I want to draw your attention to our lead highlight: It’s National Voter Registration Day! Please visit the official website for information and teaching resources, including voting FAQs; use it to teach eligible students how to register to vote in their very first election; and share it with your networks to make sure they are registered and ready for Election Day. Recently, our Rho Kappa National Social Studies Honor Society chapters were invited to partner with When We All Vote, an organization that encourages students to register to vote. We hope this partnership results in many of our Rho Kappa students nationwide getting the opportunity to register to vote! This effort supports Resolution #19-04-2, “Voter Registration of 18 Year Olds,” approved by the NCSS Board of Directors in March 2020. We encourage all educators to support voter education and registration initiatives in their local communities, in the spirit of this important and timely resolution.

Any election season is an exciting and important time for social studies educators and students, and this year is no exception. It is an understatement to say that anticipation and tensions are high regarding the upcoming federal election. Our social studies community stands ready to support all educators and students throughout the 2020 election – starting with this edition of TSSP.

As we prepare for the election season, NCSS also celebrates the 100^th anniversary of women’s suffrage with the newest issue of Social Education, “19^th Amendment Centennial: Looking Back, Looking Forward,” from guest editor and current NCSS College and University Faculty Assembly Chair Margaret Smith Crocco. I invite you to explore a sample article on secure elections from this important and exciting new issue.

I am also pleased to announce our first student town hall on Tuesday, October 20, “Youth Voices: A Student Town Hall on the 2020 Election.” This special program will be hosted by author Kenneth C. Davis and NCSS President Stefanie Wager. We are reaching out to all Rho Kappa chapters and calling on students everywhere to share a brief video that answers two vital questions: What issues matter most to you? What do they think it means to be a citizen?  If you would like to submit a brief video, or be considered as a participant on our live student panel for our town hall program, please let us know!

Speaking of online civic engagement: we will also welcome Kenneth C. Davis, moderated by NCSS President Stefanie Wager, back to our Speaker Spotlight series on Thursday, October 8, to talk about Dictators and Democracy: How Strongmen Rise and Democracy Disappears.

NCSS is proud of its alliances with many other organizations which support active civic engagement and social studies inquiry. In this TSSP edition, we feature links to election resources from two of our Alliance Partners: iCivics (which leads the CivXNow Coalition) and the Teaching for Democracy Alliance (led by CIRCLE). We are also proud to welcome the Teaching for Democracy Alliance back for its second webinar in our Alliance Partners series on Tuesday, September 29, addressing student conversations in elections and politics. Also check out a few other resources that might be useful for your classroom conversations and inquiries in teaching about elections.

This election season, I hope these and many other classroom-ready resources and programs from NCSS and our partners will help you and your students to have inspiring conversations and engaging inquiries into the American electoral process – and how elections work in at every level, from within your community to comparisons with communities around the world.

How are you teaching about the 2020 election?