First Amendment Schools

05.06.02

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First Amendment Schools: Educating for Freedom and Responsibility, co-sponsored by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) and the First Amendment Center, is a national initiative designed to transform how schools model and teach the rights and responsibilities of citizenship that frame civic life in our democracy. The project has four primary goals:

• Create consensus guidelines and guiding principles for all schools interested in creating and sustaining First Amendment principles in their school.
• Establish project schools, in every region of the nation, where First Amendment principles are understood and applied throughout the school community.
• Encourage and develop curriculum reforms that reinvigorate and deepen teaching about the First Amendment across the curriculum.
• Educate school leaders, teachers, school board members and attorneys, and other key stakeholders about the meaning and significance of First Amendment principles and ideals.

To achieve these goals, the First Amendment Schools project serves as a national resource for all schools — K-12, public and private — interested in affirming First Amendment principles and putting them into action in their school communities.