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The State of Civic Education in Pennsylvania

PA Civics and the Committee of Seventy are excited to be part of Civic Learning Week, the national effort to prioritize civic education in order to sustain and strengthen our constitutional democracy.

PA Civics is hosting its third State of Civic Education in Pennsylvania on Monday, March 10 at 4 pm via Zoom. Register here to reserve your virtual seat.

After opening remarks from the governor, PA Civics will host a bipartisan conversation between State Sen. Dave Argall (R), a member of the Senate Education Committee, and State Rep. Tim Brennan (D), an emerging champion on this issue.

PA Civics will then moderate a discussion between four social studies educators located throughout the state about steps the Commonwealth can take to become a national leader in high quality civics education. The lineup includes:

• Michele Halloran, Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh
• Anne Olvera, Edwin Stanton School (K-8) in Philadelphia
• Shannon Salter, Building 21 High School in Allentown
• Leon Smith, Haverford High School in Delaware County, the 2025 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year

This free event will be valuable for teachers, parents, administrators, policymakers, and interested members of the general public.

Building Bridges: Teachers, Museums

and Deeper Civic Learning

Join the National Constitution Center and the National Liberty Museum during Civic Learning Week for a free webinar exploring how museums can serve as trusted partners in classroom civic learning. The webinar will be held on Tuesday, March 11 from 7-8 p.m. ET.

Museum professionals will share actionable, nonpartisan approaches to support teachers through co-curating and co-producing educational resources. Educators, in turn, will hear from their peers about how they’ve used museums as trusted partners in civic learning.

Register here.

Two Civic Learning Week programs from JMC

The Jack Miller Center is offering two virtual events for teachers during Civic Learning Week.

Primary Sources in Action: Engaging Students with America’s Founding Documents - Join JMC Teacher Programs Manager Emilee McHorney for a virtual professional development program designed to equip educators with practical strategies for integrating Founding Era primary sources into their civics and history classrooms.

Political Polarization, Civil Discourse, and the Classroom - American politics is increasingly divided on partisan lines. In this polarized context, it can be difficult to have sincere conversations about political topics, particularly in the classroom!

The Governor's Civic Engagement Award

Join a virtual information session with the PA Department of State at noon on Friday, March 14, to learn about the Governor’s Civic Engagement Award.

This popular program recognizes Pennsylvania high school students for educating and engaging their fellow students in the electoral process.

Participating high schools receive Gold Level Awards for registering to vote at least 85% of their eligible students and Silver Level Awards for registering at least 65% of their eligible students.

Student Poll Worker Awards are presented to students who participate in a voter registration drive at their school and serve as a poll worker in their community during a general election.

Join us on the 14th to learn more about the program. For those who are unable to

make the session, it will be recorded. To learn more or to RSVP, please contact Diane L. Gordian at dgordian@pa.gov.

An opportunity from More Like US

Looking to navigate the difficult political environment in your classroom? PA Civics member nonprofit More Like US seeks social studies teachers to be part of a pilot this semester of its lesson plan about the Perception Gap, the finding that Americans are more similar across the political spectrum than often believed. 

The Civic Education Research Lab at Georgetown University is leading pre- and post-surveys of effectiveness, after conducting an initial successful study. This lesson plan for 1-2 class periods achieves many goals: supporting classroom civil discourse and media literacy, increasing understanding of fellow Americans, boosting support for democracy, and inspiring action to reduce perceived political divides.

While most appropriate for high school social studies classrooms, any teacher can modify the lesson plan, so middle school teachers and those in other departments can also participate. This minute-long video covers some highlights of the lesson and rationale. The lesson plan and additional resources provide instructions, or teachers may contact More Like US Co-Founder and Executive Director James Coan (James@MoreLikesUS.org) to discuss next steps.

See the PA Civics Event Calendar

PA Civics is continually updating the many happenings for Civic Learning Week. Visit the PA Civics Event Calendar for all of the activities being sponsored by PA Civics coalition members.