Education Leadership Colloquium (ELC)
The 2003 ELC took place on July 16-17 in Denver, CO. The ELC, sponsored by State Farm Companies Foundation, provided a setting to explore several key questions within the context of the continuum of civic education from early childhood through postsecondary schooling:
• What qualities should civically educated students possess?
• What types of education designs--including curricula, teaching methods, school and community partnerships, and education policies--support the development of these qualities?
• What actions must take place at the system level to establish and support these designs?
 |
Dr. Robert Franco (right), Director of Planning and Institutional Research at Kapi'olani Community College (HI) and Campus Compact Senior Faculty Fellow for Community Colleges talks with State Senator Norman Sakamoto (HI) |
 |
Anthony Welch, Chair of the National Service-Learning Partnership, Lisa Pryor, Coordinator of Learn and Serve America and Project 540 at the Oklahoma State Department of Education, Nelda Brown of SEANet |
Expanding on the themes and participants of the two previous meetings, the 2003 ELC convened a wide range of stakeholders in civic education at all education levels to examine various approaches to educating for citizenship. Participants included college and university presidents, faculty, community service and service-learning directors, K-12 administrators, legislators, graduate students, and leaders from community-based organizations. The shared knowledge and perspectives of this diverse roster of participants were essential in assessing what kinds of citizens our schools produce; what skills and knowledge are required of citizens to make our democracy thrive; what policy options, program models, and collaborative strategies will advance this critical work; how America’s youth define and participate in civic action; and how young people learn about politics.
Keynote speaker Anthony Welch, chair of the National Service-Learning Partnership and NCLC board member, reflected on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech on the cusp of the speech’s 40th anniversary. He called on participants to learn from the lessons of the civil rights movement and to think of everyone as a potential advocate for service-learning and civic education: “Whether it’s convincing a school district’s leadership of the need for quality service-learning and civic education in every classroom or writing Congress for a 20% increase in the Learn & Serve America budget, there’s a role for everyone to play.” Click here to see the full text of the speech.
Outcomes of the 2003 ELC include new links between P-12 and higher education practitioners, increased legislative understanding of the importance of (and issues involved in) civic education, a series of strategies for future work, and the commissioning of in-depth reflection papers by graduate students. These reports provide a flavor of the rich discussions that took place and point to key issues that engaged participants over the course of the ELC. Click here to see the reflection papers.
Other 2003 Conference Materials:
| 1.) In-Depth 2003 Meeting Summary: |
|
2.) 2003 Press Release: "Civics Education More Than Just a Class":
|
| 3.) 2003 Meeting Agenda:
Download the Agenda (104 K pdf)* *To Download these documents you will need the free Acrobat Reader
|
Campus Compact gratefully acknowledges the contributions of State Farm Companies Foundation, which sponsored the 2003 ELC and sent two company representatives to learn from educators and to offer a valuable business perspective. Including the business community is critical to this dialogue as we recognize the essential role industry plays in affecting policy and evoking change.
Campus Compact is also grateful to the Spencer Foundation, which provided funding to allow graduate students to attend the ELC, and to the Corporation for National and Community Service, which funded the attendance of state Compact directors at the 2003 ELC.
FUTURE GOALS
The 2003 ELC was designed to structure a dialogue that will be expanded over the next five years to develop a common vision for how education can serve the purposes of democracy in the 21st century. This dialogue, which explores the question of what kind of citizens we are creating through our education system and builds on each organization’s initiatives, will introduce a series of discussions in the following proposed progression:
• Civic Education Along the P-16 Continuum: Common Goals and Shared Strategies
• Strategies for Advancing Education for Democracy
• Institutional Models to Advance Education for Democracy
• Public Policy and Citizenship Education
The 2004 ELC, slated for July 12-13 in Orlando, will take up the discussion where the most recent meeting left off. Watch our website in 2004 for details.
Being a part of Campus Compact has let us touch the heart and soul of building better communities while improving teaching and learning for faculty and students. James A. Drake, President, Brevard Community College