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District presentation lays out K-12 civics goals and new civic-readiness options
Summary
Dr. Eric Sundberg told the Jericho Union Free School District board the district's civics program centers on four essential understandings and combines knowledge-rich instruction with participation opportunities such as Project Citizen and a pilot for the New York State Seal of Civic Readiness.
Dr. Eric Sundberg presented a multi-part K-12 civics curriculum to the Jericho Union Free School District Board, saying the district has four essential civic understandings students should hold by graduation: that systems are shaped by principles, institutions and history; that decisions require evidence and diverse perspectives; that responsible participation depends on knowledge and reasoning; and that a healthy democracy requires civic identity and dispositions.
"We're a very knowledge rich curriculum here. You need to know a lot of stuff to think about stuff," Sundberg said, describing a program that pairs content knowledge with opportunities for deliberation and real-world participation. He outlined how lessons scale from kindergarten (family, rules, belonging) to third-grade global exchanges and to high-school-level deliberative experiences such as debate, Model Congress, and Project Citizen.
Sundberg described specific classroom practices: third graders participate in virtual exchanges with students in Kenya to compare local environmental issues; middle-school students complete weeks-long research projects tied to National History Day; and high-school students take courses such as AP Government and a new project-based option that let them identify a local problem, interview experts and analyze relevant laws and policies.
He also said the district is piloting the recently created New York State Seal of Civic Readiness for seniors and teaching digital citizenship and AI literacy as part of civics instruction. "We consistently register students to vote," Sundberg added, pointing to efforts to connect classroom work with civic habits.
The presentation drew questions from board members about whether the curriculum shapes students'views of U.S. history and about how the district balances teaching historical judgment with critical inquiry. Sundberg said the district focuses on reasoning and respectful, evidence-based discussion rather than on promoting particular political conclusions.
Board members thanked Sundberg and asked staff to ensure the civics-based policies under review reflect the classroom approaches he described; no formal policy action was taken at this presentation.
