The Pennsylvania Coalition for Representative Democracy (PennCORD), a coalition of state and national organizations committed to implementing civics education in classrooms and afterschool programs in every Pennsylvania community, has added Annenberg Classroom to its Keystone Program offerings of exceptional civics initiatives for Pennsylvania teachers.
Lead partners in the PennCORD effort are the Office of the Governor of Pennsylvania, under the leadership of First Lady Judge Marjorie O. Rendell; the National Constitution Center; the Pennsylvania Bar Association; and the Pennsylvania Department of Education. PennCORD activities are coordinated by the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
The goal of PennCORD is to help Pennsylvania students to become more active citizens by offering teachers quality resources that meet state educational standards and can be implemented at little or no cost to the schools. PennCORD’s Keystone Programs identify the most exceptional civics initiatives for Pennsylvania teachers, and the criteria include: “1) low-cost; 2) fit civics standards; 3) assessable; 4) offer methods, materials and training; 5) adaptable to school environment; 6) renew the civic mission of schools.”
One of the latest Keystone Program offerings, Annenberg Classroom joins the Annenberg Public Policy Center’s Student Voices initiative, which was given the honor last year.
Annenberg Classroom (www.AnnenbergClassroom.org) offers a wide array of no-cost civics education resources in a single location to help students, teachers and the public better understand the pillars of democracy. Educators can find state standards-aligned curricula, downloadable reference books, lesson plans, multimedia programs and interactive civics games. Annenberg Classroom’s Constitution materials help schools meet the requirement of the Byrd Amendment that schools teach about the Constitution for Constitution Day. Search by keyword or subject area to explore Annenberg Classroom’s rich sets of teaching aids.
Student Voices (www.student-voices.org) is a national, nonpartisan civics education initiative in which students study their local government, policy issues and political campaigns. Along with online local government and elections curricula, lesson plans and teacher training materials, the Student Voices website provides classes across the country with research tools, moderated discussions and daily news stories about government and policy issues.
