We Can Teach Hard Things for A250

Written by By Louise Dubé and Emma Humphries. Louise Dubé is the CEO of iCivics.org, and Emma Humphries is the Chief Education Officer at iCivics.

At a recent gathering of educators, we asked teachers to raise their hands if they felt deeply committed to the Constitution, pluralism, and liberty. Every hand went up. We then asked them to keep their hands raised if they also felt apprehensive about teaching civics right now. Almost no hands went down.

This is real and widespread. Teachers are increasingly hesitant to introduce students to the basic mechanics of self-government—separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, even the responsibilities of citizenship. Teaching our country’s harder histories, such as slavery or the history of indigenous communities, can feel even more precarious. The result is a democratic contradiction: we expect today’s students to uphold liberty, equality, and the rule of law in the AI age while restricting or intimidating the very educators responsible for teaching those concepts in the first place.

This will be on the minds of thousands of civics, social studies, and history educators as they gather in Washington, D.C. this week for the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) conference.

They do so at a defining moment for our democracy and for the profession itself.

This year’s kindergartners entered school on the eve of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and their high school graduation year will be in 2038—the 250th anniversary of the Constitution. These students are growing up in an era of extraordinary change, and right now, in real time, they are relying on their teachers to help them make sense of democracy, citizenship, and how to relate to one another in a polarized, digitized world.

The A250 milestone should be a national celebration—a rare chance to spark pride and civic curiosity in those students and the nation at a scale unseen since the 1976 Bicentennial. But we are adrift on civics, and damaging polarization persists.

The founders, who viewed and clearly articulated civic education as the bedrock of the republic, would be alarmed by this moment. For much of our history, nurturing informed citizens and defenders of liberty was a core purpose of education. Earlier generations learned democracy not only through lessons but through civic organizations like 4-H, Scouts, debate leagues, and community associations. These experiences helped guide the nation through devastating wars, major economic downturns, and profound social change.

But over recent decades, civic education has been increasingly relegated to the margins. Standards narrowed, high-stakes testing prioritized other subjects, and digital technologies reshaped attention and information. Today, only seven states require a full year of civics in high school. Many elementary students receive less than 30 minutes of civics-related learning a day—if they receive it at all. The consequences are clearly evident in the data. The 2022 NAEP Civics Assessment recorded the first-ever decline in eighth-grade civics scores, with only 22 percent of students scoring proficient. Young people feel this gap acutely. America’s Promise Alliance found that just 43 percent of youth feel even somewhat prepared to participate in civic life. And yet, demand for civic learning is overwhelming: 91 percent of young people believe every student should have access to civic education, and more than 70 percent of adults agree.

This widening civic learning gap comes at a moment when students need civic knowledge and skills more than ever. And despite the headwinds, we have seen again and again that teachers are already leading with courage and creativity. Over nearly two decades of supporting hundreds of thousands of social studies educators, we’ve learned that there are practical, proven approaches teachers can use to strengthen civic learning even when they may feel fearful of doing so:

Connect headlines to constitutional principles. When major news breaks, grounding discussion in timeless constitutional questions, preferably after the dust has settled a bit, lowers the temperature and deepens understanding.

Use primary sources as anchors. Letting students engage directly with the Constitution, founding documents, and court decisions replaces political heat with informed observations.

Model pluralism through inquiry. Asking students to construct the strongest evidence-based argument for multiple viewpoints, notwithstanding their personal beliefs, teaches them humility, empathy, and the democratic skill of hearing people out.

Focus on process over outcomes. Teaching how institutions and principles work—such as federalism, the legislative process, and judicial review—is less politically charged and builds durable civic knowledge.

Connect AI and media literacy to democratic participation. Teaching AI and media literacy as civic skills helps students understand how digital tools shape information and power and, in doing so, prepares them to protect democracy in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.

Still, even the strongest classroom strategies cannot thrive without support. If we want teachers to help our nation’s young people become better independent thinkers, communicators, collaborators, and defenders of liberty, we must do much more to support them from outside the classroom:

Invest in meaningful professional development. Civics teachers receive far fewer high-quality learning opportunities than their peers in other subjects. This must change if we expect them to teach complex content in a high-pressure environment.

Advance pro-civics policy. Thanks to the CivXNow coalition and partners nationwide, momentum is building. Since 2021, 33 states have enacted 50 pro-civics policies, and this spring alone, 45 states considered 198 civics bills—nearly three-quarters of which were supportive of stronger civic learning.

Build modern tools with teachers, not for them. AI, digital media, and new learning platforms are reshaping education. Civic learning must innovate too—through engaging tools, games, adaptive supports, and community-based learning opportunities that bring civics to life.

As educators gather in the capital of American democracy, they carry a responsibility both timeless and newly urgent. They are the stewards of the knowledge, skills, and civic habits that sustain our republic across generations. It’s a mission they know well and embrace. It’s also a tall order. If we expect it to be filled, we must support them, invest in them, and foster an environment where they can faithfully execute their professional craft without fear of retribution.