Civics Instruction
According to the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), civics education is an integral component of adult education services and includes instruction related to rights and responsibilities of citizenship and civic participation.
The language in WIOA is purposefully not limited to citizenship. In fact, it is intentionally broader, referring to instruction on the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and civic participation. To support broader civic participation, this topic also highlights the many other ways that programs can promote and support learners in becoming full and engaged members of their communities.
Instruction on the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and civic participation includes providing information and practicing tasks related to:
- Navigating American systems of government
- Individual freedoms
- Responsibilities of citizenship
Civics is also a required instructional component of Integrated English Literacy and Civics Education (IELCE) programming.
The following video (2021) shows the components for teaching a Civics Education lesson. You’ll see Robert Lee teach a lesson about the Flint Michigan water crisis to intermediate and intermediate-high (NRS levels) English language learners in his distance learning class. Robert Lee is a Teaching Skills that Matter Coach in addition to being an ESL teacher and ESL Tutor Trainer with the Delaware County Literacy Council in Pennsylvania. In the video, you’ll also hear from Betsy Parrish, an adult education subject matter expert and a TEFL/TESOL professor at Hamline University.
Resources
- Civics Education as a Critical Component of Adult Education, a message from VDOE
- Teaching Skills that Matter Toolkit: Civics Education
- Civic Objectives (California Department of Education)
- Civics Instruction through Diving Deep (PROGRESS Article)
- Prompting Local Change through Civics Lessons (PROGRESS Article)
- EdTech Center: Social Issues in the Classroom with “The Change Agent” (self-paced course)
- December 2023 Issue of PROGRESS (Focus on Civics Education)
- Civics in the Adult Education Classroom
- Pennsylvania IELCE Content Guide
- IELCE Lesson Plan Template
- IELCE Curriculum Checklist
- Civics It Up! Civics Objectives
- Civic Integration Resources from EARN– Civics in the Adult Education Classroom and Contextualizing Civics for the Workplace: The rights and responsibilities of citizenship and civic participation are critical components of civic integration and a key component of IELCE. IELCE instruction in this topic can include information about documentation and citizenship preparation as well as community engagement more broadly, such as through topics like navigating community services and achieving a more digitally equitable future. These resources highlight how IELCE activities can support civics education and deliver citizenship and civic participation services.