Nonprofit starts online civics education tool

(The Center Square) — Virginia’s civics teachers have gained a new resource for their classrooms in a program developed by the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonpartisan nonprofit that tracks and shares important data on Virginia politics and government.

Civics Navigator is an online database for civics teachers, whether public, private, homeschooled or higher education, who want to enrich their material on Virginia government specifically.

Kirk Cox, co-chair of the program’s panel of advisors and president of the Virginia Business Higher Education Council, was also a high school civics teacher for many years, in addition to serving in the state House of Delegates. Civics textbooks rarely come with detailed state-specific information, according to Cox, and Navigator is meant to help with that.

“As a 30 year government teacher we always lacked resources at the state and local level,” Cox told The Center Square in an email. “I had a short paper textbook that one of my JMU professors had written when Doug Wilder was Governor. We were still using that same textbook many years later.”

Teachers can sort information by grade level for lesson plans or bite-size, bell-ringer activities to keep students engaged. Currently, the program’s online library has 174 resources for high school teachers, 22 for middle school, and one for elementary school teachers, but the intention is that it will keep growing.

Many of the current items are data graphics, like a 2024 election timeline or an interactive graphic showing the total 2021 gubernatorial campaign donations from each state . Some are mini explainer videos answering a question in a minute or less.

VPAP also plans to host professional development sessions for educators around the state throughout the year, which teachers can sign up for on the Navigator platform.

Executive Director Chris Piper said VPAP’s board had “long wanted to establish a civics education program and actually did back in 2017, but it was stalled in 2020 as a result of the pandemic.”

The organization revamped the existing program through months of extensive research and needs assessment interviews and recently announced the launch of the new site.

For the time being, the program will focus on providing resources for K-12 educators, though VPAP plans to expand it to higher education and the general public.

Jodi Fisler, another panel member and the senior associate for assessment policy and analysis for the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, has high hopes for the program.

“I hope Civics Navigator gets picked up by a lot of teachers, and that they find it beneficial. I hope the lessons and activities will leave a lasting impression on students, who will then apply their civic knowledge and skills throughout their lives,” said Fisler in an email to The Center Square.

“A healthy republic depends on an educated citizenry, and I hope Civics Navigator will prove to be an effective part of that education.”