtable discussions were convened on Capitol Hill bringing national, state, and local policymakers, education leaders, researchers and practitioners to the table to examine and offer recommendations for addressing this perceived imbalance in public schools. Across the nation, regional focus groups of parents, teens, teachers, administrators, business and community members and other citizens were given the task of reacting to and further shaping the recommendations. The outcome of the year-long process is an adaptable action plan to guide schools toward producing students who are both academically proficient and civically engaged in the age of NCLB. The meetings and resulting report, Restoring the Balance between Academics and Civic Engagement in Public Schools, were guided by The American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) in partnership with the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). The report was written with a mainstream audience in mind.
The report’s Action Agenda consists of seven propositions addressing the following:
- Understanding the business of public education
- Knowledge, dispositions, virtues and skills of responsible citizenship
- Civic knowledge as integral to a broadened "core of learning" in schools
- Teaching methodologies such as service-learning as a promising strategy
- Benefits of an integrated curriculum
- Necessary components of the action plan (the details)
- Community, parental and youth voice in the action plan
Leading programs and school-community partnerships that have pioneered programmatic approaches to balancing academic learning and civic engagement are featured in the report as well as key national reports such as the Civic Mission of Schools and research that supports the report’s recommendations.
In an era where high stakes testing has commandeered public education, the report provides a game plan for aligning the academic and civic mission of public schools to recapture the original essence of education. It’s a report written for a broad audience, arguing for integrated learning experiences for students that connect learning to the real world – with a nod to service. “If we want safe and stable communities and caring and responsible neighbors for tomorrow, we’ve got to plan today to provide opportunities to combine academics with civic involvement, and ensure that these experiences are of high quality and make a direct and meaningful connection to the lives of children and youth.” — Sarah Pearson, senior program associate, AYPF, and co-editor of the report.
Restoring the Balance between Academics and Civic Engagement in Public Schools concludes with an appeal, reminding us that citizenship in the American tradition has always aspired to a higher level of personal participation. Citizenship in America carries with it the expectation that we will both enlarge its boundaries and pass the legacy and duty of its caretaking on to our children. Therefore, it is important at this time in our collective history to take steps to broaden our concept of public education to actively include civic learning and engagement.
“The history of the United States is characterized as one long, and often bitter, struggle to ensure that every inhabitant has the right to influence policy decisions affecting the quality of their lives. Today, as our world grows smaller and policy impacting our lives increases, the skills needed to participate civically, to understand our local, state, and national governments are critical and could be more greatly covered in school. The new AYPF-ASCD report highlights practical solutions that combine academic learning with the demands of effective civic engagement.” — Samuel Halperin, founder and senior fellow of AYPF, and co-editor of the report.
To order the report, Restoring the Balance between Academics and Civic Engagement in Public Schools (56 pp.), please send $5 per copy (includes shipping/handling) to AYPF, 1836 Jefferson Place, NW, Washington, DC 20036. An online version of the report is also available.
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The American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) is a non-profit, nonpartisan professional development organization that bridges youth policy, practice and research for professionals working on youth policy issues at the national, state and local levels. AYPF’s events and policy reports are made possible by the support of a consortium of philanthropic foundations. This report and the discussions that shaped it were made possible by support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.
The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) is a community of educators, advocating sound policies and sharing best practices to achieve the success of each learner. Founded in 1943, ASCD is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that represents 170,000 educators from more than 135 countries and more than 60 affiliates. Our members span the entire profession of educators-superintendents, supervisors, principals, teachers, professors of education, and school board members.