Civic Thought and Leadership Initiative

 

CTLI Vision for 2023 and Beyond

 

In 2022, CTLI accomplished numerous objectives in mentoring UVU students, supporting K–12 teachers, conducing civics research, and facilitating public civic dialogue. We constantly strive to learn, improve and innovate on our past accomplishments. At the same time, 2022 is a good guide to what we will accomplish with our current resources in 2023.

Were the Utah Legislature to grant significant additional funds to CTLI, we would build on our 2022 accomplishments by—

• Advocating for and developing a Civic Thought and Leadership Minor, building on existing courses and funding the development of additional ones for a comprehensive, yet focused, civics minor. The minor would be oriented towards, and marketed to, all majors, especially those focused on public service.
• Significantly growing our partnership with Utah’s “We The People: The Citizenship and the Constitution” Program,” including K-12 professional development with hands-on instruction in America’s founding principles.
• Expanding our “Civics Education Throughout Utah” project, with the goal of taking civics professional development training to every school district outside the Wasatch Front.
• Building a Civics Survey Center at UVU that would conduct all civics-related surveys and research. A dedicated survey center would greatly enhance CTLI’s ability to address the causes of the “gap problem” identified in our research. It would also allow the research conducted by CTLI to impact regional and national conversations on civics education.
• Creating a “Tocqueville Fellows Program” for UVU students. Tocqueville Fellows would have the opportunity to work with CTLI’s Civic Research Fellows on civics research, conferences, and other projects. Students would also receive a scholarship for their services. This would provide hands-on civics experience and wonderful mentorship opportunities for students.
• Developing a “Civics Endorsement” program for Utah social-studies teachers. We are just beginning a protype project with Granite School District. The endorsement would provide a financial and career incentive for teachers to gain significant professional training in constitutional literacy and civic participation to enhance their teaching abilities.
• Implementing and expanding our “Economics for Civics Educators” project in conjunction with UVU’s Woodbury School of Business. This would provide opportunities and incentives for social studies teachers to gain solid training in foundational economic principles and apply them throughout their curricula.
• Building a substantive master’s degree program in “Government, Civics, and Law” specifically tailored to secondary teachers. In their quest for career advancement, too many teachers feel compelled to complete nonsubstantive or administrative degrees because they have no substantive options. Our master’s degree would be one year and would prepare teachers to better teach American history, constitutional law, and founding principles.

Read about CTLI's Mission and Charter and its Impact.