Network News

As one of only five states in the nation that offer a high-school diploma seal focused on civic engagement, California has been working to lead the way for students to graduate from high school with a robust civic education.  And researchers have been looking closely at how the California State Seal of Civic Engagement (SSCE) has been rolling out since its initial adoption just over a year ago.  One of the CHSSP’s close partners, Leveraging E

Editor’s note:  In 2018, at the CSMP Lead Learn conference, Executive Director Claudia Martinez presented Gary K. Hart with a special award in recognition of his “many years of leadership, service, and dedication to the California Subject Matter Project.” With his passing on January 27, 2022 we wanted to share her comments as a way to say thank you again to Gary and to hopefully inspire others to continue his legacy of good work and public service.

Emily Drum taught history, civics, government, and economics at Monache High School in Porterville, a town in the San Joaquin Valley, where she worked to engage students’ voices.   Passionate about making education relevant and meaningful, Drum emphasized that “When students leave my classroom, they know they can do anything, their voice matters, and they belong.” She recently completed an internship with the California Council on Economic Education, is a fellow at the Facing History

Tuyen Tran, Assistant Director of the California History-Social Science Project, was announced on October 15th as a member of the America250 Foundation’s History Education Advisory Council for a one-year term.

Starting this September, we are launching a new feature on our website called Monthly Highlights. We plan to use this page as a central location for resources related to an identified monthly theme. On the page, you will find resources ranging from blog posts, featured lesson plans, teacher highlights, featured scholarship, and picture book resources. Our goal is to provide you with ready-to-use resources that will allow you to connect with our theme for the month. 

I’m thrilled to announce the appointment of two UC Davis History Department Ph.D. students, Daniel Castaneda and Vanessa Madrigal-Lauchland, as the inaugural Marchand Public Engagement Interns, who will join the California History-Social Science Project / California Subject Matter Project team, starting August 2021. 

We are interested in hearing from history-social science teachers about how they are doing in this unprecedented time.  Never before in our lifetimes has a pandemic made it so that teachers and students cannot safely gather in one place for school.  Events that we took for granted in February – school assemblies, lunch in the cafeteria, an ordinary day at school with students engaged in project based learning – are now in May unimaginable.