In this article, the authors investigate Mexican education reform and decentralization and how the state of Jalisco focused in the early twenty-first century on developing a sequential curriculum for teaching civics in grades 1-6. The authors use the term "educacion civica" because in Mexico the curriculum emphasizes the acquisition of values and attitudes that facilitate a harmonious social life and congenial living in a democracy. The three-part study described in this article involved (1) a document analysis of education reform plans and programs since 1989; (2) a textbook analysis of Jalisco textbooks, workbooks, and teacher guides to determine the definition and scope of the six-grade curriculum; and (3) classroom observations of the "civica" lessons in two elementary schools of different socio-economic levels. (Contains 4 tables.)