Education Department’s latest priority: ‘Patriotic education’

On the 238th birthday of the U.S. Constitution, Education Secretary Linda McMahon proposed her fifth supplemental priority for discretionary grants: prioritizing patriotic education.

Grant competitions will favor civics education that teaches American history, values and geography “with an unbiased approach,” according to a news release.

“It is imperative to promote an education system that teaches future generations honestly about America’s founding principles, political institutions and rich history,” McMahon said in a statement.

According to the Education Department, a patriotic education prioritizes a “unifying and uplifting” portrayal of the nation’s founding ideals, and highlights the progress the U.S. has made in living up to those principles, especially the battles fought by civil rights heroes to expand the protections of the Constitution to all citizens.

So far, McMahon has released four supplemental priorities to guide the Department’s grantmaking. The priorities include:

• Evidence-based literacy to promote instruction based on proven methods rooted in the science of reading
• Expanding education choice access across all applicable discretionary grant programs
• Returning education to the states, enabling the Education Department to prioritize state applicants in competitions where they qualify as eligible entities or can endorse other types of entities
• Advancing artificial intelligence to encourage the use of AI technologies to improve classroom efficiency, reduce administrative burdens and improve teacher training and evaluation

More from DA: Explaining the fear and pushback surrounding civics education

Meanwhile, the Education Department is joining forces with the American First Policy Institute, Turning Point USA, Hillsdale College and more than 40 other national and state-based organizations to launch the America 250 Civics Education Coalition. The initiative is designed to renew patriotism, strengthen civic knowledge and advance a shared understanding of America’s founding principles in schools nationwide.

“A country cannot survive if its values are forgotten by its people,” said McMahon. “More than ever, we need to restore the vitality of the American spirit, and this coalition will take bold steps to educate, inspire, and mobilize youth toward active and informed citizenship.”