Beth Specker
Candidate for Board of Directors
Beth Specker is the founding Executive Director of The Rendell Center for Civics and Civic Engagement, where she has worked closely with Judge Marjorie Rendell and former Governor Edward Rendell to establish the organization. In this role, she also serves as chief administrator for The Rendell Center’s Summer Teacher Institutes, overseeing all aspects of the events from program development, to marketing and logistics, as well as financial planning. Ms. Specker was Chief of Staff to First Lady of Pennsylvania, Judge Marjorie Rendell. In that role, she was responsible for oversight of Judge Rendell’s initiative to restore the civic mission of schools, which required her to work with K-12 schools throughout the Commonwealth as well as national organizations such as iCivics, the American Bar Association and the Civic Mission of Schools. Ms. Specker began her career in civics education at the Freedoms Foundation, a national, non-profit organization providing a wide range of educational and awards programs for students, teachers and citizens. During her 19 years at there, Ms. Specker oversaw all aspects of running 48 educational conferences each year, including graduate programs for teachers and programs for international students. Ms. Specker holds a bachelor’s degree from Villanova University and a master’s degree in Non-Profit Management from Eastern University.
The Future of Social Studies
A big part of the future of social studies has to focus on educating our youngest citizens, students in grades K-8 who do not get full exposure to social studies education in schools where reading and math take up the “extra” periods once dedicated to social studies, especially civic education. I have spent my entire career in education promoting civics, but for most of the past two decades, I have worked with literature based mock trials involving stories the students are reading in their classrooms. Thus, we can enrich the students’ learning experience with the literature while teaching them about the American government and its judicial system. The framework is one that marries literacy and civic literacy in an ongoing effort to provide students with the knowledge and disposition of engaged citizens. These are skills they will carry throughout their lives. Creating opportunities for inculcating the next generation with the knowledge, skills and attitudes of effective citizenship must be a priority for PCSS.