DemocracyReady NY Announces 3rd Annual New York Civic Learning Week
Events will feature educators, youth, school officials, and civic leaders.
The DemocracyReady NY Coalition will host a series of virtual events to celebrate New York Civic Learning Week, which will take place this year from March 10 - 14, 2025. All events will be accessible to the public, and participants will include students, parents, school and district leaders, educators, policymakers, and youth-serving organizations. In 2024, nearly 1,000 people registered to join one or more NY Civic Learning Week events, many of whom were educators or members of civic organizations, and many more watched the recorded programs.
In 2019, the New York City Department of Education initiated Civics Week celebrations as part of its ongoing Civics for All initiative. Last year, the DemocracyReady NY Coalition decided to highlight the importance of civic education for a broad, statewide audience.
“Preparing students for engaged civic lives is a prime purpose of public education. Under the NYS Constitution, students are entitled to an education that provides them with the knowledge, skills, experiences, and mindsets they need to participate in our democracy. NY Civic Learning Week builds on and contributes to the state’s efforts to improve civic readiness in New York,” said Michael A. Rebell, executive director of the Center for Educational Equity at Teachers College, Columbia University, and co-convener of the Coalition.
The week’s events will showcase the importance of civic education in sustaining and strengthening constitutional democracy in the United States. “NY Civic Learning Week is also an opportunity for schools, districts, and the Coalition’s member organizations to celebrate by planning their own civic learning activities,” said Jessica Wolff, Director of Policy and Research at the Center and co-convener of the Coalition. The Coalition will issue regular updates on these events leading up to Civic Learning Week.
The New York State Education Department includes “civic readiness” as a graduation measure under its ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) plan. Rebell served as Chairman of NYSED’s Civic Readiness Task Force. The task force’s recommendations led to the development of the Seal of Civic Readiness graduation pathway, which was rolled out in 2021. To date, more than 620 schools throughout the state offer civic learning opportunities and civic experiences that allow students to earn the Seal.
On Monday, March 10, DemocracyReady NY, in collaboration with the Rhode Island Civic Learning Coalition and Kentucky Student Voice Team, will host an event titled, “The Right to Civic Education: A Conversation with Judge William E. Smith.” Rebell, who was lead counsel in Cook v. McKee, a major federal case brought to establish civic preparation as a right under the US Constitution, will engage in a conversation with Judge William E. Smith, the Rhode Island federal judge in the case who ruled against the plaintiffs, but has since become a major advocate for civic education. Andrew E. Brennen, co-founder and chair of Kentucky Student Voice Team, will introduce the discussion, and Nancy Xiong, a student organizer at Alliance Rhode Island South East and a former student plaintiff in Cook, will kick off the Q&A session.
The virtual statewide Summit on Civic Readiness will take place on Tuesday, March 11, as a centerpiece of New York Civic Learning Week. The Summit will feature media literacy experts and educators in a conversation featuring students’ questions about the media environment today. New York State Senator Shelley Mayer will give remarks. Panelists include Arielle Geismar, co-chair of Design It for Us; Kelsey Russell media literacy influencer and co-host of First Stop News; Christopher Harris, director of library and digital services at Genesee Valley BOCES; Dr. Shari L. Camhi, superintendent of schools at Baldwin Union Free School District, Paul Tomizawa, elementary technology educator at Scarsdale Union Free School District, and Mary Kate Lonergan, social studies teacher and media literacy education specialist at Fayettevile-Manlius School District.
On Friday, March 14, DK Holland of Inquiring Minds Institute will release a short instructional video demonstrating media literacy and critical thinking skills in the early grades. Using the children’s classic Click Clack Moo, Cows that Type, this fun elementary classroom game involves children working together through inquiry to find clues and recognize misinformation in media sources.
Information about registering for DemocracyReady NY events, and ideas for hosting local NY Civic Learning Week events, can be found on the Coalition’s website.
DemocracyReady NY is a multigenerational, statewide, nonpartisan coalition committed to preparing all students for civic participation. The Coalition is convened by the Center for Educational Equity at Teachers College, Columbia University.