DePaul University launches center to teach civics to middle schoolers

DePaul University wants to teach middle schoolers about civic leadership.

The university noted that in 2019, Illinois passed a law requiring a semester of civics education for public school students from grades six through eight. But a 2023 study by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement found that schools do not have resources for such education.

Most schools lack the needed additional teacher support, access to civics training, connection to community, and family engagement, DePaul said.

With that in mind, the DePaul Office of Innovative Professional Learning in the College of Education is partnering with the Barat Education Foundation to create the Center for Middle School Civic Leadership.

The initiative is backed with a $720,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education. It will create a civics learning and leadership initiative for students in grades five through eight in underserved communities throughout Cook County.

Faculty in the center will engage with the middle school students by contributing to curricula already being taught in schools, as well as summer camps and afterschool programs. DePaul faculty will create a civics curriculum for each grade level with challenges advancing each year.

Donna Kiel, a former K-12 principal and now an instructional assistant professor at the DePaul College of Education, will oversee the center.

"We've found middle schoolers really are at the point of maturity where they are beginning to understand U.S. history, current events and civics," Kiel said in a news release. "They are becoming passionate about civic action areas that interest them. Nurturing their interests and preparing them to become civically engaged citizens only benefits us all."

The Cook County pilot program will begin in October. The goal is to expand the center into an Illinois statewide resource and a national model for integrating civic learning and leadership development.