Civics in the Spotlight at #NCSS2017

by Mary Ellen Daneels, Lead Teacher Mentor

This past weekend, thousands of educators from across the nation gathered in San Francisco for the annual National Council for the Social Studies conference. Civics took center stage at many workshops with recognition of innovative practitioners, new resources for classroom teachers and affirmation of the importance of empowering ALL students for college, career and civic life.


Dr. Shawn Healy, Director of the Democracy Program at the Robert R. McCormick Foundation led an exciting session about the Action Civics initiative. The highlight of the presentation was the participation of a panel of youth from around the country that shared the significance of informed action in developing the knowledge, skills and dispositions of effective civic engagement.

With support from the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, the Stanford History Education Group (SHEG) debuted a new resource called Civic Online Learning designed to help students acquire, “the ability to judge the credibility of the information that floods young people’s smartphones, tablets, and computer screens.” Educators will find a series of flexible assessment tools in both paper and digital form for classroom use.

Joe Kahne and Erica Hodgin from the Civic Engagement Research Group highlighted materials they developed in partnership with the Teaching Channel. Educating for a Democracy Deep Dive provides a curated collection of videos accompanied by educational resources related to preparing youth for civic and political life in the digital age. It provides a way for educators to see civic education in action and find resources to support their efforts.

I was privileged to serve on a panel related to using current and controversial issues in the classroom and present on behalf of PolitiCraft, an action civics card game. In PolitiCraft, students construct a narrative around an issue of importance in their community and learn the various avenues they can pursue in order to take informed action. The game has curriculum aligned to both the Illinois Social Studies standards and Common Core Literacy standards.


One of the more exciting events I attended at #NCSS17 was the planning session for next year’s conference in Chicago on November 30- December 2, 2018 at the Hyatt Regency. The theme of the conference is Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow, The Future of Social Studies. Proposals for the conference will be open in December. Stay tuned for more information on how you can help with planning and volunteer efforts to make #NCSS18 in the Windy City a success.

Did you attend the NCSS Conference in San Francisco? What were your favorite sessions from the conference? Please comment below. We would love to learn from you and share with others how to best prepare students for civic life.

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