Civitas International Programs
The Center for Civic Education’s Civitas International Programs bring exemplary civic education curricula to students worldwide in partnership with organizations in the United States and eighty-four countries. This unique network of educators, civil society organizations, educational institutions, and governmental agencies has worked for more than a decade to develop quality curricular materials and train teachers throughout Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. The objectives of Civitas International Programs include:
- Exchange of Ideas—provide opportunities for sharing experiences and best practices through workshops, conferences, newsletters, online discussions, exchange visits, and events.
- Professional Development—introduce educators to exemplary curricular materials and teacher training programs that utilize interactive, student-centered methodologies.
- Capacity Building—facilitate the creation, adaptation, and implementation of sustainable civic education programs in participating countries.
- Research & Evaluation—promote independent research and evaluation projects to determine the effects of civic education programs on teacher instruction and student knowledge, skills, and dispositions.
Here is a list of Sites and Partners
Contact Us
Civitas International Programs are administered by the Center for Civic Education. Here you can find staff profiles.
Center for Civic Education
5115 Douglas Fir Road, Suite J
Calabasas, CA 91302
Telephone: +1(818)591-9321
Fax: +1(818)591-9330
Mission Statement
The Center for Civic Education is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational corporation dedicated to promoting an enlightened and responsible citizenry committed to democratic principles and actively engaged in the practice of democracy in the United States and other countries.
About the Center
The Center specializes in civic/citizenship education, law-related education, and international educational exchange programs for developing democracies. Programs focus on the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights; American political traditions and institutions at the federal, state, and local levels; constitutionalism; civic participation; and the rights and responsibilities of citizens.
Today, the Center administers a wide range of critically acclaimed curricular, professional development, and community-based programs. The principal goals of the Center's programs are to help students develop (1) an increased understanding of the institutions of American constitutional democracy and the fundamental principles and values upon which they are founded, (2) the skills necessary to participate as effective and responsible citizens, and (3) the willingness to use democratic procedures for making decisions and managing conflict.
The following statement by Thomas Jefferson expresses the Center's rationale and goals.
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion."
The Center's headquarters are in Calabasas, California. Since its origin in 1969, Center materials have been used in all fifty states and the District of Columbia, the trust territories, and in the following regions: Africa; East Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific; Eastern and Central Europe; Eurasia; Latin America and the Caribbean; the Near East; Southeastern Europe; and Western Europe.
