The Center for American Civics is a non-partisan outreach center under the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership that supports and strengthens the knowledge of American civics and the skills of civil discourse among K-12 students.

The Center for American Civics (CAC) is working towards this mission in three main fields:

Teacher Professional Development

The CAC hosts teachers for professional development workshops at ASU, and offers onsite workshops as well, where teachers can learn content from the faculty of ASU’s School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership through lectures, and receive training in pedagogical strategies that research has shown to be effective in building civic knowledge and civic skills, centering on analysis of primary sources and inquiry based dialogue as the main means of learning. The CAC has two master teachers with almost four decades of combined classroom experience on staff who design and provide this training.

High-Quality Civic Education Resources

The CAC has developed the Civic Literacy Curriculum, a rich library of primary source-based lessons in American history and civics, aligned to the content of the U.S. Citizenship test that many states require students to pass as a graduation requirement. The full Civic Literacy Curriculum is supplemented with a brief study guide version of the content and a smartphone application called CivEd. This is provided freely to teachers and students through the CAC website and smartphone app stores.

Connecting the Civilian and Military Communities

The CAC operates the Veterans Inspiring Patriotism (VIP) program, through which a network of American military veterans are available to visit schools in their local area to provide lessons or presentations on a variety of topics, including American civics and constitutionalism, American history, the American military, and what life is like in the armed services.

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Civic Leadership Institute Home Page 

The Civic Leadership Institute (CLI) is a FREE summer program for high school students to learn about civic education while participating in a college atmosphere.

There will be no fee to attend, and students who complete the program will be given a certificate of completion at a later date.