PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — As our nation's 250th birthday approaches in 2026, the National Constitution Center ramps up its efforts to teach citizens about how our government works.
That's the mission of the NCC's newly-hired vice president of civic education, Julie Silverbrook. “One in four Americans in the general adult population can’t name any branch of government. There are only three branches. It shouldn’t be that hard,” she told KYW Newsradio.
In the test known as “The Nation's Report Card,” only 22% of American eighth graders scored “proficient” or above in civics. That statistic troubles Silverbrook.
“We’re not investing in civic learning. And I think you’re seeing the ugly fruit of that in our political discourse today,” she said.
Silverbrook, a Bucks County native, comes to the NCC after most recently serving as the constitutional scholar in residence at iCivics, a nonprofit founded by the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
She said the NCC is developing a number of programs leading up to the semiquincentennial, including a middle school version of its “Constitution 101” high school curriculum. The NCC is also developing a series of programs including a digital toolkit to help people of all ages learn more about their government and its executive, legislative and judicial branches.
Silverbrook said she hopes the NCC's efforts will lay the groundwork to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Constitution in 2037 and to help people of different ideologies talk with each other, “to really get people to reinvigorate civics and civility in the United States.”