Office of Civic Education and Engagement

Welcome to the Office of Civic Education and Engagement (OCEE) located within the University of Louisville College of Education and Human Development Nystrand Center for Excellence in Education. The OCEE collaborates with local, state, national and international partnerships to enhance civic engagement and civic literacy efforts within the Commonwealth. Some of the key partners of the OCEE include the Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts, Jefferson County Public Schools, University of Louisville McConnell Center, Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative, Northern Kentucky Cooperative for Educational Services, Covington Independent Schools, Forward in the Fifth, Center for Civic Education and the Kentucky Secretary of State's Office, Kentucky Legislative Research Commission and the Kentucky League of Women Voters.

Some of our current work

Kentucky Department of Education Lesson Study: The OCEE, in partnership with the Kentucky Department or Education, formed a lesson study learning community in the fall of 2008. We are currently in our 4th semester of lesson study.

One Community One Nation (OCON) is a curriculum partnership between Jefferson County Public Schools, OCEE, and the JP Morgan Chase Foundation.  The work is focused on building an elementary (K-5) curriculum to teach young people that they can make a difference in the world around them and empower them to become effective, participatory citizens. The curriculum addresses the needs of students coming from an urban environment and hopes to close the empowerment gap (Berman, S. and Bolton, N. (October 2009) Civic education needs to begin early [PDF]. Campaign to Promote Civic Education). The OCEE is also working with Covington Independent Schools to develop and implement the OCON curriculum.

The OCEE is currently working with the Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative (OVEC) to design and implement a lesson study model for high school teachers participating in their Teaching American History grant.  The OVEC teachers have collaboratively designed a lesson with an embedded common assessment they will implement in the spring of 2010. The OVEC staff will serve as facilitators of the lesson study process.

Forward in the Fifth (FIF) is a non-profit grassroots organization in the Fifth Congressional district of Hal Rogers. FIF has received federal funds to support civic literacy and assessment. The OCEE has partnered with FIF to conduct professional development trainings for over 65 social studies educators in the summer of 2009. Additional trainings are being conducted in the spring of 2010, targeting middle school social studies teachers.

Thank you for your interest in civics and for visiting this site. Throughout the site you will find more information on our current projects, upcoming events, resources for Kentucky classrooms and links to valuable resources that can be used to heighten educational and community engagement. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact Natalie Bolton, PhD, 502-852-1462, Director, Office of Civic Education and Engagement.