Exploring overlap between Michigan lawmakers and social studies policy enactors in the context of Public Act 4136

In a qualitative case study of Michigan Public Act 4136 – which mandates that high school students in Michigan must complete a one-semester civics course aligned with the the US Citizenship Exam in order to receive a diploma – I sought to determine to what extent lawmakers, social studies teachers and administrators, and resources related to the policy reveal shared or disparate positions in their orientations towards citizenship education. Through interviews with members of Michigan’s state legislature, social studies classroom teachers, and educational leaders at the local and state levels, I positioned how these individuals tended to view social studies education in the context of high stakes exams, mandates, and a polarized political climate. Additionally, I examined related newspaper coverage to analyze how the mainstream press structured social studies knowledge and encouraged particular conceptions of citizenship. The findings revealed that lawmaker and educator participants believed in the importance of civics education, especially given the partisan, highly polarized nature of today’s society. In fact, lawmaker and educator participants seemed to agree about the importance of the content knowledge associated with the US Citizenship Exam, yet expressed levels of disagreement related to the competing political and educational aims of legislation mandating its instruction. More specifically, while educators expressed different levels of comfort with powerfully integrating civics learning opportunities amidst the polarized political climate, they all talked about wanting their students to question and develop reasons for their thinking. Some lawmaker participants espoused similar beliefs about social studies teaching and learning related to critical thinking and student engagement. One lawmaker participant, who sponsored 4136, came at social studies education more from a rote delivery of information perspective, and argued for the need to learn certain content knowledge. Investigating the shared and disparate views of citizenship that existed among these domains could contribute to better coordinating social studies education policy and practice, especially as close to 20 other states implement similar legislation as Michigan’s Public Act 4136. By identifying patterns among lawmakers and social studies policy enactors’ representations of social studies education, policy could be strengthened by making it more flexible and responsive to these potentially diverse perspectives and contexts. Most importantly, my research could restructure some of the debate about what it means to prepare students for their civic lives by empowering more active, non-traditional interpretations of citizenship.