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October 2024 | Volume IV, Number 10
Hello Everyone!
Act 35 Update
The 2023-24 Act 35 reporting window opened in the Future Ready Comprehensive Planning Portal (FRCPP) on July 8, 2024; the deadline for reporting is Friday October 4, 2024. Act 35 requirements began in the 2020-21 school year and requires each district, charter school, and comprehensive CTC to administer a locally developed assessment of United States history, government, and civics. The assessment must be administered at least once to students in grades 7-12 and must include the nature, purpose, principles, and structure of United States constitutional democracy, the principles, operations and documents of United States government, and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
The data to be collected in the FRCPP system includes:
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- Type of the assessment administered
- Total number of students who took the assessment
- Total number of students who attained a passing grade on the assessment
- Grade level or levels in which the assessment was administered
- Course or course in which the assessment was administered
- Number of students scoring 100% on the assessment
As you gather this information in preparation for the upcoming collection, you can find more information on Act 35, including guidelines for accessing and submitting your data in the User Guide. You may also find the “Frequently Asked Questions” document useful as well.
Note that if your charter school does not encompass grades 7-12, you are exempt from this submission. However, if your school includes at least one grade level 7-12, this legislation applies to your LEA. Submission is also required for IUs that provide civics instruction on behalf of their LEAs, as well as comprehensive CTC schools.
After entering your data, if you are experiencing issues where you are unable to submit, please check that you have the proper “submit” role in the ADMIN area of FRCPP. If the Act 35 Civic Knowledge survey isn’t appearing when you log in, you are not a registered user and you must be added by your local admin user. The FRCPP information page may assist as you encounter submission issues.
Professional Learning Supporting Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Education Virtual and Face-to-Face Sessions at Pennsylvania Intermediate Units
All professional learning sessions listed below are provided by Echoes & Reflections and are offered at NO COST to participants. All sessions align with PA Act 70 of 2014: Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Violations Education. Additional sessions in both virtual and face-to-face formats will be added throughout 2024-25.
PA Youth Mock Election
The Committee of Seventy sponsors the PA Youth Mock Election, which gives students hands-on practice casting votes for real candidates who appear on their ballot. The Mock Election is available for free to all Pennsylvania teachers statewide. C70 provides digital instructions for how classrooms can participate, plus access to C70's nonpartisan Interactive Voter Guide for students to research their choices. We invite middle and high school teachers to sign up before October 22nd (two weeks before the Nov. 5th election).
From The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia: High School Personal Finance Class
This one-evening professional development program, co-sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and the Council for Economic Education (CEE), introduces high school educators to lessons from the Financial Fitness for Life Grades 9–12, 3rd Edition lesson book. The 22-lesson Financial Fitness for Life resource provides educators with grade-level appropriate activities for teaching about a wide range of personal finance topics including: decision-making, careers, money management, financial institutions and services, the wise use of credit, saving, investing, and risk protection. Participants will receive 2.50 hours of professional development credit (Act 48 for teachers certified in Pennsylvania) and dinner. The Council for Economic Education will provide a $50 gift card and a copy of the Financial Fitness for Life Grades 9–12, 3rd Edition lesson book to each educator who completes the program. During the registration process, participants can request free parking at the Reserve Bank. For more information and to register, visit https://cvent.me/47Ww7g.
Update to the 2025 National Civics Bee Competition
The National Civics Bee® is a national nonpartisan competition that encourages young Americans to engage in civics and contribute to their communities. Participating 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students flex their civics knowledge for a chance to win recognition and cash prizes, and there is no cost to participate. Finalists who advance to the national competition will compete for grand prizes.
The National Civics Bee Pennsylvania State Finals will take place on June 13, 2025, at Penn State University.
The US Chamber Foundation and PA Chamber Foundation are hosting a webinar for educators interested in learning more about the Civics Bee on Tuesday, October 22, 2024 from 3:15-4:00 pm.
National Hispanic Heritage Month Resources
Hispanic Heritage Month is observed Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 each year as a time to celebrate the diverse cultures, histories, and contributions of the American Hispanic community. The Library of Congress and its partners and the National Museum of American Latino have webpages of resources available to support National Hispanic Heritage Month this year.
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Announces 2024 Pennsylvania History Teacher of the Year
Congratulations to Pennsylvania Social Studies educator Joseph Daniels II from The Westtown School in West Chester PA for being named the 2024 Pennsylvania State History Teacher of the Year by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History! The History Teacher of the Year Award highlights the crucial importance of history education by honor exceptional American history teachers from elementary through high school.
Reform to Equal Rights - Disability History Curriculum
Reform to Equal Rights traces evolving struggles across two centuries by people with disabilities for necessary resources for life and work, services, and political and civil rights. The curriculum emphasizes evidence-based student investigation of policy, culture, media, social change, and activism, always emphasizing the actions, experiences, and voices of people with disabilities. Nearly 250 primary sources support inquiry. The curriculum highlights opportunities throughout for students to participate in inclusive civic engagement projects. Lessons integrate with common content: reformers, impacts of wars, immigration, changing roles of government, social movements, and civic engagement.
Mark Schonwetter Holocaust Education Foundation Grant
The Mark Schonwetter Holocaust Education Foundation is an organization that provides grants for educators to teach anti-hate initiatives, respect, and kindness to students nationwide through Holocaust education. The grant allows educators to teach their students about the Holocaust – empowering them to learn how the lessons of the past can lead to kindness, respect, and inclusion in our society today. Each grant is capped at $1,000. The grant can be used to purchase educational materials, such as books for the classroom; help fund experiences, such as subsidizing the cost of transportation to a museum; help cover speaker fees for survivor speakers; or to bring programming into the school, such as traveling museum exhibits. The grant application portal is now open! Teachers who teach 4th to 12th grade are eligible to apply.
To be added to their list and be notified when the grant portal opens, please email [email protected].
From the OER Project: Teaching with Maps
Maps are more than just places on a page—they’re the fields on which history takes place. OER Project’s teaching with maps page showcases a new lesson plan loaded with activities to get students thinking about the uses and limitations of cartography, plus instant access to their archive of political and thematic maps.
From America250: America’s Field Trip is Back!
Submissions are now being accepted for the 2025 America’s Field Trip contest, which gives students an opportunity to celebrate and commemorate America’s Semiquincentennial, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Students in grades 3 through 12 are invited to share artwork or an essay answering the following prompt: What does America mean to you?
Beginning in the summer of 2025, all first-place awardees will be able to participate in a field trip with one parent or guardian to one of our nation’s most iconic historic and cultural sites!
Deadline for all submissions:
April 16, 2025 at 5 PM ET
Awardee notification:
Awardees will be notified in late April / early May 2025
2025 Field Trips:
July and August 2025
Want to see how the first year of America’s Field Trip went? Check out the highlights!
Be sure to follow and stay up-to-date with America250 on social media and add [email protected] to your safe senders list to ensure you receive all contest updates.
From The American Historical Association
The AHA has published American Lesson Plan: Teaching US History in Secondary Schools, a groundbreaking journey through curriculum mandates and classroom practices in our nation's public schools. The report summarizes the results of the most comprehensive study of secondary US history education undertaken in the 21st century.
Their research was launched in 2022 in response to the contentious debate over how our schools teach history. The diverse perspectives on those controversies shared one crucial element in common: a lack of evidence. The resulting report, which is available in full on their website and as a downloadable PDF, provides an unprecedented view of the full picture of middle and high school US history instruction across the country.
From The Pennsylvania Council for the Social Studies
Resources for Teaching about Voting, Elections, and the Presidency
Here you will find a collection of Street Law resources for teaching about the 2024 election.
It features a curated selection of Supreme Court case materials, engaging deliberation activities, and comprehensive lesson plans that explore critical topics like voting rights, gerrymandering, the Electoral College, campaign finance, and the role of the presidency in American democracy.
The materials are conveniently organized into the following themed sections:
- Voting, Voting Rights, and Gerrymandering
- Elections and the Electoral College
- Campaign Financing
- The Presidency
New From Facing History and Ourselves
This Toolkit, created by Facing History and Ourselves, offers tools and strategies to help teachers organize discussions on current events in their classrooms. Designed for teachers who are just getting started addressing current events with their students—or who are looking to learn new strategies for engaging students in discussions about the news or controversial topics—begin by exploring the resources in the toolkit.
From The Center for Civics Education
Teach Voting and Elections from a Constitutional Perspective. How are you engaging your students this election season? The Center for Civic Education offers a wide variety of resources for grades 6–12 on their new Voting and Elections page.
New from PBS Learning Media
NEW Resource: Explore the Process of Electing the Next President (3-12)
What are the requirements to become a presidential candidate? What are the duties of the president? What is a voter’s role in the election? And how does the Electoral College work? Answer the burning questions your students may have about the presidential election with this brand new video from News Quiz.
U.S. Senate Youth Program Deadline Oct. 21
The United States Senate Youth Program is a unique educational experience for outstanding high school seniors interested in pursuing careers in public service. Students selected to represent Ohio in the national program also receive a $10,000 scholarship. The application deadline is Oct. 21. To learn more about eligibility and access the application, visit the Department’s United States Senate Youth Program page.
National Constitution Center Scholar Exchange
The National Constitution Center will be hosting Scholar Exchanges throughout the 2024-2025 school year. The Scholar Exchanges give students the opportunity to discuss constitutional topics with a lawyer, judge, or constitutional scholar and their peers from around the country, Sessions are free and open to classes ranging from elementary school to college.
Thank you for subscribing to the SAS Social Studies PLC and for all you do every day for the students in Pennsylvania!
Don McCrone
[email protected]
NOTE: Sites identified here have been reviewed by the content advisor; however, educators are advised to preview for appropriateness for their respective classrooms.