Democracy Matters - Episode 14: Plan, Do, Check and Prove: Educating for Democracy on Campuses and Beyond

It’s hard to educate for democracy if you’re not teaching students how to participate in it. In this episode, we talk with Ian Simmons, the Founder and President of the Foundation for Civic Leadership, who is dedicated to initiating projects that enhance democracy. While there are many important skills to learn to participate effectively in democracy, whether or not students are showing up to vote is one measure we can study and use as a means to discover what works. The National Study of Learning Voting and Engagement at the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education at Tufts University now covers about 1,000 campuses and generating a lot of data around best practices. Some campuses are even now registering 90 and 95 percent of their students. ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge is another project of the Foundation for Civic Leadership that recognizes campuses committed to improving democratic engagement, increasing voter participation rates, and graduating informed and active citizens. Campuses commit to a set of actions, are recognized for achieving established benchmarks, and are presented awards for exemplary efforts.

Links in this episode:

• Foundation for Civic Leadership
• Institute for Democracy and Higher Education at Tufts University
• ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge
• Students Learn Students Vote