Developing Democratic Classrooms in the Digital Age: Teaching and Learning in K-12 Schools

Three decades into the twenty-first century, there is widespread dissatisfaction on both left and right with the state of democracy in the United States. While the precarity of the American democracy has multiple roots and will require a range of responses, K-12 civic education in particular can play an important role in its strengthening. This chapter offers empirical insights from a research-practice partnership (RPP) between a large and diverse public school district and a university in the Southeast of the United States focused on improving the quality and equality of civic education. After discussing the intersection of schooling and democracy in digital age, methods and findings are presented from the RPP studies carried out between 2019 and 2023. The chapter closes by suggesting implications triangulated from each of the studies, as well as practical suggestions for those committed to promoting peace and democracy through research, service and teaching in communication and education.