The National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI) is pleased to be one of many organizations throughout the country to endorse the Educating for American Democracy initiative, which launched nationwide on March 2.  According to NIFI Chairman David Mathews, “This is a very valuable and timely initiative. The National Issues Forums Institute has long worked with secondary schools and colleges and universities across the country to encourage public deliberation on some of the most fraught issues that we face as a nation. We see great potential in EAD and hope to find opportunities for collaboration with NIFI and the National Issues Forums grassroots network in fostering the skills and practices necessary for self-government.”

With the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the U.S. Department of Education through a grant to iCivics, Educating for American Democracy (EAD) has convened a diverse and cross-ideological group of scholars and educators for over the past several months to create a Roadmap to Educating for American Democracy — guidance and an inquiry framework that states, local school districts, and educators can use to transform teaching of history and civics to meet the needs of a diverse 21st century K–12 student body. EAD is a call to action to invest in strengthening history and civic learning, and to ensure that civic learning opportunities are delivered equitably throughout the country (from educatingforamericandemocracy.org).

As the initiative moves forward, NIFI will look for opportunities to share existing resources with the EAD network and to explore the development of new resources that are aligned with one of the key questions that EAD explores:  What does it take to make decisions together in a democracy?