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YOUR INVESTMENT AT WORK
JMC Summer K-12 Education Programs Reach Teachers Across Eight States and Expanding Quickly
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Good civics education is deteriorating at a critical time. Students are abandoning the principles enshrined by our founding documents while teachers have almost no training and few resources to teach America's founding ideals.
"If we’re serious about preserving civics as an important component of public education, teachers need ongoing educational opportunities," JMC Director of Civics Outreach Tom Kelly recently wrote in RealClear Public Affairs.
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Over the summer, we conducted 17 teacher education programs in eight states: New York, Illinois, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Florida, Wisconsin, Texas, and Virginia.
Our rigorous summer programs help K-12 teachers deepen their own knowledge and develop fresh lesson plans to engage their own students in our nation's founding principles and history in a responsible and honest manner.
Collaborative Initiative Produces Exponential Growth
The JMC has continued our extraordinarily successful statewide program in Florida, the American Civics and History Initiative (ACHI). Working with the Bill of Rights Institute and Ashbrook Center, we are projected to reach 2,400 K-12 teachers in Florida this summer alone. And we are just getting started.
Using our success in Florida as a model, we are expanding ACHI to Wisconsin, Texas, and Virginia, which will galvanize our current efforts. We expect to reach another 5,000 teachers in those three states alone.
With donor support we will expand quickly and effectively into more states, revitalizing civics education in America's founding principles all across the nation.
Quality Education Creates Great Teachers
Led by JMC partner professors, our professional development programs include weeklong seminars, virtual seminars, and in-person graduate courses.
Here are a few examples of the special programs we offered this summer:
June 6 - 10: Coastal Carolina University Summer Civics Institute
The Cincinnatus Center at Coastal Carolina University hosted a week-long summer seminar on the American Political Tradition led by JMC partner professors Kimberly Hurd Hale, Drew Kurlowski, and Michael Promisel.
June 20 - 24: Baylor University Summer Civics Institute
Jordan Cash led an institute with fellow Baylor University professors Benjamin Kleinerman, Rebecca Flavin, and Steve Block. Discussions with K-12 teachers included close looks at landmark Supreme Court cases and debates about Constitutional interpretation.
June 27 - July 1: American Political Tradition Institute
K-12 teachers from five states met at Admiral Farragut Academy in St. Petersburg, Florida to study the American Political Tradition with five leading scholars from the JMC network. The Institute kicked off a yearlong series of virtual meetings for participants to work on lesson plan development together.
July 11 - 15: American University Virtual Summer Institute
Partner Professor Alan Levine led a one-week virtual summer institute for middle and high school teachers that took a broad look at American political development from the Declaration of Independence to the Civil Rights and Women’s Rights Movements to modern ideological movements.
July 18 - 29: University of Virginia Graduate Course
JMC Partner Lynn Uzzell led the first of two graduate courses designed for K-12 teachers at the University of Virginia exploring the political philosophy and continuing legacy of the American Founding through reading and discussing primary sources.
July 18 - July 22: Polarization and Political Parties at UChicago
Led by JMC partner professors Fred Beuttler and Kevin Wagner, this seminar examined the issue of polarization and political parties in American civic life.
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Educating the Next Generation
The future of our nation is in the hands of our young citizens. We at the Jack Miller Center are taking action. We must ensure they're well educated in America's history and its founding principles. And to do that we need great teachers with an in-depth knowledge of American political philosophy and history.
We are using our wide network of college professors to help educate K-12 teachers across our country and providing them access to top flight education and an array of resources so they can teach and inspire the next generation.
In the words of President Ronald Reagan, "Freedom is a fragile thing and it's never more than one generation away from extinction." It is up to us to be sure each generation understands the basis of our freedoms so they can keep our country moving closer to our founding ideals.
It's not enough to simply speak up: we must take action. Your donation will make a big difference helping our young people realize the vision of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for every American, as enshrined by our founders.
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The battle for the soul of our nation will be won or lost in our
classrooms ™ — Jack Miller
At the Jack Miller Center, that battle is our sole mission. We are the boots on the ground, working to bring the American political tradition and history back to the classroom. Please consider a tax-deductible gift to JMC. Your donation, large or small, is an investment in the future of our country—for you, for your children, for your grandchildren.
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About the Jack Miller Center
The Jack Miller Center is a 501(c)(3) public charity with the mission to reinvigorate education in America's founding principles and history. We work to advance the teaching and study of America's history, its political and economic institutions, and the central principles, ideas and issues arising from the American and Western traditions—all of which continue to animate our national life.
We support professors and educators through programs, resources, fellowships and more to help them teach our nation's students.
www.jackmillercenter.org
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