Connecticut Center for History & Civic Learning

Mission & Vision

A Connected Approach to History, Civics, and Literacy

The Connecticut Center for History & Civic Learning is a mission-driven organization dedicated to strengthening historical understanding, civic engagement, and literacy through meaningful, locally grounded education.

About Us

The Center was created in response to a growing need across Connecticut for stronger, more relevant, and more connected history, civics, and social studies learning.

Our Story

Our Team

The People Behind the Work

Brent Charpentier Founder & Executive Director

Steve Armstrong Founding Advisor

Dr. Cris Slotoroff Consultant

Meet the Team

Programs & Services

How the Center Supports Schools and Communities

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Professional LearningWorkshops and practical educator support
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Curriculum DevelopmentStandards-aligned design and review
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Community PartnershipsLearning connected to local history

Explore Programs

Mission & Vision

Connected, Impactful Social Studies Education Across Connecticut

The Connecticut Center for History & Civic Learning is dedicated to strengthening historical understanding, civic engagement, and literacy through meaningful, locally grounded education. The Center was created in response to a growing need across Connecticut schools, including declining emphasis on social studies at the elementary level, gaps in student knowledge of history and civics, and increasing demands for literacy integration across all content areas.

The Center partners with school districts, educators, and community institutions to design engaging, standards-aligned learning experiences that bring history to life. Its work focuses on three core areas: curriculum development, professional learning, and community-connected programming. At its core, the Center believes that history education should be interactive, relevant, and rooted in the communities students live in, helping students build critical thinking skills, strengthen literacy, and develop a deeper understanding of their role in civic life.

About Us

The Connecticut Center for History & Civic Learning was created to address a clear need across the state: students and teachers deserve stronger, more meaningful access to history, civics, and social studies learning that feels relevant to the present and useful for the future. Too often, social studies is reduced by limited time, uneven curriculum, or a lack of resources that connect students to the communities they live in.

The Center exists to help change that reality. By supporting educators, partnering with districts, and connecting classrooms with Connecticut’s museums, historical societies, libraries, and cultural institutions, the Center works to make social studies more engaging, more locally grounded, and more impactful. The goal is not only stronger content knowledge, but also stronger literacy, richer discussion, deeper inquiry, and a more thoughtful form of civic learning that prepares students for meaningful participation in the 21st century.

Our Team

Brent Charpentier

Founder & Executive Director

Brent Charpentier is the Executive Director and Founder of the Connecticut Center for History and Civic Learning. A Connecticut educator, curriculum leader, and historian, Brent has spent his career helping students, teachers, and communities engage with history in ways that are meaningful, relevant, and connected to civic life. His work has included districtwide leadership in humanities curriculum, social studies instruction, professional learning, and strategic educational initiatives, with a particular focus on equity, inquiry-based learning, and the power of local history to deepen student understanding.

Brent founded the Connecticut Center for History and Civic Learning to support schools, museums, and community organizations in developing high-quality history and civics learning experiences. Drawing on his background as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, district administrator, curriculum writer, and college history lecturer, Brent works to build bridges between historical content, classroom practice, public history, and civic engagement. His vision for the Center is to help learners see history not as a distant record of the past, but as a living tool for understanding identity, community, and the responsibilities of democratic life.

brent@cthistorycenter.org

Steve Armstrong

Founding Advisor

Steve Armstrong is a long-time social studies educator and educational leader who has taught and led teachers across multiple levels of education. He has served as Connecticut’s Social Studies Consultant, was a social studies department supervisor in West Hartford, and previously taught and chaired social studies in Manchester. He is also a past president of the National Council for the Social Studies and the Connecticut Council for the Social Studies.

As Founding Advisor, Steve supports the Center’s strategic direction, professional credibility, and statewide relationship building. His experience with inquiry instruction, Connecticut frameworks, teacher development, and social studies leadership helps position the Center as a serious partner for districts, educators, and cultural institutions.

steve@cthistorycenter.org

Dr. Cris Slotoroff

Consultant

Dr. Cris Slotoroff is a longtime educator, published researcher, and learning leader whose work focuses on professional development, pedagogy, partnerships, and educational innovation. His background includes classroom teaching, humanities leadership, curriculum work, and current work with The Juice Learning, where he supports pedagogy and partnerships connected to literacy, current events, and classroom implementation.

As a Consultant, Cris strengthens the Center’s capacity to design learning that is practical, research-informed, and responsive to the realities of schools. His perspective helps connect instructional design, educator support, literacy integration, and emerging needs such as AI-informed professional learning.

cris@cthistorycenter.org

Programs & Services

How the Center Supports Schools and Communities

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Professional Learning for Educators

The Center provides workshops and multi-session professional learning focused on integrating social studies and literacy, including content-rich instruction, primary source analysis, student discourse, and inquiry-based learning. These offerings are designed to support district literacy goals while strengthening history instruction.

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Curriculum Development and Review

The Center partners with school districts to evaluate and strengthen social studies curriculum through audits, standards alignment, and the development of inquiry-based units. This includes support for integrating new Connecticut legislative requirements and ensuring curriculum reflects diverse and inclusive historical perspectives.

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Community-Connected Learning Partnerships

The Center collaborates with museums, historical societies, libraries, and cultural organizations to design learning experiences that connect classroom instruction with local history. This includes curriculum tied to exhibits, teacher workshops, student programming, and public learning initiatives.

Contact

Start a Conversation

Connect with the Center to discuss curriculum support, professional learning, partnership opportunities, or future programming.

info@cthistorycenter.org