September 17 is Constitution Day and Citizenship Day (Constitution Day). This day commemorates the September 17, 1787 signing of the United States Constitution.

Each educational institution that receives Federal funds for a fiscal year is required to hold an educational program about the U.S. Constitution for its students.

This posting is intended to remind affected educational institutions of this responsibility and to provide resources for them to use in developing their program.

To assist in planning Constitution Day programs, we are pleased to provide links to Web sites that contain materials that can be publicly accessed for general use or for use as teaching materials in the classroom. The U.S. Department of Education does not mandate or prescribe particular curricula or lesson plans. The above examples of resources contain links to learning resources created and maintained by other public and private organizations. This information is provided for your convenience and as examples of resources on Constitution Day that you might find helpful.

Constitution Day Resources

There are myriad resources which can be used to plan a Constitution Day event. For example:

• The National Archives web site provides Constitution Day activities and materials. http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/constitution-day/ and http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/constitution-workshop/

• The Library of Congress American Memory site provides numerous resources on the Constitution. These two links provide access: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lawhome.html

• The National Endowment for the Humanities provides content on the Constitution through the EDSITEMENT web site: http://edsitement.neh.gov/constitution-day

• The U.S. Senate has posted material from the Legislative Branch: http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/ConstitutionDay.htm

• The Census Bureau's Statistics in Schools (SIS) program offers many activities to highlight the day at https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/sis/resources/constitution-day.html

• C-SPAN hosted a discussion, "Constitutional Role of Judges: An Exchange Between Justice Breyer and Justice Scalia"

• We also encourage you to access information about the Constitution on the National History Education Clearinghouse (NHEC) site at www.teachinghistory.org. The NHEC is funded by the U.S. Department of Education under contract no. ED-07-CO-0088. The NHEC homepage features special, highlighted information on teaching resources for Constitution Day.

With regard to non-U.S. Department of Education websites, these are provided as examples of resources on Constitution Day that you might find helpful. There are many other resources available that may be just as helpful. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of these sites, nor does our inclusion here constitute an endorsement of the sites, the material on the sites, or the related products or services of the entity that provided the information.

We encourage Federal, State, and local officials, as well as leaders of civic, social, and educational organizations, to conduct ceremonies and programs that bring together community members to reflect on the importance of active citizenship, recognize the enduring strength of our Constitution, and reaffirm our commitment to the rights and obligations of citizenship in this great Nation.