RI Civic Learning Week 2023 March 6-10 - RI Civic Learning Coalition
A renewed interest in civics education has resulted in action on two fronts in Rhode Island. In the legislature the Senate passed a bill requiring civics education for 6-12 grade students, the House passed a more detailed and comprehensive bill with the same idea but with a robust teacher training component included.
Now the House bill is in the Senate Education Committee to bring the two into line. No hearings have been scheduled as yet in the Senate and we will have to see if the bill survives the end of the legislative year bill pile-up.
Meanwhile, the Department of Education has reactivated an advisory committee to revise the state social studies guidelines and standards. Currently operating under a set developed in 2012 which includes 60+ standards covering history, civics, geography and economics, the DOE formed a revision committee in 2019. Assembling a blue-ribbon panel of experts, the aim was to revise the standards and re-envision them through a more diverse lens.
Through the work of Nina Rossomando (President, LWV of Westerly), Jane Koster (President LWVRI) and Martha Frutchey (LWV of Providence) both retired social studies teachers, have been appointed to the panel. The plan is to write the new guidelines this month, review them in June and have the full panel vet them over the summer. They would then go out to the various school districts. How the civics legislation (if passed) fits into this scheme remains to be seen.
2021 Bills
S 76 - passed Senate as amended and forwarded to House Education
S 354 - not heard in committee
H 5028 - Passed House and forwarded to Senate Education
Civics Education Lawsuit
The League of Women Voters of the United States and the League of Women Voters of Rhode Island filed an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs in Cook v. Raimondo.
Susan B. Wilson Awards
To encourage teachers engaged in this endeavor and to honor exceptional work in this area, the League of Women Voters South County (LWVSC) is sponsoring the Susan B. Wilson Civic Education Merit Awards with funding from the League of Women Voters Rhode Island Education Fund.
