--- title: "One Civic Mission, Many Paths: State Leaders on the Future of Civics" slug: "betty-a-rosa-ny-state-ed-dept-one-civic-mission-many-paths-state-asu-gsv-2026" author: "Betty A. Rosa, Katie Jenner" date: "2026-04-13 12:00:00" category: "Premium" topics: "ASU+GSV 2026, conference transcript, Policy, PreK to Gray, Equality + Access, Civics Education" summary: "This panel brought together state education leaders from Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, and Utah to discuss the current state of civics education across the country." banner: "" thumbnail: "" --- > **ASU+GSV 2026 Summit** | Monday, April 13, 2026, 3:00 pm-3:40 pm | The Forum ## Speakers - **Betty A. Rosa**, NY State Ed Dept - **Katie Jenner**, Indiana Sec of Ed ## Key Takeaways - This panel brought together state education leaders from Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, and Utah to discuss the current state of civics education across the country. - The conversation revealed that while significant progress has been made -- Indiana has embedded civics literacy into its accountability model, Massachusetts introduced an 8th grade civics assessment, New York is integrating a civics seal into its portrait of a graduate, and Utah passed a full-year high school civics course -- there remains a profound challenge in supporting teachers who feel afraid to teach controversial content. - State chiefs emphasized coherence across the K-12 spectrum, arguing that civics should be integrated into existing subjects rather than treated as an add-on, particularly starting at the elementary level through literacy and social studies integration. - A key tension emerged around how different political climates in different states create vastly different conditions for this work, and around Betty Rosa's call to include "untold stories" in civics education to represent the full diversity of America. ## Notable Quotes > "In leadership, at different points, you get windows of opportunity. If you do not seize the moment when they come, it will pass you by, and you will forever live with regrets." > > — **Katie Jenner (Indiana)** > "I think in education, we do a really great job of overcomplicating everything. And that's when our teachers look at us and say, not one more thing." > > — **Katie Jenner (Indiana)** > "This whole civic movement is also an opportunity for our country to understand that there are many spaces and places and contexts where the untold story has not been told." > > — **Betty A. Rosa (New York)** > "If you start with those civics classes in high school and there's no foundation, then you're building sand castles in the sky and it doesn't work as well." > > — **Molly (Utah)** > "Civics is about purpose. How do you make our society better? How do you express your voice? How are you that leader and that critical thinker?" > > — **Pedro Rivera (Massachusetts)** ## Full Transcript I really appreciate you doing this. You guys are now with a lot of the funding changes that are occurring at the federal level. You guys are the chief executives of education. You are important. You control a lot of what happens, and therefore we're going to hold you accountable. No. I'm really, really glad that you're here. We're here because iCivics runs a policy arm and has policy staff working across 50 states trying with local coalitions to make a difference so that more civics is taught in all the states. There's not the infrastructure there, but we are making a significant amount of progress. I'm just delighted to have with us those people who actually know what's happening in the states. We're going to go around and go one by one to each of the states and try to talk about what are the conditions on the ground right now in each of their states. I'm going to start with Katie. In Indiana, a lot is happening in Indiana, in case people don't know that. You have two jobs. There's a lot happening. Recently, you passed a civic SEAL program and a middle school course for civics. Tell us how that's going, what the results are. Are they what you expect, and what's next? Yes. A lot is happening in Indiana. I'll often joke these dark circles are earned, for sure. Probably you all might feel that way at some points, too, but in leadership, at different points in leadership, you get windows of opportunity. If you do not seize the moment when they come, it will pass you by, and you will forever live with regrets. We are going to continue to seize the moment. I had the opportunity to begin serving in this role in January of 2021. Almost immediately, we took time to really listen across the Hoosier State to our people, educators, parents and families, students, business and industry leaders, community advocates. Oh, welcome, Molly. Utah is in the house. You all know. They keep us on a tight schedule here, so I'm sure Molly was running from one thing to another. Let me get back to the ... Okay. I get really excited when my fellow chiefs walk in, but we did Indiana GPS. Indiana graduates prepared to succeed and built out a profile of a graduate. I understand some states have done that. Sometimes it just hangs up on the wall. In Indiana, we've said, if these things really matter, let's figure out how to measure them, and let's determine the strategies and tactics to get better at them. One of the key characteristics that Indiana elevated was civics literacy. Civics literacy, and the governor who hired me was on this stage about two hours ago, Governor Holcomb. I now serve with Governor Braun, but we have been very intentional in driving some policy. In addition to the U.S. government and U.S. history being required, which is shocking, it's not required everywhere across our country. That always shocks me. We added a middle school course, as you mentioned, in sixth grade, so the standard spiral. We have the Indiana Civics Bee that we host at the state house and send ... Yeah, yeah, yeah. Huge fan of that. We got second last year, our student. We're going to be hungry and ready for next year. We partner closely with a number of groups. You can't do this work alone. All of our mutual friends, the Indiana Bar Foundation is a huge driver of this work in Indiana and the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Library is as well. We did a video for all elementary students in Indiana about Benjamin Harrison and the book that was shown in classrooms. The civics designation is probably the most systematic because we can actually point to various competencies and outcomes that students hit and then that will be on their diploma. That's going to matter. The other thing, and you mentioned this earlier, civics is now a part of our accountability model. You may not have known that because I listened to your panel closely, but I made a little note, Louise, to tell you, yeah, if it matters for the state, we have to figure out how to hold people accountable. Our I Learn U.S. Government test is a measure, a success indicator measure that students may use. We also, all of our seniors take a portion of the naturalization exam. I could go on, but it's still not enough. There's still so many things we're leaving on the table in civics. We're going to come back to that because I think there's so much more that can be done. Let's turn to another state where there is a civics assessment also. So Massachusetts is a leader in civics, passed a civics trust fund, passed a lot of different policies to support more civics. It was highly supported by the teachers in the state, and yet the civics assessment, the MCAS last year, 39% proficiency. What do we need to do to improve that? Yeah, so thank you, Louise. So we're very proud that we introduced civics as part of our summative assessments last year for eighth graders, and just under 40% were proficient. By the way, it was created by our teachers, so we actually locked teachers in a hotel room pretty much, and they really helped us not only with the assessment, but also what it meant for our children to be proficient in civics. So obviously, it was the first time we did it, so we have a ways to go, but we are also about to also change graduation standards for our high schools, which would be something that would be, I call it legacy work, that we're about to introduce, and civics will be a requirement. It's interesting, as I got to lead a council for grad standards, we did a lot of surveys. We did focus groups, talking to teachers, to parents, to students, school leaders, district leaders, and one of the requirements, one of the things they asked us to put into the grads was civics, and especially because, and we have a wonderful partnership with iCivics that's been working with us for a while, but you know this, that right now, it is, in the previous panel you covered this, it's just so hard right now for teachers to be teaching in the classroom, to talk about, frankly, some really pertinent issues that are happening across our society, and it's a struggle for teachers making sure that, again, that they have that balance of being able to, because it's important for our children to understand different viewpoints. You know, Louise, one of the things I always remember, I was, I walked into, in one of my districts that I led, I walked into an African, an advanced placement African American studies class, and as I walked in, the teacher was showing, the students were researching newspaper articles about President Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln, and showing the, as he, before he became president, some of the views he had in different offices, and how he shifted after he became president, and it was just fascinating, like, to show, like, you know, how complex, you know, again, Abraham Lincoln was, and to show also the human condition, that things can shift politically, and his views about slavery, and so those are examples for me that, you know, in my mind, I thought, how do we make sure that every teacher has that, and I really applauded the principal, I said, you know, kudos that you created those safe conditions for discussions to be in the classroom that are not, you know, driven to a point in a certain direction, but actually just show, again, the complexity of what happens in our society, and for students to understand that it's okay for things to evolve, so, Louise, that's, I like to use that example as the vision that we have in Massachusetts, to really make sure we're creating those conditions in our classrooms, because I honestly feel, I'm very optimistic about the future, because I get to see students on a regular basis, and I can tell you, they're, you know, they don't have the same adult issues that we have, and so, you know, I really feel that this is the time to really work with them when they're young, so that they can form their own opinions, and again, be, you know, self-independent thinkers. So, I hear a couple things here, depth and nuance, so we should probably return to that. In New York, you have an eighth grade capstone project, and how is that going, and what do you do to prepare educators for what is sometimes a hard ask? Sure. So, I'm going to take a little bit of a detour, if it's okay, because I want to contextualize the conversation. We're, in New York, in the middle of a portrait of a graduate, you know, as critical thinkers, innovators, global citizens, so as part of that work, and New York inspires, and I actually have one of my superintendents here, who is very much Dr. Schenkel, who's responsible for a lot of the work around New York inspires, which is our action plan. So, in preparing and rethinking graduation, and how do we prepare our students for multiple pathways and the way that we think about preparation for not, in terms of joining work, what I call, you know, the economics and education as key partners in thinking about workforce development. We are in the process of looking at, of course, we've had the seal for a while, and to your point, capstone project, but that continues. And so I just want to say that, you know, there are some key issues. Our legislators put into law in 2024 a requirement that our high school students be ex-official on school boards. And that is huge because they are now ambassadors of really looking at policy, practice, the application of the seal in terms of really giving student voices and the application of our students really being actively engaged, not just in a capstone project in eighth grade, but throughout, and the connection to communities, culture, community, and understanding civic responsibility, civic engagement, civic contributions, and understanding the whole issue of humanity and our, what I consider to be our constitutional rights so that our students truly understand that from early on all the way through. But graduating with a seal in terms of our students, part of the graduation process is really important. So we have our legislators involved with the passing of this ex-officio. We clearly have our students engage in project-based understanding that this is part of the graduation requirement. But more importantly is the advocacy and the understanding of our students early on and all the way through in this portrait that they are very much individuals who can take the learning of content and the application of that knowledge base and those skills and that mindset. Now with that, I will say that we visited this morning the Civic High School. And so it was something we wanted to do, you know, obviously in relation to seeing it homegrown in your own backyard. So we're very proud of the fact that we did see some wonderful examples, not only of the work that we're doing, but the work that's being done across the country. So very, very happy to say that even beyond our project in eighth grade, that it is truly one of the seals, one of the very first, besides bilingual seal, it is one of the seals that has already been embedded to become part of our portrait of a graduate. That's fantastic. Are teachers embracing this? Are they capacitated to do this work? They've been absolutely, not only because we've done this, we did the seal with the task force and teachers were very, very much a part of it, but also our legislators were very much a part of really engaging, understanding the importance of having our students understand civic involvement, civic engagement, civic commitment. So all of that became a statewide community commitment, teachers, leaders, legislators, governor, and across the board. That would give somebody hope. That is fantastic report. Both of you have talked about portrait of a graduate, so we're going to come back to that because I think if that's becoming a driving force for you, then I think we should listen as a community. But Molly, am I right? Thank you. Yes, first of all, am I right that the governor just signed a full year high school course and very, very recently? Yeah, we're doing quite a bit in Utah in the area of civics. Our legislature just concluded and they have, we are playing around with some of those things. But we also are taking it way down and really looking at what the elementary experience is and making sure that our students have a very firm foundation and understanding of our country's history, of our, what it means, the whole notion of civics and being a citizen and the underpinnings of our country and making sure that that knowledge base is firm and making sure, you know, I've been in elementary classrooms. I was an elementary principal, was an elementary teacher at one time. And making sure that that knowledge base is infused across the curriculum is terribly important in order to do these other things in the middle school, in the high school, and making sure the time is there. So in addition to, the Utah legislature is very careful about making sure that things are leveled. So we don't do a lot of things that just blanket everywhere. We start small with our screen time and we add to it in middle school and then we add to it in high school. So it's very connected and there's a through line. And I would say the same thing for civics as well, making sure that we're age appropriate at every level and thinking about what a middle schooler needs in order to be successful, what needs to happen in the elementary. So some of the things that we don't, that didn't get a lot of airtime is the connection and the combining of English language arts and social studies materials throughout elementary all the way to the eighth grade and on to the civics classes in high school. Because if you start with those civics classes in high school and there's no foundation, then you're building sand castles in the sky and it doesn't work as well. So I'm really proud of the work that they've done and the legislature also put a 2027 date. So there's a lot yet to come. We've got some time to work on the high quality instructional materials that go with such efforts as well as developing out those standards and some assessment pieces as well. So it's all, it's working together to make sure that that civics thread follows throughout the career of a student and it's coherent. We're really, really working on coherence. How are you doing that work? Is this the role of a state to lead that work? To create the coherence, absolutely. It's the work of the schools and the teachers to make the instructional decisions. But it's the work of the SEA to the state education agency to open those doors, provide those opportunities and to connect people together that are doing the work. That's one of the benefits of being in a state that has a smaller budget, a small government state that we are required to use our partners in order to develop this work. And that is, it makes the product stronger. It makes the student experience stronger. So we're engaging some community partners and some philanthropic organizations to really pull that thread throughout and really link it to early literacy and literacy throughout the K-12 and then on to the higher education space. And that's one thing that I was glad that you mentioned, post-secondary. And there's this dichotomy that doesn't need to be there between preparing for the workforce and this notion of civics. And it's all one. And I think we all watched Artemis and you think about what got Americans to the moon. It's not just the science or just the desire to, you know, the civics, we are Americans, we're doing this. It's all of it together. It's interdisciplinary. And I think that conversation, that coherence is what makes this possible. Yeah. That was such a prideful moment, I think, for our country. Let me just go back and maybe I'll ask all of you. You mentioned elementary. There's a tremendous amount of support within the civics community for going to elementary. But every time we testify about that issue, people, legislators or state boards say, yeah, what are you going to take off? What is it that you're not going to do? So what's an answer I, well help me out, what could I say about that? It's not about taking off, it's about instructional density and combining. It's about when you're teaching a, when you're choosing a short story to illuminate cause and effect or something, you choose a story that also hits the social studies standards. It's yes and. Any other advice on that? Yeah, I mean I agree. One of the things that we know, especially English language arts lends itself because you need so much non-fiction. So social studies is even easier than science. I always love also the integration of science, but social studies is even easier. I also think, you know Louise, I also see it in just even in the way schools and classrooms are set up where, I see this across ministries where you see schools create leadership roles in the classrooms. They engage student voice in the classroom. And really student voice for me is one of the most powerful vehicles in any kind of civics, any kind of civic lesson plans or engagement because, you know for example, one of my board members is a student from the high school and there's a whole very complex structure of student advisory boards. So like I said, you know, it's not consistent, you know, so that's, I think that's one of the roles of the state, right, is how do we create that consistency and that vision in terms of that we want to see this across our classrooms. But I do think it is about integration. It shouldn't be, we shouldn't be working in silos. Oh, sorry, go ahead Betty. Yeah, I'm going to interject for us. This is a little bit different because given our state and the diversity of our state, we tend to really, you know, we've been focusing on the untold stories because too many times I think we look at history and in many ways we see the untold stories of people who were not part of that history. So when we get the materials we get, we assume that some of the contributors, particularly, you know, we have the indigenous, people of color, women, the untold story for us in terms of civic has become, you know, as somebody who is the co-chair of the 250th, I love the fact that we have really examined what stories are told, who sees their, you know, their portrait in these stories and whose portrait is not represented. And so for us, this whole civic movement is also an opportunity for our country to understand that there are many spaces and places and contexts where the untold story has not been told. And so we have celebrated and seen the fact that civic has allowed us to really enrich the story of America, the story of our country, the story with people, you know, when we think of even women, you know, it's fairly recent and in having the opportunity to vote. And so too many times I think that we have been in the civic space, have, you know, told the story, but not told the untold story. The single story has really lived in our spaces for so long that we have become so comfortable with it. So I think it's a challenge in the civic space to really bring about many of the individuals, many of the communities, many of the cultures, many of the languages that have been absent from the story of America. Yeah. So I'm going to address this question, I think, a lot more simplistically. I think in education, we do a really great job of overcomplicating everything. And that's when our teachers look at us and say, not one more thing. And if your teachers are looking at you saying, not one more thing, it's too complicated and it's not connected to what we're doing. The reality is every one of us on the stage here and our colleagues, I was brought up this last civics panel, are working on lighting the fire of purpose in kids, showing them, you know, here's what could be ahead. Some are referring to that as career-connected learning. But the same skills we're talking about with business and industry are applicable to building good citizens. Communication, collaboration, critical thinking, disagreeing better. So as I was listening to my fellow state chiefs up here, I just thought, gosh, if we could just have, if somebody out there would just produce a one-pager, and I know you all have the civics acts now, just a one-pager with like, hey, here are our ideas in elementary, here are our ideas in middle, here are our ideas in high school. We have change agents at the community level that do a darn good job. And I think about elementary schools, as you mentioned a bit, Pedro, like I think about the Mayor's Eagles. That's not a school doing it, that's the local mayor getting involved and having the Mayor's Eagles in all the elementary schools. I think about schools having good citizenship awards. Like some of this is not that complicated. But it becomes complicated quickly if we don't sit down with the people on the ground and talk through what matters and what it could be. Well, and that, my friends, is coherence. And that's exactly what civics is about, is about providing voice. And you couldn't have, I couldn't have said it better, but we have to give our students a voice, a voice for the future. And that is what civics is about. It's no harder than that, and we do a very good job of overcomplicating it. The other thing that I wanted to add that I forgot about is the fact that if every school, if every elementary school would go through their litany of activities and wrote them down and then connected them to the curriculum, they'd realize they're covering so much more than they even thought. I think they have this notion that there's all this stuff that they're missing. I don't necessarily think so. I think that activity alone would give our elementary schools, in particular, a boost of confidence. I will say, Louise, just to be, I have three sisters that are teachers, and I can just, they're in my ears right now, I can just hear the kindergarten, middle school, and high school. I do think one of the things we need to work with our superintendents on is really providing the professional development support for teachers. Great teachers, they know how to bring this stuff all together, and of course, when we see them in their classrooms, it looks really easy, and I always remind people, this is really hard. This is not easy at all, but some of our teachers make it look easy. So I think one of the things that, I think as state leaders, we owe them great resources so that they don't have to reinvent the wheel. And then helping, working with their superintendents and school leaders around the structures to support teachers so it doesn't feel like things are being added on. Because I think when you're a teacher, it does feel like that. Again, I can just hear my sisters right now, it does feel like that. So I think that's a way for us to kind of work together, and I take that as a challenge for myself, and working with my superintendents to really say, how do we make it easier for your teachers? So that, because every time we, when we talked about it in a graduation requirement, I could just see the faces of the superintendents, they're like, oh, you're gonna add that, as well as everything else. But helping them understand that, no, we'll do it together, and it's not gonna be you doing it by yourself, and we will have, we have our commitments as a state, that we're gonna be providing, just like superintendents need to have their commitments, school leaders need to have their commitments to their teachers, and then we can all make it work together. Can I add just one more quick thing? Because the teacher role is so difficult today, and civics is an especially tricky one that our teachers are, one thing that would be, and I'm really good at giving homework assignments, if you notice, I already gave you one, I'm about to give you a second one. Our teachers, they want to get an A+, like they want to do well, almost all of them, right? They wanna do well. And so when you, our partners, elevate the teachers who are just doing a darn good job with a civics activity, or with a civics, that is so helpful for then us as state chiefs to send statewide to, you know, through a newsletter, through, or celebrate them, and then that elevates the civics brand, that elevates the civics focus. They're like, oh, okay, that matters, okay. I mean, that talk about, right, like empowering your people, but that would be helpful from folks like you to help us share our teachers' stories, so that then it can empower others to also join. So that's very interesting. So basically, in the prior panel, I talked about iCivics' teacher survey, 2,200 responses, It is extremely difficult to teach civics right now. They are afraid. And they are afraid both of the content and the reaction of their administration and of parents and how do we support them. I love that idea. Other ideas about how we might support them? So Louise, I think one of the things that we can do is also state leaders. And by the way, we don't work in isolation, right? I mean, I can say this. I feel very fortunate to be in Massachusetts where we're very aligned from the governor to the attorney general. And so it kind of helps us. But I think it's important for us to make sure we give cover to our superintendents. We give cover to our school leaders. Because again, all of us have diverse communities, right? I mean, it's not like every community is the same in our states. And so many times, people are working in fear because they're upset they're going to upset somebody on the school board, or they're going to upset a certain parent. And I think it's important for us to be able to say, first of all, we want you to be the best teachers possible. We want you to be able to help our students think independently. We want them to be, again, it's our graduate profile, right? We want them to be leaders and effective communicators. Well, that only happens if we allow our teachers to teach and not let the politics come into the classroom. And so I think that's a role for us to set. And of course, I say that not by ourselves. Because again, we have to make sure that we're aligned. But I do feel that when you do that well, that can at least send a strong message that, yes, there's still afraid. Let's acknowledge it. But also, let them know they're not by themselves. And I think that's something that, for me, when I heard that survey result, Louise, that is what triggered me, is that we have to make that really clear. And especially in today's times, and all the way down. So in other words, I'm doing it with a lot of letting know everybody's backing you above me. By the way, superintendents, I need you to let your school leaders know, school leaders you need to know, let your teachers know, so that we're all aligned. It would be very helpful to help superintendents. Betty? I think you raised a key point, which is teachers negotiating everything that is, whether it's what's in the media, what is coming out in terms of rewriting history. And so when they're in the classrooms, to your point, it's really trying to protect the integrity of that work. And it's very challenging when they're seeing, whether it's issues with book bans, and all kinds of different situations. I mean, we really have to, you talked about coherence, but there's also a piece about the honesty, that we have to look at the political climate. The civic has to also say, when I think about we the people, and when I think about US is us, and if we're us, then we really have to represent the protection of what the history, historical context. And that's why I go back to protecting the history and protecting the stories that are told, and not rewriting the history that has existed. And I think many of our teachers, and many of our leaderships, are in those very, very challenging spaces. And I think we have to acknowledge that in our leadership role, how do we make sure that we have that clarity in the message, so that people are not feeling that, as they're in their classrooms, and whether it's Johnny goes home and says, this is the discussion they had in the class, that those individuals are feeling that personal sense of, well, what I am teaching, and what is being taught, is the history. It's the connection. It's this civil engagement that we empower our teachers, our leadership, and everything else. But when they're in that negotiating space, that is a challenge. And it's a challenge that I think we have to be honest about. And it's a challenge that we're all experiencing in this moment in time. You're speaking to a tension, obviously, and when that matters, and that it will be resolved very differently in different states. Is that not the case? Oh, absolutely. That's right. I think when you were talking about being in Massachusetts, I think on a personal level, I'm in New York State, but I'm also selected by a board of regents, not the governor, although I have a great relationship with the governor. So it's a different, and I'm also a chief that has, although I don't use the term chief, because I got rid of mascots. So I'm a commissioner, and also the president of USENE, which means it's a P-20. It's not a P-12 position. So I'm blessed in the sense that I can look at that higher ed, the dual credits that people talk about, the idea that we're preparing our students in high school, and then I have connections to the college space or to the workspace. And I'm also blessed that I have 37 BOCES superintendents that really are marching, which is very different than other states. So I think for us, as Pedro was saying, that in some states, the shift is not as severe, in many cases, as it is for other states. But I think we also have to acknowledge and be truthful about the fact that that is an element that exists. I think it's interesting what you're saying. Partly, you're pointing to there are differences in politics in different states, but there are also differences in the structure of how you guys are appointed, whether you're elected, and so on and so forth. So yeah, OK, that's fascinating. Can I just quickly say, I do think we have to be careful, though, as educators, not to admire the problem and get after the solution. When you talk to teachers, they want to know, what are the tangible ideas that I could do tomorrow? So as you were talking, Betty, I was thinking through, if I had to think about, what are the three things that I'd love for every Indiana student to have? And when we have civics literacy on our profile, what do Hoosiers care about? Number one, they want our kids to love our country and our state, number one. And know the history, and the branches of government. Like, let's get basic, right? Number two, I want every child in Indiana to be able to look at both sides of an issue and have bullet points and can talk about both sides of the issue. That is tangible that every teacher, every content area can do. I taught entrepreneurship. We did an activity every Friday where they brought in news articles, and we looked at both sides of the issue, right? Every teacher could do that. Love our country, both sides of the issue. And I had a really good third one that I'll think about after you get it, Molly. We're going to go, thank you for that question. We're going to go rapid round with that. What three things? So reflective patriotism, pluralism, and something else. Molly, what do you think? Oh, I did not know I was next. So here's more thinking time for you. If you don't want to answer that question, I can ask you a different one. Yeah, sure. Go ahead. I liked her answer. Yeah. Ditto. I did actually want to double down on what you talked about for interpretation. Media literacy. Sources. All right. Sources. All right, all right, all right. She got them all. Yep. There we go. You talked about coherence. You talked about teachers doing a lot that is not recognized. And yeah, if you look at the NAEP results, and you're going to get state results very soon, I assume. And our kids are not doing that well. I know knowledge is not everything, but let's just face it. We're not doing everything we need to do, are we? Yeah. Well, I think that sometimes we get distracted by new shiny toys. And I think sometimes we go after fads instead of remembering what we know to be true and what we know to be true about learning. And so I guess one of the things that I urge is we don't have to do all the things all the time. And sometimes the most obvious true answer is something we've done for a long, long time. And it works. And some of our teachers, they tell us that. They say, you know, I was a young principal. And a teacher walked up to me and said, welcome. And she said it in a Southern drawl. And I just don't do it very well. But I'll be, I'm here when you started. And I'll be here when you're gone. And she was teaching me a lesson that sometimes those tried and true, we don't have to go after the new shiny toy. And when we go after the new shiny toy, let's connect it to what we already know. And let's give our teachers a chance to do that. teachers the respect that they deserve from the experiences that they have and let's constantly do the telescoping where we look towards the future and then we look at the now. And then we look at how far we've come. And then we look to the future. And that's how you create that coherence. And I think that's really important in civics because it marries the past with the future but with an orientation to the right now so that our teachers know in what lane they're operating. That's great. Thank you. 30 seconds. We're running out of time. So, Louisa, I'll just say this. You know, what I really want for our students is I want them to be challenged. And I've seen this in action in Massachusetts. I also want them to be thinking civically through everything they do. So, for example, we had our science fair, you know, that I got a chance to go to. And it wasn't just the amazing rigor and the projects but it was also the fact that they were solving societal problems. And so, for me, civics is bringing these things together that everything you do has a purpose. And I'll just say this. The reason I'm so optimistic is that when I'm with our students, that's what I see. They're trying to connect these pieces together. And you said it, Katie. Let's, you know, let's not overcomplicate it. Let's challenge them, give them the rigor, and really unleash their minds about purpose and connecting that civics is about purpose. Is how do you make our society better? How do you express your voice? How are you that leader and that critical thinker? That's great. So, I want to say global citizenship for me is huge because the reason we're not doing so well is because we're isolationist and we narrow our own state and we think of our state. We don't think of the country. And we certainly do not do a good job in realizing that outside of the U.S., the lots of other countries and understanding culture, language, and civic understanding for me brings in the global citizenship. And if it's global citizenship, it's really keeping in mind that our students need to understand how to be global citizens. And global citizens really involves a larger scope and we haven't done a great job in that space. I thank you so much to the panel for sharing your wisdom with us. I heard some tensions. You heard some tensions around emphasis. You heard some tensions around how we should go about this work. But you also heard an enormous amount of agreement about the importance of this work and the importance of doing it from elementary all the way through high school and even post-secondary. So thank you so much. Please give them a round of applause. --- *This transcript was put together by our friend [Philippos Savvides](https://scaleu.org) from Arizona State University. The original transcript and additional summit resources are available on [GitHub](https://github.com/savvides/asu-gsv-2026-summit-intelligence). Licensed under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).*