The Civic Learning and Democracy Engagement Coalition Releases a New Report Focusing on Moving College Civic Learning From Neglected to the Expected for a Diverse and Polarized Democracy

WASHINGTON, Sept. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Higher education and policy leaders should act now to make civic learning and democracy engagement (CLDE) part of all students' degree requirements.  And they should broaden the meanings of "student success" to include students' gains in civic purpose, bridge-building across differences, and career-related work on public good issues and problem-solving. 

That's the action agenda outlined in Every Student, Every Degree: College Civic Learning for Today's Students and Tomorrow's Democracy. The report, written with support from Endeavor Foundation, was released September 4, 2024, in a national webinar.

The report comes from the Civic Learning and Democracy Engagement (CLDE) Coalition, which is led by the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), Campus Compact, College Promise, Complete College America (CCA), and the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO). 

"Civic purpose should always have been included in the meanings of student success. And going forward, it will be," said Yolanda Watson Spiva, President of CCA, who spoke in a national webinar publicizing the new report. 

Research presented in Every Student, Every Degree shows both students' waning confidence in democracy and an acute shortfall in college students' opportunities to talk with people whose experiences are very different from their own.

The needed course correction, says Every Student, Every Degree, should be each college student's exploration of their own roles in a democratic society, and each student's development—through their college studies—of "small-d democratic skills," including the ability to talk and work productively with partners who disagree. 

Civic inquiry and projects should be woven into students' major fields, including the career-related and STEM fields that most students select.

The report highlights research showing that employers are significantly more likely to hire graduates with the skills and experiences that college civic learning provides.

The report features a new CLDE Framework for college civic learning that coalition leaders developed in dialogue with educators throughout the United States. The CLDE Framework includes:

• Democracy Knowledge and Levers for Change
• Bridge-Building and Problem-Solving Skills
• Practical Experience and Projects, and
• Career-Related Civic and Ethical Learning.

Moving civic learning from neglected to expected may seem like a big lift. But as Every Student, Every Degree shows, many trail-blazing leaders have already begun this work.  The report features numerous "Full Participation" (FPI) examples – across all sectors in US higher education—that already are tailoring required civic inquiry and democracy studies to decidedly different institutional missions and student interests.

Actively encouraging this college civic learning momentum, two of the seven institutional accrediting commissions have recently changed their standards to make civic engagement required—potentially influencing over a thousand two-and four-year institutions and millions of students. All seven are actively partnering with the CLDE Coalition.

The report also highlights the Multi-State Collaborative (MSC), which works in partnership with the CLDE Coalition and now includes 14 state systems. The MSC's stated goal is to make civic learning part of what it means to earn a degree or credential—and to help their member institutions achieve that goal.

"Too often, in higher education," said Timothy Eatman, Chair of the AAC&U Board of Directors, "we fetishize things that are novel. Bringing Civic Learning and Democracy Engagement (CLDE) into the curriculum is important work that builds on long-term efforts to reward and expand publicly engaged scholarship and teaching. Our democracy clearly needs us to speed it up."

About the CLDE Coalition:
The Civic Learning and Democracy Engagement (CLDE) Coalition brings together education and policy organizations committed to making college CLDE a priority across higher education and in public policy. The coalition was formed in 2021, in response to the serious challenges facing democracy, at home and abroad

For more information, please visit www.collegeciviclearning.org or contact [email protected]

For press inquiries:
Siah Annand (she/her)
Civic Learning and Democracy Engagement Coalition | collegeciviclearning.org
[email protected] | 202.494.9329

SOURCE The Civic Learning and Democracy Engagement Coalition (CLDE)