On September 23, the Illinois Democracy Schools Network held its annual convening at the NIU Conference Center in Naperville, Illinois.  Almost 250 attendees explored the essential question, “How shall we live together?” through panel discussions and breakout sessions focusing on civic learning across the school system.

A new Democracy School framework was introduced at the convening that embraced a K-12 systemic approach to civic learning, continuing the legacy of IDS schools embracing emerging research to inform our practice.  Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about this new model.

Why revise the IDS model?

The current version of the Illinois Democracy School civic learning model has been in use since 2018. Since that time, 12 new schools have been added, and 44 schools have completed the renewal process.  The feedback from all of these schools—as they went through the process—was instrumental in making IDS staff think about the changes we could make to our model to make it more meaningful to our schools.  The overriding concern of our schools was the lack of involvement in the K-8 space; not that civics did not exist—but it was sporadic, tentative and lacked focus.  To have a model that addressed civics K-12 would be a major step in fixing this.  Another concern was that—in the current model—the elements were divided into those that occurred in the classroom and those that were schoolwide.  Most of our schools felt that this categorization did not work very well.  For example, student voice cannot be assigned solely to a single space; it is something that should transcend borders. Schools also struggled with the lack of specific reference to media literacy, social-emotional learning, and equity.  The current model is directed at and worded for teachers, which limits buy-in from students, non-teaching staff and members of the community. 

How has the IDS model been revised?

The IDS updates were informed by the Educating for American Democracy Roadmap and Report.  The new framework encompasses grades K-12, with specific actions for educators and school leadership, as well as opportunities for engagement with students, support staff, families, communities, and caregivers.  These revisions provide an opportunity for civic learning across school systems (C.L.A.S.S.).

What is the research that supports these revisions?

For research evidence, we utilized much of the extensive literature review and findings from educator listening sessions CIRCLE and collaborators conducted as they worked to develop the Pedagogy Companion to the Educating for American Democracy Roadmap. Literature provides strong support for a strong relationship between positive classroom/school climate, student-centered practices and educational outcomes.  In short, research tells us that a welcoming and engaged school environment is one where all students can feel safe, valued, and engaged in their own learning and development.  Furthermore, there is strong evidence for inquiry-based learning across disciplines, including social studies, STEM, and ELA, suggesting that engaging in various types of inquiries across topics can deepen students’ knowledge acquisition and retention. Evidence from learning science and neuroscience also suggests that as learners, students benefit from putting what they learn through theory and documents into practice. This is because students are able to solidify their learning by doing.  Students can “practice” civic skills across settings within the school from service-learning to collaborative decision-making in student clubs or intergenerational collaboration through school-wide participatory budgeting. Finally research on adult learning indicates that; self-reflection and assessments are key components of growth.  Setting goals to deliver excellent civic learning to all students, working with a peer group to assess and reflect on the effectiveness of teaching and then developing a plan to improve creates a positive feedback loop where educators can practice and model growth-mindset and continue striving to serve all students. 

How does this new framework help us get better at living our vision of being a democracy school?

• Streamlined framework: The former model included 11 elements with several indicators for each item.  The new framework has four elements that promotes excellence for all, inquiry, agency and cycle of improvement
• Specific, coordinated actions: to engage all stakeholders in promoting civic learning across the school system.
• We will be engaging our network this fall to curate resources to support each element to enhance current practice.

Has anything original model been lost with these changes?

When the team began to explore a new model, one of the first steps was to match the IDS civic learning model “indicators” with the EAD (Educating for American Democracy) “moves” (since this was a program that we felt possessed a kindred spirit  to our own.) This crosswalk revealed a very high degree of alignment. In addition,  the concerns about (1) specific reference to important components of a learning program that were missing (i.e. media literacy, social emotional learning, equity),  (2) the distinction between classroom and school, and (3) the narrow definition of stakeholders, all were given more clarity in the EAD model

Were IDS members involved in these revisions?

In the summer of 2023, K-12 educators that represent the diversity of the state of Illinois convened in Champaign for two days of professional inquiry around the essential question, “ How can we best prepare students for civic life?” IDS teachers from the fields of STEM, Health and Wellness, the Humanities, as well as Career and Technology Education engaged in feedback loops with our research practice partners at the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at the Jonathan M. Tisch Center for Civic Life at Tufts University. 

In the fall of 2023, several civic learning partners as well as administrators from IDS schools met to provide feedback on the same essential question, building upon the work done at the summer convening.

The IDS Leadership Team took this feedback to create a draft version of the new IDS Framework that was once again refined by an IDS Taskforce of educators from the network that met throughout the 2023-24 school year to create the current draft. The IDS taskforce conducted surveys and interviews with various stakeholders in their schools to inform this work. Additionally, IDS staff conducted a series of interviews with students from member schools, to solicit insights from this stakeholder group. 

How can IDS members be involved in the roll out this year?

The new IDS model is a “living document” that will continue to evolve.  IDS members can complete this google form to signal their interest in:

• attending monthly steering committee meetings starting in 2025 to explore new sustainable organizational structure governed by IDS stakeholders
• participating in quarterly feedback loops starting in November via Google Forms to give feedback on support materials aligned to new IDS model
• piloting self-reflection tools in 2024-25 on one or more of the IDS elements

How do we see this impacting new schools and renewal schools?

The Illinois Democracy Schools instituted a pause on new and renewal schools for the 2023-24 school year, as we devoted our energies to the design of the new model.  Our intention is to begin considering new schools once the new model has been piloted. In addition, many of our schools are scheduled to engage in the renewal process, which will need to be updated, based on the new model.  Initially, we hope to provide a self-reflection tool for schools to consider the civic landscape of their schools, as well as familiarize them with the new model.  The other aspect of this program to be integrated in the process is the involvement of the K-8 schools that are connected to our (already designated) Illinois Democracy Schools.  We hope to be having regular conversations about this during the 2024-25 school year.

Visit our website this fall to see the new IDS Framework.  If you have any questions about the new IDS model, please feel free to reach out to Sue Khalaieff at skhalaieff@illinoiscivics.org