Intense polarization. Wrenching political violence. AI breeding new modes of misinformation. What students see every day barely resembles what they’d traditionally read in a civics textbook. So, it’s time for a new way forward.
That’s according to Mary Ellen Daneels, longtime civics teacher and founder of Democracy Schools. They’re a network of Illinois high schools trying to strengthen civics education. They just held their annual convening in Naperville. Daneels believes their schools can meet the moment and be a model for kids and their communities.
“This isn't just a social studies thing. This isn't just a citizenship test," she said, "but it's thinking about how all teachers and all adults in a building send messages about how our republic works."
Democracy Schools started 20 years ago with a few schools in the Chicago suburbs. It’s now a network of over 90 schools throughout the state.
It’s also expanding out of Illinois. They’re working with Wisconsin and Indiana to create programs. The recent conference featured teachers from across the Midwest and as far as Hawaii -- all looking to follow Illinois’ lead in civics.
So, what exactly does a Democracy School look like? Daneels says media literacy is crucial. They simulate democratic processes through things like the “Legislative Semester” class where students act as lawmakers and pass bills.
“Some of those tools are things like current and controversial issue discussions," she said. "How do we navigate some of these issues that divide us?”
But it’s not just teaching students how government works, it’s about participating in government. Daneels says that while polarization is toxic nationally, locally they can get to know decisionmakers and make their voice heard.
“That's actually more real for kids," said Daneels. "The local government that decides where the skate park is, that decides the policies at their schools. Often, they know those folks in their local government."
In western Illinois, Spoon River Valley has been a Democracy School for three years, where Jennifer Burdette says it’s transformed her classroom. Her students feel democracy by having a hand in their own school’s budget process.
“The students got $2,000 to spend for the school district, she said, "and they had to vote on things. They led that whole initiative. They met with administration, they told administration what their thoughts were, and then ultimately, we put those into place. We have a coffee shop now that runs in our school because it was a student-created initiative.”
Spoon River Valley is on the cutting edge of Democracy Schools’ next move: expanding to middle and elementary schools. With the emergence of AI and other new tech, Burdette's helping teach media literacy skills to 5th graders.
“It's a skill set that we have to explicitly teach," said Burdette, "and we have to start it younger and younger, because they're getting technology younger and younger."
Americans don’t agree on much, but one thing just about everyone agrees on is that teaching students to be good citizens should be a priority.
“Civic knowledge is remarkably, concerningly low," said Shawn Healy. "Something like three in 10 people could pass the US naturalization test."
He presented at the recent conference. He used to teach civics alongside Daneels but now works on policy with iCivics, which creates civics games and activities used by millions of students in the US.
“We really hollowed out civic education," he said. "Some of that happened during my time, particularly with ‘No Child Left Behind’ and this kind of exclusive focus on reading and math. It crowded out everything else from the curriculum.”
He’s right. In the first five years after "No Child Left Behind" passed in 2002, across the country schools slashed social studies and civics instruction by 32%, with some schools cutting it in half.
But Healy says it’s improving. States are investing more in civics. 36 states, including Illinois, require a stand-alone high school course. Since 2018, he says 12 states have passed civics requirements for middle school.
Just about everyone agrees we should teach students to be good citizens. But the question is: what does that look like exactly? A survey from the University of Southern California shows most Americans believe students should learn about the Constitution, identifying false information online, finding community solutions, and debating opposing views -- all principles of Democracy Schools.
But Healy says that doesn’t mean teaching civics is always easy.
“If you go back a quarter century," he said, "teachers had a ton of autonomy in terms of how they taught civics. Now there is incredible scrutiny. It’s politically fraught in many places to teach civics nowadays.”
Illinois State Superintendent Tony Sanders spoke at the conference. He says it's harder to teach about elections when President Trump posts debunked election fraud conspiracies. He worries it makes students lose even more trust in the democratic process.
“There's never been a more important time in our history to be teaching civic education," he said. "I have a real fear that the rhetoric of election rigging, even having the National Guard potentially coming into the city of Chicago or any state, and the effect that has on repressing votes. I'm really worried that it does end up causing a reaction at the polls.”
The U.S. Department of Education recently announced a new "America 250 Civics Education Coalition." Its launch video isn’t as much about a lack of civic knowledge and engagement as it is about a lack of perceived patriotism in classrooms.
“American education was once a shining light guiding generations, built on faith, heritage, patriotism. But over the past 60-70 years, that brilliance has been dimmed," reads the voice-over. "A great institution has been crumbled from within; overtaken by those who teach hatred for America, false revisionist history, and division.”
The coalition is made up of right-wing groups like the Heritage Foundation and PragerU. They say there will be a speaking tour, student competitions, and teacher summits.
At the announcement of the coalition, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said she believes to teach civics is to teach students to love America. She cited a poll from this year stating that 41% percent of Gen Z say they’re extremely or very proud to be an American.
“Why aren’t they proud to be Americans? It’s because they don’t know about America," said McMahon. "We haven’t taught them about America. They don’t know our history. They don’t know the trials and tribulations that led to this being the most wonderful country on the face of the Earth.”
Here in Illinois, Democracy Schools’ Mary Ellen Daneels says civics isn’t a red or blue issue. She says their civics education work helps students engage in “reflective patriotism.”
“Look honestly at some of our past failures," she said, "but also give kids those tools to reflect on how we've improved and how we can do better in the future."
For all of Illinois’ civics investment, is it working? Engaging in civics in your community is a lifelong mission, but how do they know that message is getting through to students?
Healy says iCivics worked with a research group a few years ago to figure out if Illinois’ mandated high school civics courses were having an impact.
“We found, for example, that young people that took this class were more likely to vote," he said. "They're more likely to discuss political issues. They were more likely to volunteer. They're more likely to work with a neighbor to solve a problem in their community. So, that’s impact.”
Healy says he thinks that the country is probably as politically polarized as it’s been since the Civil War. We have historic distrust of institutions. He and the people at Democracy Schools think one of the main ways out of it is through stronger civic education.
