Publication Date:

January 14, 2009

The Pennsylvania Coalition for Representative Democracy (PennCORD), a coalition of state and national organizations committed to implementing civics education in classrooms and afterschool programs in every Pennsylvania community, has added Sunnylands Classroom to its Keystone Program offerings of exceptional civics initiatives for Pennsylvania teachers.

Lead partners in the PennCORD effort are the Office of the Governor of Pennsylvania, under the leadership of First Lady Judge Marjorie O. Rendell; the National Constitution Center; the Pennsylvania Bar Association; and the Pennsylvania Department of Education. PennCORD activities are coordinated by the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

The goal of PennCORD is to help Pennsylvania students to become more active citizens by offering teachers quality resources that meet state educational standards and can be implemented at little or no cost to the schools. PennCORD's Keystone Programs identify the most exceptional civics initiatives for Pennsylvania teachers, and the criteria include: "1) low-cost; 2) fit civics standards; 3) assessable; 4) offer methods, materials and training; 5) adaptable to school environment; 6) renew the civic mission of schools."

Sunnylands Classroom (www.SunnylandsClassroom.org), a project of the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands, offers classroom-ready civics education resources at no-cost for use on Constitution Day and throughout the year. The website offers Sunnylands Constitution Project materials including downloadable books designed to complement middle and high school civics and history curricula, award-winning films on the Constitution with supplementary lesson plans, an ‘Ask a Supreme Court Justice' feature chronicling answers from Supreme Court Justices to high school students' questions about American democratic institutions, and in-depth analysis by constitutional scholars and legal experts on issues raised by the Justices in these videos.