The Trust for Representative Democracy
Trust Trends
Welcome to Trust Trends, a biannual Web report highlighting the accomplishments of NCSL's Trust for Representative Democracy.
America's Legislators Back to School Program
The America's Legislators Back to School Program works! It improves students' understanding and appreciation of representative democracy, according to new research. NCSL contracted with Turcotte Public Administration Consulting and Training, LLC (TPACT) to conduct a controlled study, in Louisiana and Wyoming, of the effects of the Back to School Program.
The evaluation shows that the Back to School program results in significantly higher levels of understanding and appreciation of representative democracy among middle school students. These higher levels of achievement and appreciation are possible when legislators and teachers use the NCSL lessons and materials, and address the intended program objectives.
The Trust is kicking off the 10th year of the Back to School program this fall. More than 1,200 legislators participate each year reaching more than a million students since the program began. NCSL produces resource materials for legislators to use in the their classroom visits. New for this year are the You Rule booklet and DVD that show, in American democracy, citizens really do rule and young people have a voice.
American Democracy Television (ADTV)
The Alliance for Representative Democracy partnership has created the nation's first virtual broadcast network for civic education by supplying nonpartisan, quality programming to public, education and government channels.
Since its debut in July 2005, American Democracy Television (ADTV) has experienced tremendous growth. Positive reaction and interest in ADTV continues to grow, with 440 stations in all 50 states and the District of Columbia airing ADTV programming.
Representative Democracy in America Professional Development Seminar
A major new initiative of the Alliance for Representative Democracy is a professional training seminar for educators. The 150 participants included teams of two master teachers and a civic education coordinator from each state. During the seminar they learned about representative democracy from scholars and experts in the field and received training on all of the products of the Representative Democracy in America project. These educators will now provide training and materials to 100 of their peers in their own states. As a result, approximately 5,200 teachers will be better prepared to bring the study of our legislative institutions to nearly 380,000 students each year.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Education by Act of Congress and
the Foundation for State Legislatures
NCSL Contacts:
Karl Kurtz, Director
Jan Goehring, Program Director
Trust for Representative Democracy
National Conference of State Legislatures
7700 East First Place
Denver, CO 80230
(303) 364-7700
trust@ncsl.org
Updated 9/17/2008 |
