Illinois high school students deserve enhanced opportunities to learn and practice civic engagement behaviors.

Illinois Democracy Schools are accredited secondary schools that provide students with authentic experiences in the rights, responsibilities, and tensions inherent in living in a constitutional democracy. These schools consciously promote civic engagement by all students, have an intentional focus on fostering participatory citizenship and place an emphasis on helping students understand how the fundamental ideals and principles of our democratic society relate to important current problems, opportunities and controversies.

Illinois Democracy Schools collaborate with parents, students and their communities in developing a civic mission and in providing curricular and extra-curricular civic learning experiences for all students. They engage their students in a continual process of improving and increasing civic learning. Evidence of these characteristics can be found in students’ classrooms and formal learning opportunities, in their interactions with school governance structures, and in the opportunities for civic growth provided through service learning and extra-curricular activities.

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