Dear educators,
This year is likely to become a significant chapter in our history. The United States faces its first presidential election since 2020, which culminated in the first non-peaceful transfer of power since the Civil War. In November, American citizens will once again cast their votes, and the two leading candidates are the same ones from four years ago.
Wars in Ukraine and Gaza have caused worsening humanitarian crises and have been threatening broader regional conflicts. January was the eighth month in a row with the warmest average temperatures for that time of year. And if the last presidential election is any indication, this election’s aftermath may be as eventful as the voting itself.
In schools across America, the 2024 presidential election is going to become increasingly common in hallway conversations, lunch table debates and teacher-led lessons — planned and unplanned. You all have the important task of teaching history at the very moment it’s being made. To put it succinctly, the times we are living in are remarkable.
As the presidential election cycle ramps up, The New York Times’s Headway team and Chalkbeat want to hear from you. How are your students thinking about this election? How are you planning to teach it? What questions do you have?
Let us know in the quick questionnaire below, and we’ll be in touch. (We’re particularly interested in learning from educators of current juniors and seniors in high school, but please don’t let that stop you from filling out our form. We want to hear from other types of educators as well!)
Do you have students we should talk to? We also have a questionnaire we are sharing directly with high schoolers. Do you know current juniors and seniors who would want to participate in this project? Please share this questionnaire here.
The Headway initiative is funded through grants from the Ford Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), with Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors serving as a fiscal sponsor. The Woodcock Foundation is a funder of Headway’s public square. Funders have no control over the selection, focus of stories or the editing process and do not review stories before publication. The Times retains full editorial control of the Headway initiative.
