From Civic Education to a Civic Learning Ecosystem: a Landscape Analysis and Case for Collaboration
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From Civic Education to a Civic Learning Ecosystem: A Landscape Analysis and Case for Collaboration FINAL VERSION, DECEMBER 2019 Table of Contents Executive Summary 4 Introduction to the civic engagement project 7 I. Rethinking civic engagement 8 II. Many ways to map the space 12 The Civic Learning Systems Map Civic Learning Ecosystem The Civic Learning Practitioners Database The Civic Learning Research Database The Civic Learning Policy Database The Civic Learning Funders Database III. The case for a field building approach 19 to civic learning IV. Foreseeable bumps in the road 29 V. Where do we go from here? 32 Conclusions: A call for collaboration and increased funding 33 Appendix Appendix A: Interview list 37 Appendix B: Civic Learning Systems Map overview 39 Appendix C: Civic Learning Practitioners Database C1: Practitioners by cluster 43 C2: Practitioners (alphabetical) 72 Appendix D: Civic learning funders profiles 90 Acknowledgements 98 About the author 99 Research by Supported by & anonymous donors This report was prepared by Red & Blue Works. The opinions expressed in this paper are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, Charles Koch Foundation, or Bellwether Education Partners. November 2019 From Civic Education to a Civic Learning Ecosystem Executive Summary Near the end of 2018 a group of foundations, led by the Hewlett Foundation and including the Koch Foundation, launched a project to study the current state of civic education in America. The goal was to provide a comprehensive overview of the civic education space to understand how the work of funders, policymakers, educators, researchers, and nonprofit organizations comes together and interacts to produce our current system of civic education. There is a broad consensus that we need to fundamentally rethink and enrich the ways we prepare young people to be successful citizens in a democracy, but until those of us who work in this space have a clearer understanding of the contours of the space and a way to talk about our goals and concerns using a shared vocabulary, systemic change is unlikely. In order to decide what needs to be done, how it should be done, and how to assess our progress along the way, we first need to bring leaders together around a common understanding of the challenges before us. Our team reviewed leading research on civic education and social and emotional learning in schools and colleges; looked at civic education policies in all 50 states; attended conferences on civic education and/or democracy building; and also interviewed more than 100 experts who are engaged in civic education. Recognizing that private philanthropy is key to catalyze and sustain the work in this space, we invited more than 40 foundations to participate in a two-day session in September in Washington, D.C. These foundations represent a very diverse group—ideologically broad, geographically dispersed institutions, with interests in different content areas that overlap with this paper’s definition of civic learning. At this meeting the group discussed our preliminary findings and recommendations and identified areas of potential collaboration to build and sustain a field of civic learning. This paper— which expresses the findings of the authors, Red & Blue Works—seeks to spark enthusiasm and engagement among funders who are interested in revitalizing our system of civic education. It provides a framework for conceptualizing and discussing shared goals and urges funders, educators, researchers and the general public to develop a new, more robust conception of civic learning that goes well beyond the high school Civics class. This paper is part of a larger project to capture the state of the field, to identify pressing needs, and to launch collaborative efforts to improve, expand and energize civic learning in our country. Here is a snapshot of what we learned: There is far more agreement about the ultimate aims of civic education than any of us imagined. Almost everyone we interviewed believes that an ideal system of civc education should be designed to produce citizens who are well-informed, productively engaged in working for the common good and hopeful about our democracy. We may not all use exactly the same terms, but most people agree that there is plenty of common ground from which to move forward. Everyone we talked to agrees that we need to fundamentally reimagine the way we prepare young people to be full-fledged citizens. We need to think beyond the high school Civics class to imagine a lifetime of civic learning and practice. Civic learning includes practicing civic skills and developing civic dispositions as well as acquiring knowledge about our history and public institutions. To develop and implement a new and improved system of civic learning we will first need to build a field of civic learning. We have just barely begun the process of rethinking civic education, and still need to develop a common identity for the field, a common body of research to inform best practices for this new field, and a whole infrastructure to support and fund all of these efforts. Field building will require a lot of time, money and patience. Building a field to create and support an exemplary system of civic learning will require strategic, long-term action from countless individuals and organizations. Collaboration will not always be easy, but it is the only way forward. The challenge is too great and too multifaceted for any single 4 From Civic Education to a Civic Learning Ecosystem From Civic Education to a Civic Learning Ecosystem organization. Moreover, in our politically polarized world, it is essential that this be cross-partisan work, designed to encourage understanding and trust. This will be a long journey, but we are already underway. This project has proposed immediate next steps, including convening working groups to draft plans to catalyze action in four key areas: developing and communicating a common identity, expanding research and developing useful measurement tools, figuring out how to scale up successful civic learning programs, and planning a small number of pilot projects to implement a comprehensive civic learning approach. Like any problem involving humans, this one is complex. It will require cooperation and patience from all of us. And, it will require significant and sustained resources. But there is good reason to believe that it can be solved. This paper is an invitation to understand the problem and to bring people together. 5 From Civic Education to a Civic Learning Ecosystem 6 From Civic Education to a Civic Learning Ecosystem From Civic Education to a Civic Learning Ecosystem Introduction to the civic education project Near the end of 2018 a group of foundations, led by the Hewlett Foundation and including the Koch Foundation, launched a project to study the current state of civic education in America. Concerned about the state of civic knowledge and political practice in our country, these foundations wanted to invest more in civic education, but were unsure which investments would have the greatest impact. They felt they needed a deeper understanding of the rapidly evolving civic education landscape in America. They charged nonprofit leader Rajiv Vinnakota with the task of researching how and what young people are learning about our country’s history, political institutions, civil society and civic practice. The Civic Education Funders Workshop held in Washington, D.C. on September 24–25, 20191 and this white paper are the first products of this year-long study. This project was not intended to produce specific funding recommendations. Instead, the goal was to provide the kind of comprehensive overview of the civic education space to understand how the work of funders, policymakers, educators, researchers, and nonprofit organizations comes together and interacts to produce our current system of civic education. The sheer number of people involved in this work from so many perspectives and at so many levels makes it difficult to mark the boundaries of a “field of civic education.” Thus, one of the most important tasks of this project has been to capture the range of work being done and to build a framework for understanding how all this work contributes to a shared larger goal. To this end, our team reviewed leading research on civic education and social and emotional learning in schools and colleges; looked at civic education policies in all 50 states; attended conferences on civic education and/or democracy building; and also interviewed more than 100 experts who are engaged in civic education, including practitioners, policymakers, researchers, funders, and thinkers from across the country. This document presents a synthesis of all of this research. The ultimate goal of the project itself is to bring people together around a shared set of goals and to develop a shared vocabulary and understanding of the multidimensional and interdependent efforts necessary to improve civic learning for future generations. There is a broad consensus that we need to fundamentally rethink and enrich the ways we prepare young people to be successful citizens in a democracy, but until those of us who work in this space have a clearer understanding of the contours of the space and a way to talk about our goals and concerns using a shared vocabulary, systemic change is unlikely. In order to decide what needs to be done, how it should be done, and how to assess our progress along the way, we first need to bring leaders together around a common understanding of the challenges before us. Like any problem involving humans, this one is complex. It will require cooperation and patience from all of us. But there is good reason to believe that it can be solved. This paper is an invitation to understand the problem, and to bring people together.