Our Founding Fathers (and Mothers) finally have something to celebrate in Illinois! After a lengthy process in Springfield, we finally have a bill that mandates that our students study Civics in school. Yes, you heard me right. We didn’t have a law that requires our next generation of voters to learn how the legislative process works. Now we do.
Many thanks to our guest author Shawn Healy of the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. Shawn is a nationally known expert—and tireless fighter—on the importance of Civics in education. Illinoisans should consider ourselves lucky to have Shawn as our advocate in this critically important area. Learning about the democratic process will drive improved participation in voting, help equalize knowledge about rights and legal processes in underserved areas, and generally help our future leaders be more effective.
— Shelley Stern Grach
On August 21, 2015, Governor Bruce Rauner signed House Bill (HB) 4025 into law, requiring that future Illinois high school students complete a semester-long civics course. Course content centers on government institutions, current and controversial issues discussions, service-learning, and simulations of democratic processes. The course mandate takes effect on July 1, 2016, and applies to incoming freshmen for the 2016-2017 school year.
The Need for Civic Education
Illinois’ civic health is ailing, and our youngest residents graduate high school ill-prepared for informed, effective, and lifelong engagement in our democracy.
- Illinois Millennials (18-29) are less likely to vote in local elections, speak to or exchange favors with neighbors, or work within their communities to solve problems than young people in other states.
- 70% of Illinoisans overall have little to no trust in state government.
- Minority and low income students have less access to quality civic education, contributing to a lifelong civic participation gap.
We Know Quality Civic Education Works
Best practices in civic education, including formal classroom instruction, discussion, service-learning, and simulations are proven to develop students’ civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions.
- Students exposed to high school civics courses exhibit greater civic knowledge. The quantity and recency of civics course exposure predicts civic knowledge.
- In a national survey of youth ages 18-24 after the 2012 presidential election, those with quality high school civic learning experiences were more likely to understand campaign issues, form political opinions, recall facts about U.S. political system, and vote.
- A study of Chicago high school students demonstrates classroom learning experiences and service-learning opportunities are the primary contributors to building students’ civic engagement commitments.
We also have examples of many schools across the state that are already implementing high quality civic education. In the past decade, the Illinois Civic Mission Coalition (ICMC) has recognized 41 Illinois high schools as Democracy Schools.
Additionally, the Global Citizenship Initiative (GCI) with Chicago Public Schools is in full swing in more than 30 high schools, offering a civics course, multiple service-learning experiences, and student voice committees that meet regularly with the principal to discuss common issues of concern.
Implementing the New Legislation
Responsibility for statewide implementation of a new high school civics course falls on the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), its Regional Offices of Education, individual school districts, and ultimately high schools and teachers within them. Central to this implementation effort is the need for teacher professional development opportunities and access to classroom resources.
To ensure adequate support, the corporate and foundation communities are creating a new public-private partnership including an implementation fund of at least $500,000 annually for a three year implementation period. The fund will be managed by the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. Together with existing programs, there will be well over $1 million annually invested in quality civic education professional development and related resources during the implementation period.
Shawn Healy, PhD, is a 2001 James Madison Fellow from the State of Wisconsin, Shawn holds an MA and PhD from the University of Illinois at Chicago in Political Science and earned a bachelor’s degree with distinction in Political Science, History and Secondary Education from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He is Chair of the Illinois Civic Mission Coalition as well as the Robert R. McCormick Foundation Civics Program’s civic learning and engagement scholar.
To learn more about Microsoft’s commitment to youth and education, visit our YouthSpark Hub or follow us on twitter at @msftcitizenship.