THE 8TH GRADE CURRICULUM

ABOUT THE CURRICULUM

An initiative of the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics (ELSCE) at Harvard University, the Democratic Knowledge Project (DKP) is part of a consortium of ethics and civic education initiatives at Harvard called the Design Studio at the ELSCE. The Design Studio is led by Dr. Meira Levinson, faculty member at the Harvard Graduate School of Education  and ELSCE faculty committee member. The DKP offers curriculum development resources, professional development workshops for educators, and assessment tools and resources—all in support of education for constitutional democracy. 

Our 8th grade curriculum, "Civic Engagement in our Democracy" was originally co-created in collaboration with the History and Social Studies Department and 8th grade educators in the Cambridge Public Schools in 2019. We subsequently collaborated with over 38 educators in 15 Massachusetts districts (including Cambridge) in the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years to implement and provide input on revision of subsequent iterations of that curriculum.

In September 2021, the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education recognized "Civic Engagement in Our Democracy" as one of just four comprehensive, year-long core civics materials meeting DESE's standards for high quality- out of nearly 100 reviewed by an expert educator panel.


Other important points about our approach to 8th grade civics:

In the twenty-first century, democracy refersto a politicalsystem in which legislative and chief executive decision-makers are elected by majority or plurality rule by eligible voters, with a presumption that the franchise approaches universal adult suffrage among legal citizens and that mechanisms are in place to protect ideological, religious, ethnic, and other demographic minorities. .... In traditions of American political thought, all these terms capture forms of rights-based representative government in which 1) elected government leadership is constrained by constitutionalism, the rule of law, the separation of powers, the free expression of the people, and the legal protection and moral affirmation of the rights of individuals; and 2) groups and parties that are not part of electoral majorities cannot easily be disenfranchised or suffer loss of rights. We do not naively claim that more democracy simply in the form of more participation willsolve our problems. We seek instead to achieve healthy connections between robust participation and political institutions worthy of participation.

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.


The Democratic Knowledge Project is an initiative of the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University.
8th Grade CURRICULUM
8th Grade CURRICULUM