Educating for American Democracy: More Important Than Ever

June 13, 3:00 pm ET

Event summary: What is the latest with Educating for American Democracy?

A year ago, group of scholars, teachers and other stakeholders from across the ideological spectrum released the Roadmap to Educating for American Democracy, presenting a broad vision for the integration of history and civics education throughout grades K–12. Since then, history and civics learning has become a red-hot issue at the intersection of many debates: access to fair and inclusive education; racial and social justice; parents’ rights; and the increasing polarization of America’s civic discourse.

What’s going on? What’s next for the Roadmap? What are the implications of the current debates for funders interested in history and civics learning; preparing the next generation of civic leaders; and ensuring all young people build the skills and capacities they need to become engaged members of their civic communities?

Join your peer grantmakers, Roadmap leaders, and a group of diverse stakeholders convened by Grantmakers for Education, Grantmakers for Thriving Youth and Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement for a funders’ briefing and discussion touching on these topics and more.

Speakers:

• Louise Dube, Executive Director, iCivics, Principal Investigator, Educating for American Democracy
• Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, Newhouse Director, Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, Tufts University, Principal Investigator, Educating for American Democracy
• Tiffanye McCoy-Thomas, Curriculum Supervisor for Social Studies, East Baton Rouge Parish School System
• Pragya Upreti, Race to Learn Research Coordinator, Kentucky Student Voice Team
• Moderator: Kent McGuire, Program Director, Education, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

About the Speakers

Louise Dubé
Executive Director
iCivics

Louise Dubé serves as the Executive Director of iCivics. As the largest provider in the nation, iCivics champions and re-imagines civic education. iCivics is the winner of many awards including Fast Company’s Top 10 Most Innovative Education Companies, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Award for Creative and Effective Institutions and EdTech Creator winner from Unity. Previously, Louise served as Managing Director of Digital Learning at WGBH where she helped launch PBS LearningMedia, a platform reaching over 1.5 million educators. Before WGBH, Louise had a successful career in educational publishing. Louise won the 2017 People’s Voice award from the Diane Von Furstenberg – Diller Foundation as well as the 2018 Civvys – American Civic Collaboration National award from Bridge Alliance. She was also recognized as a 2019 Donaldson Fellow by the Yale School of Management. Louise is a frequent commentator on civic education in a range of media outlets from the Washington Post to PBS. Louise began her career as an attorney in Montreal, Canada, and holds a law degree from McGill University, as well as an MBA from Yale University. In the early 1990s, she served as a co-founder of CASES, a New York alternative-to-incarceration program where education helped re-shape lives.

Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, Ph.D
Newhouse Director
Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE)

Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg is the Newhouse Director of Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University. CIRCLE is a nonpartisan research institute that studies diverse pathways to civic learning and participation. Trained as a clinical and community psychologist, Kei entered the world of civic learning and engagement through the social emotional learning and youth assets lens. Kei views civic development as a youth-centered network of connected opportunities, people and institutions and shares CIRCLE’s research and expertise with a diverse network of cross-sector stakeholders, including young people, educators, and organizers to advance youth-centered policy and practice that support inclusive democracy.

Kent McGuire, Ph.D
Program Director, Education
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Kent McGuire is the Program Director of Education at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. He leads the investments of our teaching and learning and open educational resources strategies, with a focus on helping all students succeed in college, work and civic life. Kent is a veteran of the national education movement for public education.

Previously, Kent was the President and CEO of the Southern Education Foundation, an organization committed to advancing public education in the American South, with a focus on equity and excellence. Prior to that, he served as the Dean of the College of Education at Temple University and was a tenured professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies.

From 2001 to 2003, Kent was a senior vice president at the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, where he split his time between research projects on school reform and directing its department on education, children and youth. He has also been an education program officer at the Pew Charitable Trusts and directed the education program at the Lilly Endowment. Kent served as Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education from 1998 to 2001.

Kent earned his Ph.D. in public administration from the University of Colorado, an M.A. from Columbia University Teacher’s College, and a B.A in economics from the University of Michigan. He serves on the boards of the Wallace Foundation, the Institute for Education Leadership, and the Panasonic Foundation.

Tiffanye McCoy-Thomas
Curriculum Supervisor for Social Studies
East Baton Rouge Parish School System

“Demography is NOT Destiny”, is the mantra of Tiffanye McCoy-Thomas, a veteran educator with more than twenty years of experience. She has served in the classroom, as a building and district leader, and state department of education program manager with extensive experience in teacher and leader professional development.

Dr. McCoy-Thomas currently serves as the curriculum supervisor for social studies within the East Baton Rouge Parish School System, leading the work of professional development, instructional best practices, assessments, and curriculum development. She has served as a facilitator for the Louisiana Association of Education for two years, dedicated to supporting the advancement of those seeking to enter the education profession. She often expresses, “there is no achievement gap only an accessibility and opportunity divide.” Her work calls upon this belief and the insight to create programs, opportunities, and partnerships to close the divide and empower educational stakeholders, specifically through equity advocacy and data informed decision making.

Dr. McCoy-Thomas is interested in post-doctoral work focusing on more efficient and early warning systems to identify unfinished learning and methods to intervene, eliminating what is often referred to as gaps in scholar learning. She is a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and champion for children.

Pragya Upreti
Race to Learn Research Coordinator
Kentucky Student Voice Team

Pragya serves as the research lead for the Kentucky Student Voice Team’s Race, Ethnicity, and School Climate Study. In this capacity, she supported two dozen other high school researchers to analyze data they collected from over 10,000 students from across the state who completed a survey they designed to help inform public conversation around the teaching of race in school. Pragya has also served as a qualitative researcher on the Team’s 2020 statewide Coping With COVID-19 Study, organized one of Kentucky’s first student-led town halls for school board candidates during the November 2020 elections, and worked on several of KSVT’s legislative initiatives, including the Save Our Seats campaign to protect the student and teacher seats on the state school board and most recently, efforts to oppose House Bills 14 and 18 to censor conversations about systemic racism and other topical issues in school. In addition to opinion pieces published in Kentucky newspapers, Pragya has written for the National Association of State Boards of Education and co-authored a publication with the Aspen Institute. She is a recent graduate of Lafayette High School in Lexington, Kentucky.