Welcome to The Dirksen Congressional Center's Communicator -- a web-based newsletter providing educators with news and ideas to enhance civic education and improve the understanding of Congress. Communicator is one of the five sites that make up The Dirksen Center's Web suite. Each monthly Communicator provides information about any changes to the other four sites in The Center's Web suite, share classroom uses of the information posted on them, and highlight any Center related accomplishments.

Go ahead, take a peek -- http://www.dirksencongressionalcenter.org/

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NEWS FROM THE DIRKSEN CENTER
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CALL FOR PARTICIPATION: Congress in the Classroom 2002®

Congress in the Classroom® is a national, award-winning education program now in its tenth year. It is sponsored by The Dirksen Congressional Center located in Pekin, Illinois, in cooperation with Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois, and is dedicated to the exchange of ideas and information on teaching about Congress.

Congress in the Classroom® is designed for secondary school teachers and junior and community college faculty who teach U.S. history, government civics, political science, or social studies. Between 30 and 35 teachers are selected each year to take part in the program. Nearly 200 applied for the 2001 program.

The 2002 program theme will be Congress and Public Policy. Individual sessions will be offered on these topics, among others: the policy agenda for the current Congress, how public policies are produced in the legislative process, the role of congressional leaders in shaping policy, the budgetary process, the impact of the off-year elections on policy, and the relationship between the President and Congress. Participants will also gain experience with The Center's educational Web site, CongressLink -- http://www.congresslink.org/ -- which features online access to lesson plans, student activities, historical materials, related Web sites, and subject matter experts. Throughout the program participants will work with national experts as well as colleagues from across the nation. This combination of first-hand knowledge and peer-to-peer interaction will present new ideas, materials, and a professionally enriching experience.

The workshop will be held July 29 - August 1, 2002, on the campus of Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. Congress in the Classroom® is free to participants. Participants will have the option of purchasing one hour of graduate credit from Bradley University; the cost in 2001 was $415.

The deadline for application is April 17, 2002. Enrollment is competitive and limited to thirty-five. Selection will be determined by The Center. Individuals will be notified of their acceptance status by May 15.

Take a look at The Dirksen Center Web site - (http://www.dirksencenter.org/progcongressinclassroom.htm) -- to see what participants say about the program. If you are interested in registering for the Congress in the Classroom® 2002 workshop, you can complete an online registration form found at: (http://www.dirksencenter.org/CiCapplication.htm).

***Public policy*** refers to the actions taken by government -- its decisions that are intended to solve problems and improve the quality of life for its citizens. At the federal level, public policies are enacted to regulate industry and business, to protect citizens at home and distant, to aid state and city governments and people, such as the poor, through funding programs, and to encourage social goals.

Congress, the executive branch, the courts, and interest groups may be involved in policy formulation. A policy is adopted when Congress passes legislation, or the regulations become final, or the Supreme Court makes a decision in a case. The formulations and adoption of public policy can be either hampered or advanced by the way things are done in Congress. The style of leadership by our political leaders, including those who are leaders in the U.S. Congress, expresses their approach to dealing with colleagues in effort to produce legislation and conduct the work of Congress. While accepting re-election as Republican Leader by the Republican Conference in 1982, Former House Republican Leader Robert H. Michel described his approach to congressional leadership and how he believed political principles with effective actions become policies. Read this excerpt and others at:
http://www.congresslink.org/sources/ldrsstatemnts.html#Michel.

There are three broad areas of public policy: domestic, economic, and foreign. Some political scientists would include defense policy as a fourth. In domestic affairs, there are two major categories: regulatory policy and social welfare policy. In our featured lesson plan -- Congress's Accomplishments: What Has Congress Done for You? -- students use primary and secondary sources to become experts on a law Congress passed and teach each other about the laws they have researched. In addition, they will identify examples of important domestic policies and explain how and why domestic policies affect their lives. You can download this lesson at:
http://www.congresslink.org/lessonplans/HCAccomplishments.htm.

Elected officials are not the only people involved in the politics of policymaking. Committee staff, administrative and regulatory agency directors and staff, lobbyists, executive department officials, and scholars, who work on a specific policy, are all involved in policymaking. The role of scholars in developing a policy should not be underestimated. This month our About Government "hot link" is a link to the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. AEI scholars testify frequently before congressional committees and provide expert consultation to all branches of government. You can find AEI at: http://www.aboutgovernment.org/govoverview.htm.

Spring Valley High School VikingServe Program in Columbia, SC, in partnership with the American Youth Policy Forum, Center for Civic Education, Street Law, Inc., and others, will build upon a tradition of service learning by focusing on public policy and legislation students care most about. Spring Valley received a Robert H. Michel Civic Education Grant of $3,000 for their project entitled Student Power and the American Political Process. This grant will enable social studies teachers to design lessons that engage students in the political process. Teachers will identify state and national social studies standards to which these lessons are linked and publish a project booklet for dissemination. You may find information about this project and others at: http://www.dirksencenter.org/grantmichelciviced.htm#2001.

Are you policy proficient? Answer November's Fun, Facts, and Trivia questions.

1. Which policy is profiled? Pick one.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is one example of an agency engaged in shaping ...

A. social welfare domestic policy
B. regulatory domestic policy
C. economic policy
D. foreign and defense policy
E. dietary policy

Do your students know the definition?

2. Cooperative effort of multiple legislators to connect together a series of personal projects and push them through the legislative process is a practice known as _______. (Link to answer and definition: http://www.congresslink.org/glossary.html#L)

A. agenda building
B. pork-barrel legislation
C. logrolling
D. policy formulation

Teachers, here's an activity to engage your students in some critical thinking:

The government makes decisions -- called "policies" -- just as people do. Although your students may not think of their behavior as a process, everyone has a method of making decisions. Have your students draw a flow chart representing the six stages of policy formulation: agenda building, formulation, adoption, implementation, evaluation, and termination. Then have your students draw a second flow chart beside it capturing the process that they usually follow when making personal decisions. Tell your students they will be used as an example when answering the following questions:

• How does a government differ from an individual when it makes decisions?
• Could the government's process be improved if it approached matters more as you do?
• Could your process be improved if you approached matters more as the government does?
• Are there factors of each approach that could be consolidated into a better method than either one?

Answers to October' s issue of Fun, Facts, and Trivia link here: http://www.webcommunicator.org/funfactstrivia1001ans.htm.

That will do it for November! If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, contact Cindy Koeppel at ckoeppel@dirksencenter.org. Your feedback makes a difference! Encourage your colleagues to subscribe to the Communicator.