NCSL Trust for Representative Democracy Program: America's Legislators Back to School Program Materials

America's Legislators Back to School Program Materials

The America's Legislators Back to School Program is an annual nation-wide event that "kicks off" the third week of September and runs through the school year. NCSL makes available, free of charge, the following publication and video resource materials for high school, middle/junior high school and elementary school students to be used by state legislators visiting classrooms in conjunction with the program. To request copies of the materials, please contact your state legislative coordinator. State legislative coordinators may obtain copies by contacting Joy Heiserman or Joyce Johnson at btsp@ncsl.org.

Adobe PDF Publications available in pdf format. To view PDF files, you must install Adobe Acrobat Reader.

BTSP Brochure

The Back to School Program promotional brochure is mailed to all state legislators from NCSL in May of the program year. It encourages state legislators to take part in the program and help bring civics to life for students by visiting classrooms. State legislative coordinators may obtain additional copies by contacting Joy Heiserman or Joyce Johnson at btsp@ncsl.org.

Publications

High School

Your Ideas Count! inTime
Your Ideas Count! inTime This special edition of inTime, published by TIME magazine for high school students, explores myths and realities about American democracy and challenges students to get involved.

Your Ideas Count! inTime (Teacher's Guide)
Available online only

Your Ideas Count! Rep Dem and You Your Ideas Count! Representative Democracy and You This booklet, geared for adults, challenges readers to think about how they feel about our system of government and how representative democracy relates to them. This booklet would be appropriate for seniors in high school.

Middle/ Junior High School

Your Ideas Count! Q & A
Your Ideas Count! Questions and Answers about Representative Democracy This colorful booklet is geared toward middle school and younger high school students and explains that disagreement is a natural part of the legislative process, that debate, negotiation and compromise are necessary, and that students' chances of being heard are better when they join with a group of people who share their views. (Also available in Spanish)

Your Ideas Count! Questions and Answers about Representative Democracy (Teacher's Guide)
Available online only

Elementary School

TFK second-third Your Ideas Count! TFK Extra! (Grades 2- 3) This fun-filled supplement edition to TIME for Kids, published by TIME magazine for 2nd - 3rd graders, helps them understand some very basic ideas about our system of government.

TFK fourth to sixth Your Ideas Count! TFK Extra! (Grades 4- 6) This supplement to TIME for Kids, tells 4th - 6th graders about representative democracy, how laws affect their lives and shows them that legislators are real people.

Legislators

Talking Points Card This easy-to-use-laminated pocket sized card for legislators provides messages and suggested classroom activities for all grade levels.

Videos

Middle School/ High School

Your Ideas Count! Q & A video Your Ideas Count! Questions & Answers about Representative Democracy This 16-minute video, for middle and high school students, tells the story of five kids-- Sean Duffy from MTV's Real World Boston and four of his friends-- who visit the state capitol to find out what really happens when state lawmakers go into session and get down to business.

Elementary School

Citizen Brain Citizen Brain (Grades 4- 6) This 15-minute fun-filled video with live action and animation shows upper elementary school students how to thrive on American Democracy.