Freedom of speech is the foundation of a healthy democracy.  For a democracy to thrive, citizens must be able and willing to express and exchange ideas among themselves and with their representative government. Free speech ensures that conflicting views can be heard and understood. Deliberating those views can help citizens make better decisions.

Large-scale research shows that discussion is rare in the vast majority of U.S. high school social studies and language arts classes. Our experience with teaching in former communist countries finds similar patterns. One of the most frequent comments by both educators and students involved in a prior international project was that they spent little or no time on discussion and that the discussion, more often than not, was recitation. 

The Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago (CRFC) , The Constitutional Rights Foundation in Los Angeles (CRF) and StreetLaw, Inc. are conducting a major six year teacher-based initiative, Deliberating in a Democracy (DID), designed to improve teaching and learning of democratic principles and the skills of civic deliberation.

Funded by grants (#Q304A040003 and #Q304A070005) from the U.S. Department of Education , Deliberating in a Democracy’s  overall goal is to increase the knowledge, ability and dispositions of teachers and students to effectively participate in deliberations related to democratic principles as applied in their countries. The emphasis is on a direct person-to-person exchange of ideas and experiences to give people a much clearer picture of democracy in action. 

The current sites, Azerbaijan , the Czech Republic , Estonia , Lithuania , Macedonia , Serbia , Romania, Russia , Ukraine , and Bloomington (IN) , Chicago , Columbia (SC) , Denver , Fairfax County (VA) , Los Angeles , Montgomery County (MD) , North Jersey (NJ) , were chosen based on their prior experience with civic education and their commitment to deliberation. 

In 2007 – 2008 over 200 teachers engaged more than 6000 secondary students in authentic civic deliberations across the United States and in Easter Europe, Russia and Azerbaijan.  For more information about the success of this exciting project please view the evaluation reports prepared by Professor Pat G. Avery at the University of Minnesota. 

Staff Development Sessions

Teachers in every site spend 18 to 39 hours involved in substantive deliberations and training on conducting a classroom deliberation using Structured Academic Controversy. Structured Academic Controversy (SAC) is a method developed by the Johnson brothers at the University of Minnesota.

Classroom Civic Deliberations

A minimum of three classroom deliberations are conducted at each site. Each deliberation uses the SAC method in class with preparatory reading completed by students in advance.

Lessons on Controversial Public Issues

Materials for each topic include a reading with a focus question and additional resources. The materials may be translated into partner country languages for their use.

The Web

All lesson materials and resources for the project can be found online. All teachers participating in this project are eligible to have their classes participate in polls and discuss issues on the DID Discussion Board with classes in their country and in other countries. 

Exchanges between U.S. and Partner Countries

Teacher’s from the U.S. and partner countries travel abroad to visit DID classrooms, meet with other teachers, officials, scholars, and participate in seminars on democracy.

Student Conferences

Student representatives from participating classes can deliberate an issue and talk with their partner country through videoconference, web cam, and/or Skype. In addition, students also have the option to participate in a conference involving other students at their site.

The Evaluation

The DID evaluation process includes students, teachers, administrators, and site coordinators from each of the participating sites. Both qualitative and quantitative data is collected.  

Click here to view the 2007-2008 Evaluation

Patricia G. Avery

Professor
Ph.D., Emory University
Social Studies Education

University of Minnesota 

168 Peik Hall
612-625-5802
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Annette M. M. Simmons

Research Assistant

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Sara A. Levy

Michael H. Scarlett

Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago (CRFC) helps schools foster critical thinking skills and responsible civic action in students. CRFC is a national leader in the design and implementation of quality law-related education (LRE) programs for elementary and secondary school students and their teachers.

Constitutional Rights Foundation (CRF) is a community-based organization which seeks to instill in our nation's youth a deeper understanding of citizenship through values expressed in our Constitution and its Bill of Rights and to educate young people to become active and responsible participants in our society.

Street Law, Inc.is dedicated empowering citizens through innovative education programs about law, democracy, and human rights. It is well known for the high school text – Street Law.