Deepening Democracy in Schools
At the heart of our work is a belief that public education must serve as a proving ground for democracy. Deepening Democracy in Schools is a core mission area dedicated to embedding participatory democratic practices within the daily structures of K–12 education. Through initiatives like Making Democracy Real, Connecting Classrooms to Congress, and the School Spending Innovation Project, we equip students—especially those in under-resourced schools—with real opportunities to deliberate, make decisions, and shape the institutions that serve them. This mission area is about more than civics education—it’s about cultivating democratic habits by giving students genuine power in their schools and communities.
Making Democracy Real
Overview
Making Democracy Real is our flagship initiative designed to bring democratic practice into the daily life of schools. Through structured civic simulations, collective decision-making, and student-centered public processes, we help young people experience democracy as a living, applied skillset—especially in communities where democracy often feels absent.
Why It Matters
- Traditional civics instruction often fails to connect with students’ lived experience or foster a sense of agency.
- Our approach treats democratic participation not only as content knowledge but as a civic habit, embedded in practice.
Our Approach
- Multi-week in-school programs integrating:
- Participatory Budgeting
- Deliberative Forums
- Public Opinion Research
- Elections and Campaign Simulations
- Teacher training and curricular resources
- Collaboration with school leaders and community partners
- Embedded evaluation to measure impact on student outcomes (e.g., civic efficacy, sense of belonging)
Key Activities
- 2024–25 launch in NYC schools
- Pilot with Teachers College Community School and Capital Prep Harlem
- Pre/post civic learning assessments
- Professional development for educators
Impact Goals
- Shift school culture toward collective decision-making and civic belonging
- Increase students’ democratic skillset and political engagement
- Build scalable models for experiential civics across districts
Teams & Partners
- Project lead: [Name, title]
- School and community collaborators
- Funders and advisory partners
Contact
Connecting Classrooms to Congress
Through a multi-university collaboration, S-BYE is developing and testing a technology-enabled experiential approach to deepening civic education in the high school social studies curriculum. The capstone experience at the center of our curriculum module is an online deliberative town hall meeting that engages students and teachers directly with their sitting member of Congress. This powerful, direct and authentic experience with democracy in practice will be embedded in a rigorous social studies curricular unit where high school students study a controversial topic that is of interest to them – and one that policymakers at the national level are grappling with – and then discuss the issue first with students from a different part of the state, and then with one of those very same policy makers. This project is funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES).
School Spending Innovation Project
Overview
The School Spending Innovation Project reimagines how school funding decisions are made, shifting power toward the people most affected by them: students, families, and frontline educators. We explore participatory and student-centered budgeting models as tools for democratizing resource allocation in schools.
Why It Matters
- Traditional school budgeting processes are often opaque, top-down, and unresponsive to community needs.
- Equitable spending requires not only more resources—but smarter, more inclusive decision-making about how they’re used.
- Participatory budgeting (PB) and other innovations offer a way to align spending with student and community priorities.
What We Do
- Design & Pilot participatory budgeting processes in schools
- Compare Models: student-led PB vs. principal-led discretionary spending
- Train & Support school and district teams on implementation
- Conduct Research on outcomes, equity, and impact
- Document & Share case studies and practical toolkits
Key Research Questions
- Do democratic budgeting processes lead to more equitable outcomes?
- What types of spending do students prioritize when given a voice?
- How do deliberative practices affect student civic engagement and school climate?
In the Field
- Partner schools in New York City piloting student-led budgeting in collaboration with CEE
- Data collected on voting behavior, proposal development, and implementation outcomes
Resources
Partner with Us
Want to bring participatory budgeting to your school, district, or education organization? Contact us to explore collaboration and training opportunities.