Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative (CLEI)
On July 13, 2021, Governor Ron DeSantis announced $106 million to establish the Civic Literacy Excellence Initiative. The funding will be used to create and award qualified teachers with the Florida Civics Seal of Excellence, which includes a $3,000 stipend for educators who complete training to earn the endorsement. The funding will also be used for Florida’s civics curriculum and to support the implementation of Florida’s revised civics and government standards in Florida’s K-12 public schools.
“The Civic Literacy Excellence Initiative is an all-in approach to fully elevate civic literacy and education for Florida’s students and teachers, beyond any state in the nation,” said former Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran. “Florida’s continued commitment to lead and foster the values we hope to see in our society will not only help develop great students, but will create humble, civically-minded citizens of tomorrow.
Revised Civics and Government Standards (Full implementation 2023-2024 School year)
Standards (PDF)
Civics Seal of Excellence Endorsement
The Florida Department of Education designed and developed the content of this first-of-its-kind teacher training program, which aligns with Florida’s revised civics and government academic standards. In each lesson, participants will study video-based lessons created and delivered by 53 expert scholars and practitioners in history, government, and political science from Florida and around the country. In most lessons, participants will submit responses to reflection activities and complete interactive assessments. For the average participant, the course should take about 50 hours, and participants have two months to complete the course. The platform is currently closed to new enrollment, but it will be reopened soon. Please check back periodically for updates.
You can also use the following link to find out more information about the course: https://www.civicsexcellence.org/
3-Day Summer Civics Professional Learning
Plans for 2024 Summer Civics Professional Training are being developed. Trainings will be held at multiple regional locations throughout the state and will include content, standards and high yield, grade specific instructional strategies. Please contact your district supervisor for updated information and details.
Portraits in Patriotism
Oral history resources to be used along with the civic education curriculum. Resources will highlight patriotism based on the personal stories of diverse individuals who demonstrate civic-minded qualities, including first person accounts of victims of other nations' governing philosophies who can compare those philosophies with those of the United States. This program is currently under development and we anticipate first resources being available for classroom use during the 2022-2023 school year with full implementation in time for the 2023-2024 school year.
K-12 Civics Curriculum
The K-12 Civics curriculum will be aligned to the revised civics and government standards and be ready for full implementation for the 2023-2024 school year. Curricular resources will be able to serve as a comprehensive primary instructional tool for civics and government content or be used as supplemental resources available to all users regardless of whether or not they adopt an instructional material for civics or government courses.
K-12 Integrated Civics Curriculum
The K-12 Integrated curriculum will provide teachers with supplemental resources that align to the revised civics and government standards and allow teachers to integrate the civics education cross-curriculum. Curricular resources will be able to serve as a supplemental Integrated Civic Literacy Curriculum resource available to all users regardless of whether or not they adopted an instructional material for civics or government courses.