GW Civic Policy Challenge
For the 2026-27 GW Civic Policy Challenge, student teams will develop a state- or local-level policy proposal addressing the persistent learning losses that have followed the COVID-19 pandemic. Teams may explore issues such as instruction, absenteeism, discipline, staffing, accountability, literacy, classroom disruption, and other barriers to student success. No prior policy experience is necessary, and students from all academic backgrounds are encouraged to think boldly, creatively, and collaboratively.
The winning team will join the national 2027 Policy Challenge Super Bowl, a nationwide undergraduate policy competition, hosted by the University of Chicago, that brings together students from colleges and universities across the country to tackle pressing public policy challenges.
At the national showcase, students present their proposals before judges with expertise in the field and take part in a day of intellectual exchange with peers from across the country. The final showcase winning teams will also have opportunities to elevate their work to relevant policymakers and policy organizations.
Teams may include only GW undergraduate students or may include GW graduate students and at least one GW undergraduate student.
Only currently enrolled GW students are eligible to participate.
The Prompt
Resetting K–12: Closing the Post-Pandemic Learning Gaps
American public school children have broadly failed to recover from large-scale disruptions to learning during the Covid pandemic, and states and local districts are struggling to help students pull out. Reading skills of American high school seniors are the worst they have been in three decades, according to federal testing data, and many scored below basic math proficiency as well. The rise of heavy screen time and video-dominated media — which all predate the pandemic — has further eroded learning. The impacts stretch across well-funded districts to poor ones, across urban, suburban, and rural districts, and across racial divides. As the federal government retreats from its role in K-12 education, states and localities find themselves with both an obligation and an opportunity to right their respective ships. Mississippi has made remarkable improvements in reading scores, while most other states stagnate.
Your job as a policymaker is to uncover the barriers to similar student achievement and address them. Your solutions must be for state or local actors, but your canvas is broad. You can examine staffing, time utilization, discipline, instruction, accountability, curriculum, food insecurity, absenteeism fixes, approaches to reading instruction, teaching roles, classroom disruption and the like. Your solution must go beyond simply adding funding to existing programs, and if your plan requires political consensus — such as state legislation — you must explain how you will build it. You must contain your proposal to two pages. No policy experience is necessary: this is a journey of the mind, so be creative!
The winning team will be invited to participate in a Policy Challenge Super Bowl on Monday, February 15, 2027 in Chicago with winning teams from other universities across the country. Graduate students are welcome to participate, but each team must include at least one undergraduate student.
Suggested Readings:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/13/upshot/test-scores-school-districts-us.html?unlocked_article_code=1.41A.KrpC.HHZY92u6ZLEt&smid=url-share
MAKE YOUR ROUND 1 SUBMISSION HERE
Round 1: Online Proposal Round
September 1 – October 15
Applications open September 1st, 2026
Submit your two-page proposal here: Proposal Submission Form.
Submission deadline is Wednesday, October 15th at 11:59 pm.
Submitting the application itself is the registration.
Round 2: GW Final Round
November 18, 2026 at 2:00 pm.
Grand Ballroom, University Student Center
We will select 5 finalist teams from the submitted proposals.
Each finalist team receives: 5-minute presentation + 5-minute Q&A
The judges select one winning GW team to go to Chicago for the National Challenge.
CONTACT gwserves
gwu [dot] edu (GWSERVES[at]GWU[dot]EDU) FOR QUESTIONS AND MEETING REQUESTS!
Use of A.I. in Submissions
Work submitted for the GW Civic Policy Challenge is represented as the students’ own intellectual product. Students may not submit content (e.g., ideas, text, code, images) that was generated, in whole or in part, by Generative A.I. (GAI) tools or other AI platforms. Doing so without the Nashman Center’s explicit permission constitutes cheating under the Code of Academic Integrity and is therefore prohibited.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is eligible to participate?
Only currently enrolled GW students are eligible to participate.
Do I need prior experience in policy or coursework to join?
Not at all! No prior policy background is required—just bring your thoughtful, creative ideas.
How many people can be on a team?
Each team must include between 2 and 4 students from GW. At least one team member must be a GW undergraduate student.
What should I do to make a team?
Teams can be formed however you’d like! You can sign up with friends or classmates you already know.
What are competition mentors, and how do meetings work?
Mentors are faculty, staff, and practitioners who provide feedback on your proposal. Each team may meet with one mentor for one 30-minute session leading up to Round 1 of the Policy Challenge. If you want to book a mentorship session, reach out to Ayman Rahman (aymanrahmangwu [dot] edu).
What are the proposal requirements?
● Maximum of 2 single-spaced pages (title page, graphics and works cited do not count toward this total)
● Minimum 10 pt font, standard margins
● Uploaded here as a Word or PDF document
Can we change team members after registration?
● You may remove teammates, but you cannot add new members after registering.
● Any changes must be reported to Ayman Rahman (aymanrahmangwu [dot] edu).
What do the winners receive?
The winning team will represent the George Washington University at the 2027 Policy Challenge Super Bowl.
Tips for Developing a Strong Policy Proposal
Combine qualitative and quantitative research.
Strong policy proposals draw on both lived experience and empirical evidence. Talk with people who experience the problem you are examining firsthand, as well as practitioners, community organizations, service providers, and others working on it directly. Consider: What makes this a problem? What has already been tried? What gets in the way? What would actually help?
Connect what you hear to data, research, and existing scholarship to understand the problem’s scale, who it affects, and why it may persist. Your role as a policy researcher is to connect the dots between individual problems and use evidence to demonstrate that it relates to a larger (local, state) systemic issue.
Learn from what already exists.
Examine what governments, nonprofits, communities, or other organizations and jurisdictions have already implemented or tried. As you research, consider: What has worked? What has not? Why? Use these lessons to identify gaps that need fixing and establish how your proposal can build upon, adapt, and/or improve existing approaches.
Design creatively AND for the real world.
The Policy Challenge encourages you to think creatively and propose new approaches, but remember: a strong policy must also be practical enough to implement. Examine and address who would implement it, who needs to support it, what it would cost, what barriers it might encounter, and whether the people it is intended to serve could realistically access and benefit from it.