Ideas from ACA Members

As a community of practice, the Alliance is committed to strengthening postsecondary civic education by fostering collaboration among members to develop and share ideas, resources, and best practices in a spirit of civic friendship. This work necessarily involves engaging with diverse perspectives, including those with which members may disagree. By doing so, we aim to model the democratic skills of good-faith dialogue and respectful engagement across differences—skills we seek to instill in our students, both in and beyond the classroom.

 

Below, you will find materials and ideas contributed by various Alliance members. These materials reflect a wide range of viewpoints and do not necessarily represent the view of the Alliance itself. However, we hope they will inspire thoughtful reflection on how best to prepare university students for the responsibilities of self-governance.

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Teaching Civics in Kyiv

Commentary: Teaching Civics in Kyiv

Peter Levine, Kettering Foundation (June 20, 2025)

ACA Executive Committee member Peter Levine discusses his experience teaching a Civic Studies course at the Kyiv School of Economics in June 2025. His piece underscores the resilience of the Ukrainians and the power of civic education amid disruption, and raises difficult questions about the role of dialogue, dissent, and nonviolence in times of national crisis.

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Field-Building: Civic Thought: A Proposal for University-Level Civic Education

Benjamin Storey and Jenna Silber Storey, American Enterprise Institute (December 2023)

Benjamin and Jenna Storey propose “Civic Thought”– an interdisciplinary vision of civic education that cultivates disciplined generalists capable of ethical reflection, cross-perspective deliberation, and active democratic citizenship

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Civics in the News: Academic Leaders Explore Ways to Enhance Civic Thought in Higher Education

The Hub at Johns Hopkins University (June 6, 2025)

A conference co-hosted by Johns Hopkins University and the American Enterprise Institute raises challenges and solutions for cultivating informed and engaged citizens through university-level civic education.

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