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HISTORY OF CECH A pioneer in civic education, the Citizenship Education Clearing House (CECH-pronounced “check”) has been conducting programs in citizenship education since the late 1960s, when Teresa M. Fischer and a small group of associates launched CECH as an independent non-profit corporation. In 1993, CECH came under the UM-St. Louis umbrella as part of the School (now College) of Education. A measure of the University's strong commitment to the mission of CECH is that one of the institution's first four endowed professorships funded a position in citizenship education. From the beginning, CECH programs have sought to integrate participatory citizenship education into the curricula of middle and high schools and to facilitate the development and implementation of student-initiated action projects. In short, CECH attempts to teach citizenship by encouraging projects that engage students in the debate of real issues and the actual practice of democracy. In recent years, CECH has expanded beyond its metropolitan St. Louis roots in order to serve students throughout Missouri. ESTABLISHMENT OF ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIP AT UMSL, 1994 In 1993, CECH’s ability to achieve Terry Fischer’s guiding vision expanded significantly when CECH joined the School (now College) of Education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. One year later, the University, with a gift from any anonymous donor, created an endowed professorship in Citizenship Education. It was the expectation of the donor that the new endowed professor would direct CECH and promote citizenship education in the St. Louis region and beyond. In 1995, shortly after the death of Mrs. Terry Fischer, the University named the professorship in her honor, fittingly recognizing her long and successful career as a community leader and incorporating her compelling vision into the mission of the professorship.The Endowed Professorship is part of the University of Missouri-St. Louis’ College of Education and is held by an expert in the field of citizenship education. The professor serves as Director of CECH and existing citizenship programs and promotes the activities of the program through teaching, research, program development, and fundraising. PURPOSE OF CECH...The purpose of CECH is to give students a real-life experience in the political process, with the expectation that “learning the system” will encourage them to participate in politics when they become adults. CECH is not the first or only organization with this goal, but CECH programs go beyond others by its strong emphasis on the decision-making process and civic participation. CECH encourages its students to learn about influence, authority, and power– what they are, who has them, and how they can be affected. Hopefully, through CECH’s programs, students grow into adults armed with the knowledge and equipped with the tools, to work within "the system" to make changes or keep the status quo, as their informed opinions dictate. CECH PROGRAMS: MY LOGO—“Missouri Youth Engaged in Local Government” Program (formerly Local Government CECH-UP) is a unique approach to teaching youth about local government. The program is a joint program among the University of Missouri –St. Louis College of Education, Citizenship Education Clearing House (CECH) at UMSL and University of Missouri – Extension. In addition, to carry out MY LOGO in the schools and community, CECH works closely with the St. Louis Area City Managers Association (SLACMA), Missouri Municipal League (MML), and Missouri City/County Management Association (MCMA). The program includes the use of the MY LOGO Handbook for classroom learning, classroom visits from government officials, and field experiences (site visits to city halls and local courthouses) so that students can study local government first-hand. Students then work on projects that address issues facing their respective local governments and communities. KIDS VOTING MISSOURI...Kids Voting Missouri is part of Kids Voting USA--a national non-partisan, non-profit program in which students in grades K-12 study portions of special grade specific citizenship guide and then go to Kids Voting polls with their parents or other adults on or near Election Day to cast ballots on the same candidates and issues as the adult voters. Kids Voting Missouri is one of 30 affiliate programs in the United States. (For more information see http://www.kidsvotingusa.org). Missouri joined Kids Voting USA in 1996, when 4 Missouri school districts participated in the program. The Ritenour School District, located in Northwest St. Louis County, was the first St. Louis area metropolitan school district to participate. Since that time, Kids Voting Missouri has grown to include more than 200,000 students in grades K-12. During these 14 years, approximately 1 million Missouri school children have had an opportunity to learn about citizenship, registering to vote, and the responsibility of voting and over 800,000 K-12th grade students have actually cast Kids Voting ballots in Presidential and Mid-Term year elections.
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