During the communist era in Poland, Jacek Strzemieczny was involved in a number of underground activities, including the creation of several independent educational institutions. In 1987, he became an Ashoka Innovator for the Public Fellow. With the collapse of communism in 1989 he took a leadership position at the Ministry of Education, before becoming Co-Founder, Executive Director, and President of the Board of Centrum Edukacji Obywatelskiej in 1994. Since 2000 he has served as Director of the Szkola Uczaca Sie (Learning Schools Project), an initiative run by the Polish-American Freedom Foundation and the Center for Citizenship Education. In 2006, he received the first Penn Kemble Award for work in civic education, and in 2010, the 20th anniversary of Poland’s Solidarity movement, he received the Komisji Edukacji Narodowej Medal from the Minister of Education. In 2011, the Polish president awarded him the Order of Polonia Restituta.