Civics education

Thousands of students across the United States will take the Preamble Challenge to celebrate Constitution Day this year and participate in naturalization ceremonies to swear in new U.S. citizens.

Many Americans are poorly informed about basic constitutional provisions, according to APPC's Constitution Day Civics Survey. It finds that 37% can’t name any of the rights under the First Amendment and only 26% can name all three branches of government.

In advance of Constitution Day, Annenberg Classroom has released a video on the legal right to confront an accuser in court, which is set out in the Sixth Amendment's "Confrontation Clause."

The 2017 Constitutional Scholars Institute, organized by the Rendell Center for Civics & Civic Engagement, brought together dozens of elementary through high school teachers to study the workings and evolution of the Supreme Court.

APPC director Kathleen Hall Jamieson moderated panels on civics and fake news at the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, and kicked off a seminar series in Steamboat Springs, Colo., with a keynote on fake news.

The Annenberg Classroom documentary on the First Amendment, “Freedom of the Press: New York Times v. United States," has been honored in the Best Shorts Competition and others.

Fourth- and fifth-graders argued for whether the United States should elect its president through the Electoral College at a contest sponsored by the Rendell Center for Civics and Civic Engagement.

Rendell Center co-founder Gov. Ed Rendell announced the 4th and 5th grade finalists in the Lenfest Citizenship Challenge essay contest, this year on whether to eliminate or keep the Electoral College.

Only a quarter of Americans can name all three branches of government, the poorest showing on that question in a half-dozen years, a new survey on civic knowledge has found. The GOP presidential candidate was known to only 84 percent of the public.

Ellis Island, formerly the entry point for millions seeking a new life in America, will host the swearing-in of more than 300 immigrants as new citizens on Friday, Sept. 16, in one of many events celebrating Constitution Day.