UD's DCCE Promotes Civic Literacy Through K-12 Outreach

​In February, the Delaware Center for Civics Education (DCCE) in UD’s Institute for Public Administration hosted a webinar titled and based on the book How to Confront Climate Denial: Literacy, Social Studies, and Climate Change, written by presenter James Damico, professor of literacy, culture and language education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Indiana University. Later that month, Fran O’Malley, DCCE project director, joined Delaware Chief Justice Collins J. Seitz Jr. and James “Sonny” Knott, a former student of the Hockessin School 107c, to talk with third, fourth and fifth graders at William F. Cooke, Jr. Elementary School in Hockessin, Delaware. The former student, Knott, described how his one-room schoolhouse and the family of Shirley Bulah helped end school segregation throughout the country. The Chief Justice detailed how his father, Delaware Chancellor Collins J. Seitz, applied the separate but equal test, found the schools unequal, and ordered the immediate admission of Black students to the white school, Hockessin School No. 29. This decision resulted in Delaware’s consequential involvement in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case and contributed to the eventual desegregation of schools in Delaware, including the University. These events were partly funded through the Office of Delaware's Secretary of State and Delaware Supreme Court to enhance civics education in K-12 schools. The Institute for Public Administration is a research and public service center in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration.​

Article by Sophonie Milord. Originally posted in UDaily's For the Record​​.​​​