Religion in the Schools
The goals of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) include fostering excellence in teaching about religion. On the AAR website, lesson plans are available on Art, Religion, and Popular Culture and on Religious Diversity and Pluralism in America. Other resources include the following:
Guidelines for Teaching About Religion in K‐12 Public Schools in the United States (requires PDF), produced by the AAR's Religion in the Schools Task Force and published in April 2010.
First Amendment Center, a program of the Freedom Forum, works to preserve and protect First Amendment freedoms, including freedom of religion as it applies to schools. Its website provides answers to frequently asked questions as well as lesson plans. Its guide to religion and public education, called Finding Common Ground, is downloadable free.
Program in Religion and Secondary Education (PRSE) at Harvard Divinity School. Besides earning an M.T.S. or M.Div. from Harvard, PRSE students can earn secondary school teacher licensure, valid in 45 states, in certain humanities, social science, or language subjects, from the Mass. Dept. of Education. PRSE also sponsors an Annual Conference for Secondary School Teachers of Religion, Ethics, History, English, and Social Studies just before the AAR Annual Meeting.
Project on Religion and Public Education at California State University at Chico provides workshops, forums, and institutes designed to prepare and support teachers in their efforts to teach about the world's religions in constitutionally permissible and academically responsible ways.
Religion and Education, a journal produced at the University of Northern Iowa, has its tables of contents and excerpts viewable free online.