Civic Education Research Lab

04/02/2026

Drop a picture of your cat in the comments and tell us which civic skill they model best.

Curiosity. Patience. Compassion. Maybe a little well-timed playfulness.

In our latest Substack, we explore five civic skills we can learn from our feline companions and how these same habits show up in strong civics classrooms.

Civic education is not just about content knowledge. It is about helping students develop the dispositions they need to engage with the world around them, ask questions, reflect, stick with challenges, and understand others.

At CERL, we see these skills come to life through the Center for Civic Education's Integrated Civic Competencies, Project Citizen, and We the People. This post just happens to start with cats.

You can read the full post here: https://civiceducationresearchlab.substack.com/p/putting-the-cat-in-civic-education?r=5cjwiv

Now seriously, let’s see those cats.

03/19/2026

What does effective civic education look like in the classroom? New research from the Civic Education Research Lab offers some answers.

At the recent National Symposium on Civic Education Research, CERL released an executive summary of our evaluation of the James Madison Legacy Project Expansion (JMLPE), a three-year grant for the Center for Civic Education to update and expand the We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution curriculum.

The project paired updated instructional materials with intensive professional learning for teachers. For this grant, there was a special emphasis for resources that helped students with disabilities and English learners. CERL studied 379 teachers and 12,501 students to understand how the program shaped both teaching and learning.

Check out the findings below and let us know what results you find most interesting. We want to continue the conversation we started at our symposium.

12/19/2025

🎄The Twelve Days of CERL: A Year in Civic Education Research🎄

As the year comes to a close, we’re reflecting on what the Civic Education Research Lab built, studied, and shared alongside educators, scholars, and civic education partners across the country.

The Twelve Days of CERL capture the scope, impact, and purpose of our work in 2025:

🔢 12,000+ student pre- and posttests analyzed
🧭 11 civic social and emotional learning competencies advanced
⭐ 10/10 focus on accessible, practitioner-facing research
📰 9(1) Substack subscribers (and growing!)
🎤 8 academic conferences, from DC to Seoul
🛠️ 7 Center for Civic Education workshops nationwide
🤝 6 partner organizations evaluated and supported
🏫 5 classroom visits observing civics in action
📚 4 major evaluation projects
📄 3 research one-pagers designed for educators and leaders
🗣️ 2 affective polarization convenings hosted at Georgetown
🎯 1 shared mission: strengthening civic learning by connecting rigorous research with educational practice

We’re grateful to our partners, collaborators, and readers who made this year possible—and we’re excited to keep building in 2026.

👉 Read The Twelve Days of CERL on Substack: https://civiceducationresearchlab.substack.com/p/the-twelve-days-of-cerl?r=5cjwiv
👉 Subscribe to stay connected with our work

Celebrating a Year of Civic Education Research

12/16/2025

Inside Lindsay Stepanek’s Standout Student Showcase

11/21/2025

Our second Mr. Rogers post is up!

This week, we explore how he turned research and storytelling into effective advocacy during his 1969 Senate testimony on public television funding.

In that same spirit, the Center for Civic Education’s Project Citizen helps students advocate for their communities, and CERL is committed to sharing research that supports strong civic education nationwide.

Please, won’t you be our neighbor?

How Fred Rogers turned research into impact and why we should too

11/19/2025

Interested in smart, meaningful research on civic education? Georgetown University’s Civic Education Research Lab has a Substack that’s an outstanding resource for educators, researchers, and leaders who want to understand what truly improves civic readiness and engagement.

Recent features:
🔹 “Mr. Rogers and the Power of Education Research”—a thoughtful reminder of how empathy and evidence intersect in effective civic learning.
🔹 “Preparing Students with Disabilities for Democratic Engagement through Civic Education”—a meaningful look at inclusive pathways to civic participation.

Highly recommended reading for anyone committed to strengthening constitutional democracy through education.

👉 https://substack.com/

10/30/2025

Last week, Civic Education Research Lab and the Institute for Citizens & Scholars hosted a convening at Georgetown University on affective polarization among young people.

Unlike traditional polarization rooted in ideological differences, affective polarization is personal — marked by distrust, distance, and even hostility toward those with different identities or beliefs.

Our latest substack piece, “Debriefing the Divide: What We Learned,” reflects on key insights from this event and invites you to join the conversation on affective polarization.

Check it out:

Affective Polarization Convening #2