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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]