Alaska asks for free civics lessons as a new graduation requirement approaches

Alaska's education department is asking for free civics lessons, tests and projects to post for schools as the state gets ready for a new graduation requirement. It starts with students who enter high school in fall 2027.

The department's request, issued Friday, seeks materials from publishers, nonprofits, educational institutions and content developers. Responses are due Nov. 6. The department says it will rate what comes in and choose which to share on its website. The request commits the state to buy nothing, and only free materials will be considered.

Under the new law, students who enter ninth grade on or after July 1, 2027, can't get a diploma unless they've been taught 14 civics topics and score at least 70 percent in one of three ways: a one-semester course, a civics test they can retake as often as needed or a project-based assessment.

Students who transfer in from another state after 10th grade, and students with disabilities who get a waiver, can be exempted. The law also has the department create a "seal of civic readiness" for the transcripts and diplomas of students who show high proficiency.

The law doesn't have the state write a course or a test. It requires a list of existing free materials, which the state Board of Education must post on the department's website and keep updated. Districts may use it.

That's a smaller job than the bill first called for. Earlier versions would have had the state build a statewide civics course and a 100-question test based on the civics portion of the U.S. citizenship exam, which the department estimated would cost about $837,000 in the first year. A rewrite in the House Education Committee dropped that work and cut the estimate to $58,000, according to the department's fiscal notes.

Sen. Gary Stevens of Kodiak sponsored the bill after a decade-long push. The House passed it 37-3 in May, Alaska News reported May 19, and it became law without the governor's signature June 18. Rep. Nellie Unangiq Jimmie, one of the three no votes, said it failed to acknowledge Indigenous contributions to American government.

At a House Finance hearing in May, Stevens' aide Tim Lampkin said the requirement would fit within existing social studies credits. "This isn't creating anything new," he said, as Alaska News reported May 13.

The 14 topics run from founding documents and federalism to the Alaska Constitution, campaigns and elections, foreign policy and systems of government used around the world and by Alaska Natives. Submissions must show where and how each resource covers them. Only open educational resources qualify, meaning materials anyone can use at no cost and freely reuse, adapt and share.

A rubric attached to the request rates each submission on eight criteria, among them whether it is viewpoint-neutral and whether it reflects Alaska's people and history, including Alaska Native experiences. Civic participation activities should be "designed to support student agency rather than promote a particular political position or outcome," it says.