• The Civic Index for Quality Public Education

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    Many have lamented the loss of public support for public education.  Indeed, Dave Matthews 1996 book, Is there a Public for Public Schools? tackled this question head on.  Now, the Public Education Network, long a leader in promoting civic engagement in public education, has published The Civic Index for Quality Public Education.  This tool:

    • Helps communities define and measure their support of their public schools
    • Helps communities identify what they are doing right and what they can do to improve their support for their public schools
    • Offers strategies and other resources for communities to increase their support for their schools

    I was particularly impressed with the resource section which offers ideas for how to increase support for public schools in your community.  These materials, which are supported by a diverse array of education organizations, can be found at:  www.civicindex4education.org. 

  • Champions of Participation: Engaging Citizens in Local Governance

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    UK institutions continue to set the pace in efforts to promote authentic civic engagement.  The newest publications from the Development Research Centre on Citizenship, Participation and Accountability (Citizenship DRC) at the University of Sussex offer lessons learned from a cross country comparison across 15 nations.  The Centre, an international network of researchers and activists exploring new forms of citizenship that helps make rights real, has published Champions of Participation: Engaging Citizens in Local Government, a 52 page document with unflinching analysis of the challenges and opportunities in making civic engagement work. 

    Two of the lessons certainly reflect my beliefs:

    Community involvement is at the heart of sustainable change and is central to the task of revitalising democracy, improving service delivery, tackling poverty and building strong, rsourceful communities. It is not an otional extra, but is essential if we are to achieve meaningful and sustainable outcomes for people and society.

    Citizens should be ‘makers and shapers’ of policy and practice rather than merely ‘users and choosers’ of public services. They should also be encouraged to speak and act as part of a community, as well as exercise the freedom to make their voices heard as individuals.

    Indeed, in the press for time that characterizes our "do it now" culture of performance, it is often these meaningful civic roles that are lost in the haste to make "progress."  The report, and numerous support documents can be found here.

  • New UK Pub on Best Practices in Community Engagement

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    The Local Government Association in the UK sponsors IDEA, the Improvement and Development Agency, a very active learning network for local government. In addition to an active website, they also produce high quality guides. One of their newest publications, Local Development Frameworks: Effective Community Involvement, provides a thoughtful guide to constructing a multi-layered community engagement process. The guide, which can be found here, includes a number of worksheets as well as an accompanying spreadsheet to support the design phase.

    Their view of engagement is broad; as the guide puts it, "The term ‘engagement’ refers to more than just ‘consultation’. It extends the more traditional approaches, where questions and parameters tend to be restrictive, to include opportunities for the community to gain a greater understanding of pertinent issues and contribute towards finding solutions." What I find particularly intriguing is that the guide supports the development of a mandatory description of the engagement process which is shared with residents and stakeholders prior to the beginning of the process, something that is rarely found in the states.

  • New Handbook on Democratic Dialogue

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    Colleagues around the world are working to improve their public conversation. The Canadian International Development Agency, UN Development Program, and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance and several other organizations have published Democratic Dialogue: A Handbook for Practitioners. Backed by a technical assistance team of 90 practitioners, the Handbook is a part of a larger effort to help countries learn the value of dialogue and consensus building processes and build capacity to design and manage the processes. The manual, which is also available in Spanish and more resources can be found on their website.

  • Family Engagement in Schools is More than Advisory Councils

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    Civic engagement, we often forget, is more than residents and stakeholders offering their perspectives on the issues. As many think about how to best engage families in DC public schools, we can learn from the lessons of Families and Schools Together (FAST), an evidence based intervention that strengthens families and schools. The cover story in this month's magazine from the National School Board Association, FAST is an outreach and multi-family group strategy for building protective factors around children as they grow up in stressful, isolated, and often toxic environments. Rooted in 30 years of published mental health research, FAST has been demonstrated to have a predictably positive impact on the socio-emotional functioning of children. To read the magazine article click here or download the attachment. To visit the FAST website, click here.