In 2018, DESE revised the History and Social Science Curriculum Frameworks that prioritized civics education. Later that year, Governor Baker signed Chapter 296 of the Acts 2018, “an act to promote civic engagement.” During the 2019-2020 school year, Pentucket Middle School eight grade history teacher, Dan Millard, with the help from the Democratic Knowledge Project, through Harvard University, was one of the first teachers in the state to pilot the civics project. The Democratic Knowledge Project’s vision is “With high-quality civics curricula and teaching methods, we can build a supermajority of the population (at least 67%) who believe democracy is essential and feel confident in having the knowledge, capacities and skills they need to participate.” Facilitated by Harvard University and DESE, Mr. Millard participated in biweekly professional development meetings, along with other history teachers across the Commonwealth to create and to develop curriculum for the new MA civics project that aligned with MA Frameworks..
In 2020-2021, both eight grade history teachers, Dan Millard and Leo Parent participated in the state’s civics project and showcased students' civics projects throughout the school. This year will be the third year that eight grade teachers at Pentucket partake in the DESE’s civic project which will be showcased in late May and open to the public.
We seek to address the following questions: What specific knowledge, skills, and dispositions are essential for civic readiness? What does it mean to be an informed, thoughtful, and active citizen - any active and responsible participant in any community or group? What does democratic citizenship look like in action? How do we effectively foster civic agency?
Civics education, while embedded into the social studies curriculum in K-6 and into History curriculum in the High School, has its centerpiece in schools in Massachusetts in 8th Grade, where students are immersed in a full year study of Civics. Of course this class is then followed by two consecutives years of US History I and US History II as 9th and 10th graders. In a 2021 article in Commonwealth Magazine , MA was noted for the exceptional efforts and outcomes that occurred here to ensure our students are learning civic education. In the article a report from The Fordham Institute rated Civic Education in MA with an “A-” and suggested other states should emulate what we have been doing here in Massachusetts.
The civics project is a journey of self discovery for students as students identify a local problem that is of interest to them. Prior to selecting their civic project, Mr. Millard and Mr. Parent spend time helping students identify and break down interests and things that are important to them through an identity chart. This helps students to focus on an area of interest. Once the student has identified a problem of interest, the project involves a process that requires students utilize research skills to become an expert on their topic, explain why the topic is a problem, reaching out to local politicians/decision makers to gather additional information about the topic and/or to explain why the topic is a problem. Additionally, students must explain the steps to work on solving the problem and explaining what they did to try and execute a plan or enact change.
This year some of the topics students have chosen to research are: gender, environment, school issues, and mental health. Through the civics action project, it is the hope that students will develop their research, writing, presentation, persuasion, and communication skills. More importantly, though, is that the project will encourage students to become an active citizen within their community and they learn the importance of civic responsibility.
The MA DESE Civics Guidelines provide educators with some great insights in ways to ensure the civics education is meaningful and impactful. The 8th Grade course goals and purpose is described in the following way:
Students will have the opportunity to apply their civic knowledge of foundational documents, how and why U.S. government institutions developed, and how government evolved through legislation and court decisions, and how individuals exercise their rights and civic responsibilities.
Students will hone their civic skills with class activities that engage them in critical thinking and problem-solving, and that provide them multiple opportunities to communicate persuasively and work collaboratively.
Students will apply both civic skills and dispositions such as respect for others, commitment to equality, logical reasoning, and the ability to consider various perspectives and engage in civil discourse to complete a six-stage civics project.
Students will primarily focus on the process (six stages) of completing a civics project and will require significant scaffolding.
Examine self and civic identity
Identifying an issue
Researching and investigating
Developing an action plan
Taking action
Reflecting and showcasing
While the past few years has presented its challenges with fully implementing a Civics Education Project, through the efforts of Mr. Millard, and Mr. Parent, many of our students have done outstanding work. Kiera Milliken, 9th grader, pictured above, completed her project on “Disabilities and Disorders.” She chose the topic because she wanted to bring disability awareness to the school.
Kiera explained that the civics project was “really fun and complicated but that teachers were there to guide and to help [me] through the process.” Although Kiera was able to bring awareness on disabilities and disorders to the school, when she completes her civics project as an upperclassmen, she hopes to continue her work on this as Kiera stated “not everyone is conscious enough to think about them [disabilities and disorders]” and wants to create ways to address disabilities knowledge for students and staff.
Even as students prepare for a project, they engage throughout the year in intense discourses which requires preparation and thought. In a recent class in Mr. Parent’s room, his students participated in a debate as they were looking at the part of the definition of Civics that says "the obligation we have towards others." The class used a real world example of something that happened at Pentucket 20 years ago but certainly has occurred in other districts more recently. The class discussed how they would respond if a group of students were making racial slurs at an African American player from another team during a basketball game. As it applies to Civics, the students engaged in thought deep discussion about what is our obligation in that situation? Students had three choices - would you confront the people directly? Would you ignore the situation and pretend you didn't hear anything? Would you move to another part of the gym? Students wrote their responses and then shared their results with the class. The result was a powerful exchange with students, who provided well thought answers and explanations, while all remained in a high respectful discussion.
These debates require students to think critically about complex social issues that connect laws, humanity and responsibilities of community members. The students also build empathy for others while listening through various perspectives.
Pentucket Regional Middle School Principal, Terry Conant, has been so pleased to see the students engage with such challenging topics. “This level of engagement and passion for real-world concerns from middle school students is amazing to see. Students in middle school often look for a voice to positively impact change in their communities and beyond. The Civics Education project has created this safe space for students to do so, and learn from others’ perspectives as well.”
Pentucket embeds civics in multiple grade levels. It starts early on in elementary school with lessons focusing on community and doing the right thing and it advances into 3rd and 5th grade where students learn about the creation of the United States. After the 8th Grade work, our high school students make more connections to civics in US History I and II as Freshman and Sophomores, but then also through several of the elective classes such Law and Society and Genocide and Humanitarianism. Our 8th Graders though, get a unique opportunity to build from the Democratic Knowledge Project and become immersed in the action oriented nature of the Civics class. The teachers have designed a learning opportunity that pushes students to be critical thinkers, communicate their thoughts with one another, and seek to understand how they can be active members of our community with eye on engagement and participation. The students are learning a great deal, but we also have a great deal to learn from the students.