American Civics and History Initiative
The American Civics and History Initiative (ACHI) is designed to provide teachers the knowledge and content necessary to be highly effective in teaching our founding principles and history. It is built around three key points:
- That the mission statement of the United States is set forth in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence: “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” with the emphasis on the freedom and responsibilities of the individual,
- That the Constitution is the strategic plan for the achievement of that mission; and,
- That our history as a country is really a history of the journey of effort, failure, and progress toward that mission.
The ACHI is a collaboration of three of the nation’s leading experts in civics education in our high schools – The Jack Miller Center (JMC), The Ashbrook Center and the Bill of Rights Institute (BRI). These organizations are committed to leveraging their institutional strengths in the state of Wisconsin to
- conduct 80 new professional development opportunities for secondary school teachers of American history, civics, and social studies by the semiquincentennial anniversary of the United States in 2026
- build their combined teacher reach in Wisconsin from approximately 1,400 at present to 2,300 secondary school educators who teach 230,000 students each year
- strengthen the depth of their educator relationships, building learning communities around American Founding content
- gauge impact of programs through a system-wide evaluation of Wisconsin secondary educators in 2026; and
- demonstrate effective public collaboration between the three organizations, and leading Wisconsin civics organizations and state education agencies.