With the indices of Chicago's civic health digested, one can certainly conclude that the patient needs urgent attention. While Chicagoland compared commeasurably with Illinois and national residents on most measures of civic engagement and social capital, these numbers are excessively low on most counts. Other than voting in presidential elections, most Chicagoland residents sit on the proverbial sideline of civil society. While there is no panacea for curing poor civic health, schools are central to political socialization and the development of lifelong civic habits.

The restoration of the Chicagoland schools' civic missions is vital to the future of local democratic participation and governance. The McCormick Foundation, in partnership with the Illinois Civic Mission Coalition, 20 published the Illinois Civic Blueprint 21 in 2009. The Blueprint is designed to give educators, policymakers, parents, and all Illinois residents explanations of promising approaches to high school level civic education; examples of Illinois high schools, educators, and students using these approaches; recommendations for implementing these approaches statewide; and resources that support schools and communities in promoting civic engagement among Illinois high school students.

The original purpose of public schools in the United States was to prepare young people for their role as citizens in a representative democracy. During the intervening years, schools have been tasked with ensuring that their students are career– and college–ready, and unfortunately, in too many locales, their original civic mission has been all but abandoned. Accountability through standardized testing has narrowed the curriculum toward an excessive emphasis on math, reading, and science to the exclusion of social studies and the humanities. It is no wonder that students demonstrate low levels of civic knowledge and lack proclivities toward political participation. Schools must continue to ensure the career– and college–readiness of their students, but also prepare them for the vital rigors of democratic citizenship.

In 2003, the National Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools, in a report 22 co–produced with The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) and funded by the Carnegie Foundation, articulated six promising approaches for citizenship development in schools. They include formal instruction in U.S. government, history, law, and democracy; structured engagement with current and controversial issues; service learning linked to the formal curriculum; extracurricular activities that encourage greater involvement and connection to school and the community; authentic student voice in school governance; and finally, participation in simulations of democratic structures and processes. The Illinois Civic Blueprint details the application of these promising approaches in high schools statewide and connects schools with community resources that assist with achievement of these ends.

High school students deserve enhanced opportunities to learn and practice civic engagement behaviors. The Illinois Civic Blueprint sets forth a process by which Illinois high schools complete an audit of their civic education offerings in pursuit of “Democracy School” 23 status. Through the formal curriculum and extracurricular opportunities, schools assess the degree to which students are exposed to the six promising approaches articulated in the blueprint. Applicants also develop a school improvement plan in order to demonstrate their schools' continued commitment to the civic development of their students, and are subsequently eligible for supplementary Foundation funding.

The accredited Democracy Schools are 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 extracurricular civic learning experiences for all students. They engage 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, interactions with school governance structures, and in the opportunities for civic growth provided through service–learning and extracurricular activities.

Since 2006, nine Illinois high schools have successfully completed a civic audit and have been subsequently recognized as Democracy Schools. 24 In September 2009, the Illinois State Board of Education endorsed the Civic Blueprint. These early successes lay the groundwork for statewide success and represent a model for replication nationally.

The Blueprint details six policy recommendations to promote and improve the civic mission of every high school in the state.

1. PROVIDE FORMAL INSTRUCTION IN AMERICAN GOVERNMENT, HISTORY, LAW, AND DEMOCRACY IN ILLINOIS HIGH SCHOOLS:

• Require formal instruction in American government, law, and democracy along with formal instruction in U.S. history as integral to a comprehensive social studies program

• Recommend civic knowledge instruction that is interesting, relevant, realistic, and interactive, and that favors discussion and critical thinking rather than memorization

• Encourage local school boards to develop clear statements concerning the importance of learning about American government, history, law, and democracy and its inclusion in the social studies program

• Conduct a meaningful statewide survey of subject–matter that supports civic learning at the secondary level, in order to provide critical information for policymaking 25

• Include civic education experts and advocates on the committee revising the Illinois Learning Standards for Social Studies

2. PROMOTE STRUCTURED ENGAGEMENT WITH CURRENT AND CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES IN ILLINOIS HIGH SCHOOLS:

• Endorse the discussion of controversial issues in the classroom

• Encourage local school boards and schools to formulate clear guidelines for discussing controversial issues and to develop transparent procedures for addressing concerns expressed by all stakeholders

• Provide professional development to help teachers better handle controversial issues discussions

3. PROVIDE ILLINOIS HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WITH OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN THROUGH SERVICE:

• Revise teaching standards to include service learning as part of the certication requirement

• Endorse the inclusion of service learning as an effective teaching tool

• Encourage project–based service–learning experiences over a specic number of student service hours

• Encourage both group–based and individual student service–learning experiences where students have a legitimate voice in the project

• Promote service experiences that are connected to a formal classroom curriculum

• Encourage the allocation of sufcient time for individual reection on service experiences

4. OFFER EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES FOR ILLINOIS HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS THAT ENCOURAGE GREATER INVOLVEMENT AND CONNECTION TO THEIR SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITIES:

• Encourage schools to conduct a baseline assessment of their current extracurricular activities—using the Illinois Civic Audit or a similar instrument—to determine how these activities advance larger civic outcomes

• Endorse the creation of extracurricular civics or civic engagement clubs at high schools to give students an opportunity to take a look at local issues

• Encourage schools to conduct an annual audit of resources and activities in their local communities

5. ENCOURAGE ILLINOIS STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN HIGH SCHOOL GOVERNANCE:

• Endorse the creation of a student seat on local school boards or local school councils

• Endorse the creation of student advisory councils, representing all elements of the student body and with access to the principal and/or school governance structures

• Encourage administrators to support student creation of High School Bills of Rights and Responsibilities subject to annual student amendment and administrative review

6. ENCOURAGE ILLINOIS HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN SIMULATIONS OF DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES AND PROCEDURES:

• Endorse the incorporation of simulation and/or real–world application of democratic processes as part of the curriculum

• Integrate democratic simulations in the classroom with real–life experiences

• Encourage teacher and student involvement with independent programs and organizations, such as those offered by members of the Illinois Civic Mission Coalition, that provide models and opportunities to practice democratic structures and processes

• Support the invitation and involvement of elected and appointed public ofcials in school classrooms and activities

Our nation's public schools are tasked with resolving too many societal ills, and the civic education community is certainly not the only group advocating for greater inclusion of content across the curriculum. However, the civic education community does not seek to diminish the importance of other core subject areas like reading, math, and science, or the value of the arts, humanities, and physical education. Instead, it merely asks to return to its original seat at the proverbial table of public education. Moreover, civic education is particularly apt for inclusion across the curriculum, enhancing learning in other core and elective subject areas. 26 Students must emerge from secondary schools career– and college–ready, but also prepared for their imminent role as citizens in a representative democracy.

Picture a region where every young person learns the basic principles of democracy. He or she is exposed to controversial matters of public concern and equipped with strong deliberative skills. Community and political service lie at their very core, and they project an inclusive voice for positive change. Young people are familiar with the structures and processes of both elections and governing, and they participate with a sense of obligation, but also with a belief that they can affect democratic outcomes. In sum, Democracy Schools facilitate the development of such efcacious and engaged citizens who are so desperately needed to resuscitate Chicagoland's civic health.

May the ndings of the first Chicago Civic Health Index serve as the clarion call for regional civic renewal. In order to repair the region's political fabric and prevent persistent corruption, Chicagoland voters must register and come to the polls on Election Day. They must reach out to elected ofcials and hold them accountable at the same time.

Regional residents must ramp up volunteer efforts, especially during difcult economic times like these, and build deep and lasting social capital. They must join groups, attend meetings, and assume leadership positions. Family members and neighbors must connect with one another over dinner or online. Finally, participation must be informed, and each of us must pay attention to the news and discuss the pressing issues of the day with fellow community members.

Chicago's civic health may be on life support, but the prescription for a clean bill of health lies in the content of this report. It is incumbent upon the patients, Chicagoland residents, to reclaim their local democracy.