Civic Summits – Center for Education Policy
The mission of the Center for Education Policy is to strengthen PK-12 schooling and higher education through democratic decision-making and the use of evidence. In keeping with that mission, the CEP annually organizes Civic Summits around policy issues of pressing concern. Bringing together leaders, practitioners, scholars, and citizens, CEP Civic Summits seek to cultivate cooperation and counteract polarization.
2025 Civic Summit on Civic Engagement and Responsibility
In its second Annual Civic Summit, the Center for Education Policy invited Massachusetts residents to promote conversation and generate new ideas about socially important issues, exploring the question, “How should Massachusetts public schools prepare the next generation for civic engagement and responsibility?”
The panel of educators and experts included Kelley Brown, an award-winning social studies educator at Easthampton High School and graduate of Amherst College and the UMass Amherst College of Education. Her social studies classes won the Massachusetts Center for Civic Education’s “We the People” state competition the last four years in a row and won the national competition in 2020. Panelists will also include Reuben Henriques, assistant director of humanities for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education; and Adam Hinds, former state senator and chief executive officer of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate.
Student panelists included representatives from Easthampton and Quabbin Regional high schools, UMass Amherst undergraduate political science student Qua’Nae Golston-Thomas and Northampton High School students who serve on the board of the College of Education’s Center for Racial Justice and Youth Engaged Research.
Watch the summit:
Briefing materials for the Civic Summit included a fact sheet produced by the Center for Education Policy. Download PDF version. and/or click on images below. Please note that all links in “Sources and Further Reading” are clickable.
