Rendell Center for civics, civic engagement receives 2025 Brown Democracy Medal

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — During her time as First Lady of Pennsylvania, Marjorie Rendell saw the need to expand civics education in the commonwealth. But when she visited schools across the state to discuss the importance of civics, she found she was mostly talking to high school students and teachers. Elementary and middle school students were frequently left out. 

Over the past decade, Marjorie and Ed Rendell’s efforts to promote early childhood education in civic engagement through their nonprofit, the Rendell Center for Civics and Civic Engagement, have helped younger students and their teachers throughout Pennsylvania. For this work, the Rendell Center will receive the 2025 Brown Democracy Medal from the McCourtney Institute for Democracy in the College of the Liberal Arts.  

“I decided that I would promote civics education in the schools as my platform,” said Marjorie Rendell, president of the Rendell Center board and a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. “Civics education has not been at the forefront in the classroom because history and social studies are not tested on all these standardized tests that are being given.” 

Established in 2014, the Rendell Center works with K-12 teachers and administrators to promote nonpartisan civic education and engagement. The center’s major initiatives include a read aloud series where judges, lawyers and other professionals read books to elementary school students across the state.  

Each book is accompanied by a lesson guide created by volunteer “master teachers” and designed to encourage students to think critically about democratic citizenship and America’s founding documents and principles. 

Ed Rendell, who served as Pennsylvania’s governor from 2003 to 2011, said the Rendell Center’s vision to educate young students was met with skepticism initially but the center’s work has proven those skeptics wrong. 

“There were a number of people who said elementary school kids wouldn’t understand this and wouldn't be interested in it,” he said. “We found exactly the opposite is true. If you teach kids about our government, they’ll respond. It’s amazing how much they know and how much they want to know."

Another one of the Rendell Center’s signature programs is the Citizenship Challenge, an essay contest open to fourth and fifth grade students across Pennsylvania. Each year’s essay question draws from Pennsylvania civics standards. The 2024 essay question asked students to consider whether the Constitution should be amended to eliminate the Electoral College and replace it with a national popular vote.  

Chris Beem, McCourtney Institute for Democracy managing director and research professor of political science, said recognizing nonpartisan civics education programs like the Rendell Center is important as misinformation looms large over American democracy and education increasingly finds itself captured by partisan forces. 

“We didn’t get into our present condition overnight, and we won’t get out of it that way either,” Beem said. “While we need to focus on reforming our norms and institutions, we also need to think about the long game. That means helping young people develop the skills, knowledge and dispositions they will need to succeed as future democratic citizens.” 

Beth Specker is the Rendell Center’s executive director. She served as Marjorie Rendell’s chief of staff when she was first lady of Pennsylvania and worked with her on the civics education initiatives that would become the Rendell Center.  

As part of receiving the 2025 Brown Democracy Medal, Specker and Marjorie Rendell will write a book about their work in civics education that will be published this fall by Cornell University Press. They will visit University Park to accept the award and give a lecture on their work on Sept. 25. 

The Brown Democracy Medal is funded by Larry and Lynne Brown to recognize new and innovative scholarship or practice in democracy. Both are Penn State alumni, and Larry is chair of the McCourtney Institute’s Board of Visitors and also serves on the Rendell Center board. 

The award’s previous recipients include the States United Democracy Center, Desmond Meade, executive director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, and Iranian human-rights advocate Nasrin Sotoudeh.