Recent Changes

On April 29, 2010, 75 scholars, civic leaders, and federal officials met in Washington to develop a federal policy agenda for civic skills. The conference was convened by CIRCLE (The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement) at Tufts University's Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service. It was co-sponsored by the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools and Strengthening Our Nation's Democracy (SOND).
Participants shared these fundamental premises:
and listen, engage in dialogue effectively about differences, Unfortunately many of the people in dialogue and debatedebate, so we models and good tutorials,learning opportunities, both live
President Obama rightly noted on his first day in office that "Public engagement enhances the Government’s effectiveness and improves the quality of its decisions. Knowledge is widely dispersed in society, and public officials benefit from having access to that dispersed knowledge." ... But for government to benefit from citizens' knowledge, citizens must have skills of analysis, collaboration, and expression.
Teaching civic skills is mainly a task for families, communities, private associations, local schools, and institutions of higher education. ... But the federal government has also played a constructive role in developing skills since the time of the founders and should be a leader and role model again today.

problem editing appendix 2
For some reason, it did allow me to add those bullets, so I added them. Thanks for the great additions.

Peter

To strengthen the role of federal agencies in civic-skill development
Organize peer-to-peer learning opportunities for federal civil servants concerned with public engagement.
Gather and apply advice about criteria for "authentic engagement" from civic engagement and citizen participation experts.
When requiring participation as part of a regulation, suggest a range of mechanisms such as planning, data gathering, and data use and interpretation.
Encourage participation by regulated groups by offering flexible regulatory strategies that reward regulated groups for improvements beyond required compliance.

problem editing appendix 2
Hi all -- I wanted to add a few comments to Appendix 2, and the editing page seems to stop after "Increase funding for research on civic education"

Here's the section:
To strengthen the role of federal agencies in civic-skill development

Organize peer-to-peer learning opportunities for federal civil servants concerned with public engagement.

I wanted to add:

• Gather and apply advice about criteria for "authentic engagement" from civic engagement and citizen participation experts.
• When requiring participation as part of a regulation, suggest a range of mechanisms such as planning, data gathering, and data use and interpretation.
• Encourage participation by regulated groups by offering flexible regulatory strategies that reward regulated groups for improvements beyond required compliance.

The Report is endorsed by the following individuals.
Peter Levine, CIRCLE, Tufts University
Elaine Andrews, University of Wisconsin, Environmental Resources Center
Others attended the April 29 conference but were not able, or chose not to, endorse or help write this policy statement. Organizations are listed for identification purposes, only.
Appendix 1: Civic Skills

adding content Q
I just added a few points also. Nothing major.

Stewart

On April 29, 2010, 75 scholars, civic leaders, and federal officials met in Washington to develop a federal policy agenda for civic skills. The conference was convened by CIRCLE (The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement) at Tufts University's Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service. It was co-sponsored by the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools and Strengthening Our Nation's Democracy (SOND).
Participants shared these fundamental premises:
and listen, dialogue effectively about differences, resolve conflicts, reach agreements, collaborate with for change. Unfortunately many of the people in the media do a poor job of role modeling effective dialogue and debate so we need real role models and good tutorials, both live and virtual. (Appendix 1
President Obama rightly noted on his first day in office that "Public engagement enhances the Government’s effectiveness and improves the quality of its decisions. Knowledge is widely dispersed in society, and public officials benefit from having access to that dispersed knowledge." ... But for government to benefit from citizens' knowledge, citizens must have skills of analysis, collaboration, and expression.
a leader and role model again today.
Knowledge
Knowledge and information without civic skills.skills and civic engagement.
Civic associations have developed their members' skills throughout American history. ... But these associations are in deep decline (notwithstanding some important new forms of online association), and therefore we cannot count on the public's civic skills to be adequate in the decades ahead.
{participation.trend.jpg}
All Americans must step up and contribute to common problems. ... But opportunities to develop civic skills are highly unequal. Working class youth are especially unlikely to receive such opportunities in their schools or their communities.
{civic.learning.opportunities.jpg}
in the workplace.workplace because civic skills are life skills.
The original mission of public schools in America was to prepare the next generation of effective and responsible citizens. ... But schools have generally sidelined their civic mission in an era of standards and accountability focused on other subjects.
Americans respond well to opportunities to contribute to their communities and learn skills. ... But such opportunities are scarce.
Statistical evidence in support of these points is presented in the CIRCLE fact sheet, Civic Skills and Federal Policy, available at http://www.civicyouth.org/?p=375.
effectively with citizens.citizens and see thgemselves as role models. Learning civic
Those who endorse this report believe that the federal government must take the following steps to enhance citizens' civic skills.
Across federal agencies, develop common principles, values, and language that help build the civic capacities of civil servants and that nurture authentic public engagement. This objective may require both an inter-agency working group on skills within the federal government and convening others outside the government to develop common principles and strategies. One important outcome would be more inspiring language for talking about "civic engagement."