Sphere Summit
2024 Sphere Summit: The Foundations of Civic Culture
About
Applications are open for Sphere Summit: Foundations of Civic Culture for the summer of 2024! Sphere Summit, a full scholarship professional development program for grades 5–12 educators, returns as a fully in‐person experience in Washington, DC, and will run July 28–August 1. Benefits include room and board, 20+ hours of professional development, classroom resources, and a $500 travel stipend upon completion of the program.
The Sphere Summit is a full scholarship summer program for grades 5–12 educators and administrators. Summit is open to teachers of all subject areas and disciplines.
The Sphere Summit features presentations by leading policymakers, scholars, and academics, who discuss key public policy issues facing our nation today. Topics covered include free speech, the health of our democracy, criminal justice reform, approaches to diversity in education, the economy, and many others. The Summit also features professional development workshops conducted by leaders in civic education on how to bring these ideas into your classroom.
The Sphere Summit aims to restore a spirit of civil, constructive, and respectful discourse and engagement and to return facts, analysis, and research to primacy as the vehicles for discussion and debate.
Program
Sunday, July 28
Registration
Welcome Reception
Welcome Remarks
Dinner
Dinner Program
Afterglow
Monday, July 29
Breakfast
CIVIC CULTURE AND FOUNDATIONS
Is Free Speech Being Chilled in the Classroom – and Beyond?
Nadine Strossen, John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law Emerita at New York Law School
Break
UNDERSTANDING EACH OTHER
Three Most Pressing Problems
Lunch
POLICY DISCUSSIONS
Criminal Justice Reform
Clark Neily, Senior Vice President for Legal Studies, Cato Institute
Criminal Justice Reform Application Workshops
Break
FOUNDATIONS OF CIVIC CULTURE
Key Supreme Court Cases in History
APPLICATION WORKSHOP
Bringing Civil Discourse to Your Classroom
Break
Reception
Dinner
Dinner Program
Tuesday, July 30
CIVIC CULTURE AND FOUNDATIONS
Breakfast and Teacher Panel
Free Morning in Washington DC
POLICY WORKSHOP
Immigration Policy
APPLICATION WORKSHOPS
Teaching Difficult Topics: Immigration
POLICY WORKSHOPS
- Session A: Human Progress
- Session B: Health Care
Michael Cannon, Director of Health Policy Studies, Cato Institute
Break and Transition to Hotel
APPLICATION WORKSHOPS
- Retro Report
Break
Shuttle to Offsite Venue
Reception
Dinner
Dinner Program
Shuttle Back to Hotel
Wednesday, July 31
UNDERSTANDING EACH OTHER
Members of Congress
The Health of Our Democracy
Sphere on the Road
John Snoad, Senior Manager, Sphere Education Initiatives
Break and Transition to Hotel
APPLICATION WORKSHOPS
Lunch
POLICY WORKSHOPS
- Session A: AI & Education
- Session B: Environmental Policy
Travis Fisher, Director of Energy and Environmental Policy Studies, Cato Institute
-
Session A: Housing and Poverty Alleviation
-
Session B: The History of Communism
Break
Film Screening: Undivide Us
Kristi Kendall, Director
Ben Klutsey, Executive Director, Mercatus Center
Free Evening in Washington DC
Thursday, August 1
Brunch
POLICY WORKSHOP
Sphere Content
Elyse Alter, Content Development Manager, Sphere Education Intiatives
Closing Remarks
Certificate and Stipend Distribution