Goals & Priorities

Bring together the many organizations and hundreds of postsecondary institutions that already are working on different aspects of civic learning and collaborative community-based problem solving—in ways appropriate to their mission and students. Help postsecondary education move from islands of civic learning to democracy learning at scale for all college students; provide shared evidence about “what works” educationally; and vigorously promote public policy and civic learning investments in postsecondary democracy learning at the federal and state level.

Showcase the growing number of postsecondary institutions where civic learning already is part of the curriculum in ways appropriate to mission, students, and programs— Democracy Learning at “Scale”—and mobilize to assist others. making CLDE a shared postsecondary priority across public, private, two-year, four-year, and career-related institutions.

Compile and expand extant research on “what works” to build students’ civic engagement, intergroup communication fluency, collaborative problem-solving skills, and democracy “know-how."

Work with P-16 organizations and leaders, including those involved in the Educating Americans for Democracy (EAD) Roadmap, to align the respective civic learning missions of both school and college so that democracy learning in postsecondary education reliably takes student’ democracy readiness to a higher and wider level— exploring democracy’s future in a context of societal and global change and involving students in public problem solving in ways related to their goals, interests, and intended careers.

Provide direct professional development on the “how” of civic and democracy learning in postsecondary education through workshops, institutes, and toolkits developed by CLDE partner organizations committed to students’ civic learning. Showcase multiple models and resources relevant to different educational contexts and to both general education and college majors, including career-related fields. Foster leadership coalitions for democracy learning within states, regions, and across different sectors in higher education.

Build CLDE “Dashboard” indicators of students’ postsecondary levels of achievement. Help make reports on students’ democracy learning an expected part of educational accountability at all levels. Strongly support the improvement of civic and history proficiency indicators in the schools.