The initiatives featured here each are working to take Civic Learning and Democracy Engagement “to scale.” Collectively, they show the spread of vigorous leadership to make CLDE pervasive and inclusive.


The Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement Action Network: The organizations in this network have been long-time leaders in advancing civic learning and/or democratic engagement as a national priority.


Higher Learning Commission:  The Higher Learning Commission (HLC)  The nation's largest institutional accreditor with 967 members, HLC in 2020 made civic engagement one of its quality standards for the renewal of accreditation.
Reference Document


State of Massachusetts:  The Massachusetts Department of Education (MDE) In 2014, Massachusetts became the first state to make civic learning one of its expected college outcomes for public higher education.
Reference Document


State of Virginia:  State Council for Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV).  In 2017, SCHEV asked all its member institutions to assess students' civic engagement as a “required competency.”
Reference Document


State of Florida:  The Governor, the state legislature, and the Department of Education have developed new standards to significantly improve students' civic learning in both K-12 and postsecondary public education, including associate degrees and career-related programs.


State of Maryland: University System of Maryland (USMD) Since 2017, USMD has been working at the system and campus level to advance students' civic engagement and learning accross public higher education.”
Reference Document