Introduction: How can we BEST measure student growth in the social sciences?
The Illinois Social Science Standards and civics education requirement illustrate that the “how” is as important as the “what” in preparing students for college, career and, civic life. Our #CivicsIsBack workshops throughout the state have delved into five key instructional shifts embedded in these initiatives that align with best practices in pedagogy.
One of the critical questions when building a curriculum based on these instructional shifts is, “How will we know students have learned it?” The standards and civics requirements require students to engage in content, disciplinary literacy practices, and inquiry. Educators have identified the need to create assessments where students can demonstrate competency in these areas.
 That is why we are excited to partner with the American Institutes for Research- Midwest Comprehensive Center to offer a one-day workshop at both the DuPage Regional Office of Education on Creating Performance Assessment Tasks with the Illinois Social Science Standards. This workshop will introduce educators to strategies to build classroom performance assessment tasks in civics aligned to the standards where students get opportunities to demonstrate what they are learning. Educators will walk away with resources, tools, templates and, strategies to create their own classroom performance assessment tasks in civics. The workshop is based on The Center for Standards and Assessment Implementation Assessment Design Toolkit. Registration is still open for this event and participants will receive mileage reimbursement for travel.
Another workshop will be offered at the Skokie-Morton Grove School District 69. How to Measure Student Growth in Social Studies and Civics Ed Camp will examine performance-based assessment practices that not only measure but enhance learning. Participants will evaluate open source assessment tools that can be adapted for classroom use. We hope you can join us at one of these events.
Professional Development
JULY 2019
AUGUST 2019
Civics in the Middle Resource: Read. Inquire. Write.
Read. Inquire. Write. is a free, downloadable curriculum that, “creates a process to support middle school students' argument writing through the reading of sources and analysis of complex social and historical problems. Across investigations, students write increasingly complex forms of argument - from interpretations to critiques to counter arguments - with support from disciplinary literacy tools.”
 The Read.Inquire.Write. materials are adaptable, with differentiation strategies to support struggling readers or English Language Learners. Teachers can access and adapt the given inquires and use the Read.Inquire.Write protocol to create their own civic investigations.
Many of the inquiries lend themselves to informed action through service learning as students delve into issues of perspective, representation, and context, connecting past and present.
#CivicsIsBack Spotlight - Logan Ridenour, Carlinville High School
 The proven practice of civic education that many educators find daunting is service learning. This past spring, several educators reached out with success stories of how students took informed action throughout the state to impact their community. Here is one of those stories we hope will inspire you.
Logan Ridenour, from Carlinville High School, traveled with his students this past spring to Springfield at the invitation of Senator Andy Manar. Logan’s students, as part of the Civics Action Project from the Constitutional Rights Foundation, invited the senator to Carlinville to listen to a presentation they created to advocate for making Daylight Savings Time permanent in Illinois. Senator Manar took the students information and introduced Senate Bill 533. The students testified at the Capitol and their bill received a unanimous vote out of committee.
Carlinville High School is an Illinois Democracy School and Logan reports “tweaking” his Civic Action Project based on the Civics Is Back professional development workshops he has attended over the years, incorporating tools such as Root Cause Tree Analysis.
 Logan explains the importance of the proven practice of service learning in robust civics education, “All of my students, including this group, have said they enjoy the project because it is very student-centered and it allows them to explore their connections to the community and the processes necessary for enacting change. My students learned that they can put things into action by furthering their own understanding of the systems that govern their lives. The students were refreshed on the bill process in Illinois government and gained an understanding of how the Senate floor works and how committees work. They also learned the procedure for providing testimony to the committee. My work with the various in-person workshops along with the Online Impact workshop has allowed me to improve my teaching to include a true inquiry process in a project-based learning experience like this one. I am better preparing my students for active civic life due to the training.”
Student Andrew DeNeve summarized what this informed action experience taught him, “Honestly, none of us thought this would get very far, so we were excited when Senator Manar said he would author a bill. We kind of expected a rejection there. It’s been exciting for us and it’s taught us that our elected officials are there represent us and that citizens play a crucial part in our lawmaking process by coming up with the ideas. I think it worked better than I expected it to.”
Congratulations to the students at Carlinville High School for using their civic knowledge and skills to raise awareness on a public policy issue and advocating for change. Kudos to Logan Ridenour, the Carlinville High School community and, Senator Andy Manar for supporting engaging civic experiences in this classroom.
 At IllinoisCivics.org, we endeavor to link educators with resources that address essential questions with proven strategies and tools to prepare students for college, career and civic life. This monthly newsletter provides civic educators with timely professional development opportunities, classroom resources and inspiration with #CivicsIsBack success stories. For weekly updates on emerging research on civics, “teachable moments” and related materials, follow our blog.
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7/8-12 - University of Wisconsin Center for the Study of the American Constitution - 
