Every day in his classroom at Lincoln Orens Middle School, seventh grade social studies teacher Dean Bacigalupo introduces students to the revolutionary ideas born out of America’s Declaration of Independence.
“It’s worth remembering that the American Revolution did more than sever political ties with Britain, it transformed who we are as a people,” said Bacigalupo. “Colonists stopped being subjects and became citizens.”
The shift from subject to citizen isn’t just the foundation of civics education; it’s the cornerstone of our democracy. As we approach the nation’s 250th anniversary, NYSUT is calling on the state to reinvest in this crucial framework.
“Civics is not just another subject,” said Bacigalupo, president of the Island Park Faculty Association and chairperson of NYSUT’s Social Studies Subject Area Committee. “It is the living thread that connects our nation’s founding to our present and future.”
“Every student who walks across a graduation stage doesn’t just leave as a graduate; they leave as a citizen,” said NYSUT President Melinda Person. “At a time when misinformation spreads faster than facts, investing in civics and media literacy is an investment in our future.”
NYSUT is asking the state Legislature to commit $2.5 million to expand civics education at the elementary level, $5 million to increase access to the Seal of Civic Readiness, and $15 million to enhance media and AI literacy so students have the skills they need to analyze information and judge for themselves what to trust, share, and base decisions on.
“These resources will help students understand how government works, their rights and responsibilities, and how to evaluate information so they can participate fully and thoughtfully in civic life,” Person said.
NYSUT is also calling for a full-time library media specialist at every school to help students build sound, basic research skills and help teachers incorporate media literacy skills into their classrooms.
“Media literacy has to be embedded into as many curricula as possible. To do that, you need a school librarian in every school,” said United Federation of Teachers member Roy Rosewood, a high school library media specialist and member of NYSUT’s Library Media Specialists Subject Area Committee. “When we talk about preparing learners for the 21st century, we’re tying both arms behind our back if we don’t have trained specialists in the schools to help do this work.”
Preparing students for the 21st century means making students democracy-ready, educators say.
“The Founders believed in the necessity of a virtuous, educated citizenry,” said Pierson Bell, social studies teacher at Medina High School and member of the Medina Teachers Association and NYSUT’s Social Studies Subject Area Committee. “Otherwise, the republican experiment would never succeed.”
“Understanding how government works and understanding political debate is crucial to being able to function as an American,” Bell added.
And yet, too often, civics education takes a backseat to other priorities.
High-stakes testing monopolizes classroom time beginning in elementary school, forcing teachers to spend much of their time on math and ELA, and not give equal time to other subjects.
Following the implementation of No Child Left Behind, school districts reported a 32 percent decrease in the amount of time devoted to social studies and civics. According to a 2023 report by RAND, only three hours a week is spent on social studies and science instruction, whereas nine hours is dedicated to math, and six to ELA.
As a result of these kinds of shifts, only 22 percent of eighth graders scored proficient in civics in national assessments and, in New York, many students graduate without ever getting a full year of civics instruction.
“The biggest obstacle is time,” said Mandel Holland, a high school social studies teacher at Woodlands Middle High School and member of the Greenburgh Teachers Federation. “We barely have enough time to cover everything in our curriculum, let alone other topics like civics and media literacy.”
Holland, who serves on NYSUT’s Social Studies Subject Area Committee, teaches AP and IB history, but he weaves in media literacy and civics regularly. At the top of each U.S. History class, he hosts a discussion aptly named “New and Exciting” where students can bring up the day’s national and local headlines. Alongside daily lessons about industrialization, urbanization, and immigration, Holland presents interactive activities that encourage students to see that their voices matter.
“I’m fond of telling my students that closed mouths don’t get fed. If you don’t speak up, no one’s going to know what you need,” Holland said.
Of course, today’s news is tomorrow’s history, and both Holland and Bell encourage their students to understand the past by making connections with the present.
For instance, this fall’s lesson on the Alien and Sedition Acts, which Bell acknowledges is generally a topic that does not generate significant student interest, was suddenly invested with new meaning.
“I started class with a video about how the current administration was invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to justify its immigration actions, and we spent the next 40 minutes discussing the current state of immigration policy,” he said. Students on both ends of the political spectrum debated the issue and came to a consensus. “That was awesome,” Bell said.
“I walked away feeling inspired by how students who support the Trump administration’s actions and students on the opposite side found common ground.”
Bell said the key to productive student discussions is for teachers to ask good questions and stay apolitical. “My approach is to just say to them, ‘My goal is not for you to be able to guess who I vote for, but to show you both sides of this issue, so you can make your own decision about it.’”
In fact, when done right, civics education empowers students to bring their own perspectives to civic life and find mutual understanding.
“Kids sort of go through life thinking that these things are adult issues, but the reality is that their lives are, in large part, impacted by the decisions made by government officials, both nationally and even more so locally,” said Nick Norman, field liaison, UFT Teacher Center and member of NYSUT’s Social Studies Subject Area Committee. “Civics is about making the local park safe for all the children in the community as much as it is about the Supreme Court.”
Traditionally, civics has been taught like a citizenship exam and zeroed in on basics like the branches of government and the electoral process, but in 2018, the Board of Regents established the Civic Readiness Task Force and charged members with redefining civic readiness for the emerging Portrait of a Graduate. Norman, who served on the task force, said they concluded that civics education shouldn’t be confined to a half-credit course taught during the senior year but had to be embedded across the curricula and taught K-12.
When it comes to coaching teachers at the UFT Teacher Center about how to bring civics into their classrooms, Norman urges them to make it local and, whenever possible, personal. Most importantly, he said, start early.
“Kids need to cumulatively have those civic experiences and build their knowledge and skills and mindset all the way up,” Norman said.
New York City’s Civics for All curriculum, which includes the soapbox challenge and participatory school budgeting, spurs younger students to present ideas that matter to them, encourages dialogue, and builds associations between them, Norman said.
The Seal of Civic Readiness is a valuable opportunity for high school students. Piloted in 2021, the seal is now available in 500 high schools across the state, but NYSUT hopes to bring the seal to more districts.
To earn the seal, students must complete all the requirements for a local or Regents diploma and earn six points, including two in Civic Knowledge and two in Civic Participation. Students can also score points by finishing a capstone project.
“The Seal of Civic Readiness is more than a formal distinction on high school diplomas and transcripts,” said Bacigalupo. “It calls on us to make learning itself a powerful act of civic engagement.”
In February, NYSUT launched the Classroom to Community Civic Readiness grant program, designed to help fund K-12 civics learning experiences, including field trips, projects, and special events.
“The grant program will provide an opportunity to bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-world participation,” said Second Vice President Ron Gross, whose office will supervise the program.
“This grant offers a chance for schools and educators to deepen civic learning in meaningful, lasting ways,” said Bacigalupo. “For teachers, this grant means real resources and sustainable, project-based civic learning, and for students, it helps to expand learning to include experiences to engage as thoughtful, capable citizens outside of their school community.”
At Albany High School, students pursue their Seal of Civic Readiness by taking Civics and Public Engagement and completing capstone projects grounded in issues that mean something to them. Past topics include gun safety, redlining, mental health, school violence, and incarceration. Students are then invited to showcase their projects for their peers and educators.
“We’ve shown them what their powers are as citizens and how to use their voices to create change,” said history teacher Amanda Weklar, a member of the Albany Public School TA. “We want them to know that when they go out into the world, if they need to make change on something, this is how they go about doing it.”