Designing and Implementing Effective Professional Development in Civic Education

Becoming a competent civic educator--one who can inspire and prepare students for informed, responsible, and humane participation in civic and political life--requires ongoing study of the content, pedagogy, and resources of civic education. Many elementary, middle, and high school teachers (and their students) would benefit from effective professional development in civic learning. Yet, most teachers never attend a workshop, seminar, or conference that focuses on civic education, and, worse yet, many teachers do not value professional development. Too often, teachers view professional development as a waste of time; something disconnected from their teaching, their students, and their classrooms. The focus of this article is on organized and deliberate professional development activities that are provided by departments within schools, individual schools, school districts, educational service units universities, state departments of education, or professional organizations. The authors discuss the eight common objectives of professional development, and describe five models of the various types of these activities. (Contains 47 endnotes.)