Office of Curriculum, Technology, & Assessment

On December 8th, 2004 , President Bush signed a bill which designates Constitution Day.  According to this law, every educational institution receiving Federal funding is required to hold an educational program pertaining to the United States Constitution on September 17th of each year. This fall, the nation will simultaneously celebrate the event on Monday, September 18th. To access The Constitution Day DVD, please visit http://www.constitutionday.com/.

A selection of online resources for the event follows:

• Alliance for Representative Democracy (Conference site)
• Bill of Rights Institute - Constitution Day
• Center for Civic Education
• CIRCLE (Civic Education research)
• http://www.ecs.org/html/projectsPartners/clc/clc_main.htm
• Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools
• National Conference of State Legislatures
• Center on Congress
• Constitution Day Inc.

Resources from South Dakota Public Broadcasting:

In order to provide some assistance for teachers planning lessons on the U.S. Constitution, SD Public Broadcasting will air some PBS programs that may be of use to you. The programs will air on SDPB Television in the overnight hours and teachers are encouraged to videotape them for use in the classroom.

South Dakota Public Broadcasting has a variety of resources for this topic. Please check out their website for more information.

The Department of Education is not planning any events to coincide with this celebration of the U.S. Constitution, but any questions can be directed to Brenda Robertson at 605-773-2533 or brenda.robertson@state.sd.us.