School Curricula on Local Government

Ensuring the ongoing provision of essential community services is no easy task. Yet, most residents take for granted the public services that our local governments provide—from law enforcement and recycling, to emergency response and public transportation.  While residents often see the people who deliver these services—police officers, sanitation workers, paramedics, and bus drivers—they often fail to realize that each local government function is part of a larger, complex service delivery operation.

To educate younger citizens and residents about how local governments run and the important role these organizations play in the daily lives of our communities, a number of state-based organizations have developed or endorsed local government education programs and curricula to help students in grades K-12 learn about their local governments. In the spring of 2005, ICMA’s Executive Board established a 20-member Task Force on Civics Education, which directed a study of these programs.  The Task Force’s work resulted in the development of summaries of programs from the following states:

Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas, Vermont, and Virginia.

Follow these links to learn more about:

1. ICMA’s Task Force on Civics Education
2. The challenges overcome and lessons learned from ICMA's study of state-based civics education programs
3. What local government managers can do to foster K-12 civics education in their communities.

Have documents to share? Forward your sample civics education materials to resources@icma.org for possible inclusion in ICMA's Resource Center library. Or, if you know of a comprehensive, state-based program that is not listed on this page, please send information about that program, including a contact, to ICMA at publicawareness@icma.org. 

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Local Government Innovations

	Mayor's Lunch for Principals and Students Year: 2004;
	Job Shadow Day Year: 2004;
	Empowering Youth in Local Government: Olathe, Kansas, Case Study Year: 2004; Pages: 29.
	Public Involvement: Vancouver, British Columbia, Case Study Year: 2003; Pages: 21.

Sample Government Documents

	Youth City Council Year: 2004; Pages: 2.
	Your City, A Class Act: An Introduction to City Government for Students Year: 2004; Pages: 27.
	Youth in City Government Year: 2003; Pages: 2.
	Youth Activity Book Year: 1996; Pages: 14.
	Youth in Government Program Year: 1995; Pages: 24.

Reports and Articles

	City of Lancaster's Civic Leadership Academy Year: 2009; Pages: 3.
	2006 Academic Award in Memory of Stephen B. Sweeney: Lawrence F. Keller Year: 2006;
	2005 Academic Award in Memory of Stephen B. Sweeney: Marc Holzer Year: 2005; Pages: 1.
	Box City Teaches Kids to Think Inside the Municipality Year: 2004; Pages: 2.
	What Can Be Done? Attracting Young Adults to Careers in Local Government Year: 2003; Pages: 12.

Awards

	2002 Award for Local Government Education: Anthony Griffin Year: 2002; Pages: 1.
	1990 Award for Local Government Education Year: 1990; Pages: 1.

ICMA Publications About School Curricula on Local Government

Investing in Our Future: A Handbook for Teaching Local Government   Provides guidelines for developing programs and materials to teach local government to K-12 students.

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