Welcome to the nation's largest
civic education project:
The National Student/Parent Mock Election
Over five million students K-college, and often their parents as well, cast their votes in 2008 from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and American schools around the world.
15,000 schools, or 20% of the nation’s schools, participated. This is at least 4 million more votes than any other project received. We are the world’s largest national mock election.
 
 
WHAT'S NEW?
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE TOUR
Made possible by the Pearson Foundation and Declare Yourself
New Jersey
New Jersey Mock Election Awards Ceremony (video)
Texas
Pictures of the Declaration of Independence in Austin Texas (photos)
Copy of Declaration of Independence headed to Austin (video and news article)
Florida
Declaration of Independence event (Miami Herald Miami-Dade) (news article)
Declaration of Independence in Florida (Just News) (news article)
Declaration of Independence event in Florida (Miami Herald Pinecrest) (news article)
Arizona
Declaration of Independence at the Arizona Historical Museum (video)
Declaration of Independence in Tucson (video)
Illinois
Chicago’s Declaration of Independence event (Benzinga) (news article)
Chicago’s Declaration of Independence event (Senator Durbin) (TV) (video)
Chicago’s Declaration of Independence event (picture of Declaration of Independence) (news article)
California
Declaration of Independence event in California (Daily Breeze)(news article)
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE VIDEOS
Sandra Day O’Connor speaks about the Declaration of Independence
The declaration of Independence read by celebrities (such as; Morgan Freeman, Reese Witherspoon, Whoopie Goldberg, Mike Douglas, and Renee Zellweger)
CURRICULUM
Suggested Activities – Declaration of Independence Visit
Click here for the new Declaration of Independence Curriculum from the Austin Independent School District
Check out our new Teachers Guide to the 2009 Gubernatorial Races:
Word doc
Adobe PDF
Teachers looking for a forum to publish their students' work and help students achieve recognition for their efforts (and provide motivation) will be pleased to find the Youth Citizen-Journalist Network (YCJN) aligned with the National Student/Parent Mock Election. YCJN is an ideal complement to middle and high school lessons regarding the gubernatorial races and much more. YCJN is a social media video and text-reporting educational project.
See our Factsheet to learn more about the National Student/Parent Mock Election
See the student essays, "What Participating in the Mock Election Meant to Me"
Sohum Pawar, a New Jersey 7th grader, was invited to the State Museum in Trenton on June 24, 2009, to read his Mock Election essay. His visit was part of an official ceremony honoring the efforts of New Jersey students participating in the National Student/Parent Mock Election for the impressive scope of their voter education and mock election campaigns. New Jersey schools were chosen from thousands of participating schools nationwide as winners of a visit from a rare, original copy of the Declaration of Independence. Sohum met the Governor on this occasion.
See a short video on YouTube of the Declaration of Independence visit and New Jersey's ceremony
Read Sohum Pawar's essay on his experience seeing an original copy of the Declaration of Independence
See our photo gallery of 2008 Award Winners and read about their exciting Mock Election projects! (under construction, but many projects already posted here)
Set Learning Objectives
Curriculum Resources – The Mock Election can teach civic engagement. Properly used, it can also teach language arts, math, science, music, history, research skills, critical thinking skills, technological literacy, character education/ethics. It can vastly increase students understanding of the global world in which they live.
Get Involved
Media Tools – Share your participation with your community! Check out the Working with your Local Broadcasters Tool Kit.
Use the templates in this press kit to share your involvement in the Mock Election with your school and local newspaper(s) and radio and TV stations.
Provide your school and local media with this media fact sheet.
Volunteer
Community Involvement – Click here to find out how your state or local PTA can get involved.
Recognition
Award Application – Outstanding Mock Election projects may be nominated at the school, school district and state level to receive awards. All grade levels are encouraged to apply. Award application
Additional Helpful Resources -- see our curriculum section -- especially:
- How to do it: A Guide to the National Student Parent Mock Election – This 118-page "how to" guide provides information on all aspects of the National Mock Election
- Reports from the Real World – Learn what innovative ideas elementary, middle and high schools are doing to participate in the political process. Learn more
- Fact Sheet – Ideas for making learning exciting to provide the motivation and reward that can make all the difference in educating the future voters who will choose the leaders of the world’s longest lasting democracy.
- Additional Resource Links – A list of websites on various subjects from the history of voting rights to the present youth suffrage movement to political parties and more.
Mission and Purpose
The National Student/Parent Mock Election seeks to turn the sense of powerlessness that keeps young Americans and their parents from going to the polls into a sense of the power of participation in our democracy. One of the most important ways to increase students' sense of significance – and power – is to use the Mock Election to take them out of the classroom and into the real world.
Our Supporters
The National Student/Parent Mock Election receives support from numerous organizations, including the National Parent Teachers Association, the National School Boards Association, the National Council for the Social Studies, the American Association of School Administrators, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and the Council of the Great City Schools. The Election Assistance Commission and the Kaplan Foundation provide ongoing funding for the Mock Election.
Learn more by clicking here
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As part of its collaboration with the Mock Election, Google has created The Google Tools for Teachers Web site with a robust array of resources. Google also provides free ads on Google for the Mock Election.
PEARSON, the nation’s leading education publisher, promotes the Mock Election campaign to schools across the country and also provides a variety of print and digital social studies, civics, and government materials for elementary, middle, and high schools students.
USA TODAY Education, the arm of the USA TODAY brand that develops and delivers educational products and resources to students and educators nationwide, is providing support for the National Student/Parent Mock Election by contributing resources that supply students with the news and information they need to become civically engaged. USA Today also provides print and web space to promote the NSPME.
BrainPOP, the leading provider of online animated educational resources, is providing support for the National Student/Parent Mock Election by enabling free access to its election content.
(NABEF) is encouraging radio and television stations nationwide to partner with their local schools on the mock election and has built a comprehensive on-line tool kit for stations.
Declare Yourself is a voter registration advocacy group collaborating with the Pearson Foundation to bring one of the few existing original copies of the Declaration of Independence to states that had outstanding Mock Election projects.
National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the voice for over 30,000 high school and middle school educational leaders. NASSP has provided support to NSPME for over 30 years, by encouraging schools to participate in this excellent civic education program. It also has promoted the Mock Election through its student program, the National Association of Student Councils.
The National Association of Student Councils (NASC) is a program of the National Association of Secondary School Principals which serves nearly 10,000 local student councils at the middle and high school levels. NASC has been a supporter of NSP/ME since its early days. Student Councils were first established in American schools to serve as a laboratory for civic education.
The PTA national office helps NSPME engage young people and parents in the election process by promoting the Mock Election to over 25,000 local PTA units around the globe.
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