This fall, the Boston, Cambridge, and Springfield Public Schools will be rolling out the new Children Discovering Justice civics curriculum across their districts to help elementary students learn about the complex issues of justice and fairness.

The curriculum guides civic-minded students and teachers through lessons of culturally responsive and interactive activities. For example, the “Needs Before Wants” activity provides opportunities for students to identify equitable solutions to serve the needs of others in various picture scenarios.

Each unit focuses on the topic of justice through a grade level focus. Kindergarten focuses on rules and community, first graders explore voting and leadership, and second graders learn about justice and the environment.

“I observed a group of kindergarten students that were so concerned and passionate about establishing fair classroom rules,” said Victoria Suri, Discovering Justice’s K-5 Curriculum Developer. “These students are building a strong foundation to apply this learning to their broader community and world.”

Over the past year, Discovering Justice staff worked with educators across the Commonwealth to pilot the program. Feedback from educators strengthened the curriculum ensuring that it met the needs of districts and the students. Learn more and explore the curriculum by visiting the organization’s website.

Discovering Justice Education Staff also offers professional learning and development sessions to prepare educators to discuss the issues of justice and fairness with the Commonwealth’s youngest learners. These trainings inform educators on the tools and resources available in the curriculum and provide best practices for leading civil discourse in the classroom.

Discovering Justice has also begun working with teachers to pilot the Grade 3 curriculum which will focus on indigenous justice. Guest speakers will share their perspectives through video interviews for students to understand indigenous justice movements that continue today. Grade 4 curriculum focused on immigration and Grade 5 based on freedom of speech and civil rights will follow.

The K-2 curriculum is “open source” and is free for all Massachusetts school districts to use. Staff is in discussion with representatives from Brookline, Lexington, Norwood, Burlington, and Plymouth Public Schools to discuss implementation of the curriculum in the coming year.

Discovering Justice kicked off its 21st season of its Mock Trial Program this week with a record 30 teams of middle schoolers set to tackle the complex intricacies of the Fourth Amendment.

This record number of teams from 13 cities and towns are headlined by Discovering Justice’s expanding partnership with Springfield Public Schools and Providence Public Schools, the organization’s first ever out-of-state team from Rhode Island.

“We are partnering with more teams and in more places than ever before,” explained Luke Matys, Discovering Justice’s Mock Trial Program Manager. “This fall’s highlight is our growing participation in Springfield and our new partnership in Providence.”

This year’s case is based on the 1985 Supreme Court Case, New Jersey v. TLO, which set the precedent for students’ Fourth Amendment Rights (search and seizure) in public schools. The case involves a school principal finding more than they expected when searching a suspected student bully’s cell phone.

“It is exciting to work with new school systems and legal mentors and expand our impact to more than 400 middle school students this fall,” said Matys. “With more than 120 volunteer legal mentors and 30 teacher coordinators, we have a talented team to help students learn about the workings of the judicial process and prepare their cases for trial in December. ”

Last year, Discovering Justice was written into Springfield Public School’s budget to bring the organization’s programming, including Mock Trial and Mock Appeal, to more Springfield students than previous years. This fall, four middle schools will be running the Mock Trial Program in Springfield: Duggan Academy, Springfield Conservatory of the Arts, STEM Middle Academy, and Springfield Renaissance School. We are partnering with legal professionals from Springfield including: MassMutual, CPCS Youth Advocacy Division Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, Bulkley Richardson, the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, and Connor & Morneau, LLP.

Adding to the record number of teams, the organization is running its first ever mock trial team from Rhode Island. The Providence-based group partners Nathan Bishop Middle School with the US Attorney’s Office in Rhode Island.

Civics Project Planning Workshop: Grade 8

This 3-hour workshop will run September 21 and 22, from 3:30 – 5:00 p.m. Participants should plan to attend both days. Register here: Workshop Registration. Email Kathryn Gabriele, kathryn.r.gabriele@mass.gov, with any questions.

This interactive workshop will be co-facilitated by Massachusetts Civics Fellows, teachers experienced in planning and implementing the student-led civics projects. In this workshop, participants will examine resources and tools to draw on in their work, look and engage with several project examples, and have an opportunity to begin collaboratively planning for implementation in their local context. This workshop will focus on project planning and implementation in grade 8 and is for educators who are both new to the projects and those who have experience with them.

Civics Project Planning Workshop: High School

This 3-hour workshop will run September 28 and 29, from 3:30 – 5:00 p.m. Participants should plan to attend both days. Register here: Workshop Registration. Email Kathryn Gabriele, kathryn.r.gabriele@mass.gov, with any questions.

This interactive workshop will be co-facilitated by Massachusetts Civics Fellows, teachers experienced in planning and implementing the student-led civics projects. In this workshop, participants will examine resources and tools to draw on in their work, look and engage with several project examples, and have an opportunity to begin collaboratively planning for implementation in their local context. This workshop will focus on project planning and implementation at the high school level and is for educators who are both new to the projects and those who have experience with them.

Sadly, we will be saying goodbye to Courthouse Program Manager Henry Schunk, who will be leaving staff at the end of the summer. He and his partner of five years, Caroline, are moving to Washington DC where she will be starting a new job with the Justice Department.

Henry was a jack of all trades here at our offices at the Moakley. Hired as the Office Administrator in September of 2019, Henry also led hundreds of in-person tours at the Moakley – sharing with visitors his love of the building’s architecture and its relationship to the ideals and principles of the justice system and our democracy,

Henry accomplished much in his three years here:

He developed Discovering Justice’s online tour of the Moakley, which provides an in depth look at the Courthouse from your desktop

He started the organization’s Events Program in conjunction with the Courthouse, bringing speakers to the Moakley to talk about restorative justice, the courts and the media, and the complexities of free speech.

He worked with Matt Wilson, Discovering Justice’s Executive Director to help create and recruit for the organization’s new Fellowship Program. Henry was the chief recruiter for that program and helped orient our 18 Fellows to the organization.,

And while he was not running these major projects, he was providing support to other staff with his online talents, writing and formatting this bi monthly newsletter for the past two years (!), sharing his love and knowledge of history, and infusing the staff with his passion for working for justice..

While the staff at Discovering Justice is sad to see Henry leave, we are excited to see what is next and how he uses his skills and talents to change the world.

Keep up the great work Henry!

-Matt Wilson and the whole Discovering Justice Staff

More than 250 Discovering Justice supporters gathered June 22 on a beautiful evening harborside at the Moakley Federal Courthouse Lawn to celebrate the organization’s 2022 Annual Gala: Connections and Community.

Led by Discovering Justice Board Members Abim Thomas, Louis Lobel, and Marieljane Bastien, the evening’s program highlighted the work of the organization’s programs at the Moakley Courthouse, with teachers in classrooms across the Commonwealth, and with legal programs through its Mock Trial and Mock Appeal Programs,

Introduced by U.S. District Attorney Rachael Rollins, the New England Innocence Project was honored as this year’s Champion of Justice with Executive Director Radha Natarajan and Coordinator of The Exoneree Network Sean Ellis delivering passionate talks about their work to free wrongly convicted people from prison throughout New England.

Lowell 8th Grader Star Nunez and Cambridge Kindergarten teacher Fabiane Noronha also talked to the crowd about their experience with Discovering Justice and the importance of the programs that help students explore the ideals of justice and learn how to advocate for it.

Thanks to our lead sponsors WilmerHale, Goodwin, Ropes & Gray, Vertex, EY, and to the hundreds of donors who attended, the event raised close to $400,000 to help fund the organization’s programs.

On Monday, the Massachusetts Legislature voted to increase funding to the Civic Project Trust Fund to $2M, increasing the amount of resources flowing into state and local education word choice?to develop and run civic education programs.

As Advocacy Chair for the Massachusetts Civic Learning Coalition (MCLC), Discovering Justice Executive Director Matt Wilson, helped coordinate a campaign this spring to increase the Commonwealth’s investment in civic education.

Wilson and Advocacy Fellow Ana Ali worked with the 50+ member MCLC coalition through the Legislature’s budget process to increase the money that needs rephrasing. Senators Harriette Chandler, Becca Rausch, and Representative Linda Dean Campbell led the successful campaign from inside the State House.

“Local school systems need resources to update their curriculum and prepare their teachers to teach students the skill they need to engage in civic activity. Thanks to the legislature for giving civic education a big boost for the coming year,” said Wilson,

In 2018, the Massachusetts Legislature passed, and Governor Baker signed, the 2018 Civic Education Bill that re-established civic education as a core subject for Massachusetts students and required them to do civic projects in 8th Grade and high school.

Massachusetts has long been ranked as having one of the top civic education programs in the nation, yet most school systems in the Commonwealth do not have comprehensive K-12 civic education programs. Many students do not have access to programs to learn the workings of our democracy and to develop the skills necessary to effectively engage in civic action. Gateway Cities, which have high BIPOC populations and have under-resourced school systems, are particularly in need of support and resources. In particular:

Few schools have comprehensive 8th grade civic project programs. Even fewer high schools have set up programs to meet the civic education project requirements of the legislation.
Most teachers do not have access to Professional Development for their civic education teaching.
School systems often lack access to quality civic education curriculum, especially in Grades K-5.
The Civic Project Trust Fund does not provide adequate resources for school systems to develop and implement their civic education curriculum. Over the past two years, only 32% of the grant proposals to the Fund were funded.

• This $500,000 increase in the budget will be used to :
  Provide more local grants to help school systems set up and implement civic education curriculum and programs.
  Fund the creation of Professional Development Hubs, regional centers for K-12 community based professional development to help teachers effectively teach civic education.
  Work with DESE and others to create innovative curriculum resources for school systems for grades K-12.
  Work with our partners to support the Commonwealth Civics Challenge to showcase students civics projects which highlight student civic engagement.