Illinois Civics Teacher Mentors: Classroom Trailblazers, Trusted Colleagues

by Shawn P. Healy, PhD, Democracy Program Director

Two weeks ago, I summarized a comprehensive evaluation of our #CivicsIsBack course and standards implementation efforts two years into a three year cycle. Today’s post will delve further into our findings from thirty Illinois Civics Teacher Mentors that completed the survey. They serve as our foot soldiers in implementing these policies in every county in the state, providing frontline support to teachers, schools, and districts in their respective regions.

Twenty-eight of the thirty mentors that completed the survey are currently in the classroom and they reach a combined 1,759 students annually. Mentors reported hosting workshops and giving presentations to other teachers as well as college students in education programs. They also emailed teachers and administrators with suggested resources to further curricular integration.

In line with the encouraging student outcomes illustrated in the previous post, mentors reported strong student responses to new instructional strategies and standards (see graph below). However, challenges surfaced relative to the balance between standards coverage and student reflection on key content, and a small, yet significant percentage of students not taking civics classes seriously or demonstrating dispositions to engage civically.

The student-centered proven practices embedded in the law were deemed its greatest strength by mentors. They also reflected on how it has shifted instruction away from rote memorization. One mentor wrote, “One of the strengths of the civics requirement is that it is not dependent on a paper-and-pencil test. (It) actually calls for students to practice the skills and dispositions rather than rotely memorize these concepts.”

Implementation barriers center on time pressures, resource availability, and support from various stakeholder groups, although the latter two variables are lesser factors in year two (see graph below).

Mentors’ final reflections on their experiences two years in were highlighted by a call to “get the law implemented at the middle school level as soon as possible.”

Another mentor’s reflection aligns with the basic goals of the new policies directed at high school classrooms: “This has helped myself and many other teachers throughout the state become better teachers and ultimately will prepare numerous students to be more active citizens in our communities!”