Massachusetts, as part of reform that builds civic education into the curriculum each year from Kindergarten through high school, passed a law in 2018 to require that each student be offered an opportunity to participate in a student-led civic engagement project in middle school and in high school. As teachers and schools embark on planning for how the student-led projects will be organized, it will be valuable to think about what will support full participation by students with disabilities in this important new opportunity. Disability advocate Scott Lentine describes his own experience here. Civic engagement for ALL students is the express intent of the legislation (link to the law here).
Emerging America offers resources to teachers for shaping community engagement projects for maximum educational value, and for planning courses that pair content knowledge with inquiry skills and practices that are fundamental to citizenship. Our fall courses will be open for registration soon -- click here to see available offerings.
