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Democracy Class

Over the past 30 years, civic education has been systematically cut from public schools. Opportunities to learn about politics and government are rare, and programs to register newly eligible high school students are not widespread. This is the next frontier to further youth civic engagement.

On March 23, 2011, Rock the Vote launched the first annual Democracy Day celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 26th Amendment, which gave 18-year-olds the right to vote. On Democracy Day, teachers in all 50 states committed to teaching Democracy Class in more than 1,200 classrooms, reaching tens of thousands of students directly and nearly a million through marketing and outreach campaigns.

The launch kicked off with Darren Criss from Fox’s hit series Glee and radio station KIIS FM joining us to host Democracy Class at Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, California. Coverage of the event was highlighted in outlets such as MTV’s The Seven, CBS Radio, Fox’s Good Day LA and the Huffington Post and resulted in over 100 million media impressions.

From coast to coast we continued to celebrate Democracy Day with students, educators and elected officials. U.S. Representative Jay Inslee joined students at Lake Washington High School in Kirkland, Washington and Secretary of State Jon Husted led Democracy Class at LaBrae High School in Northeast Ohio. The School District of Philadelphia taught Democracy Class in more than 35 of the city’s high schools. Hip-hop duo the New Boyz brought Democracy Class on a three-city tour through Detroit, Cleveland and Cincinnati. Jermaine Dupri teamed up with State Senator Jason Carter to teach in Atlanta. The Youth Policy Institute, the largest after-school program in the country, taught Democracy Class in dozens of its high schools in Los Angeles with Vampire Diaries star and singer Kat Graham, NFL players Shawne Merriman and Bernard Berrian, Major League Soccer pro Jimmy Conrad, and rappers David Banner and Asher Roth. To round out the school year, platinum-selling artist Jason Derulo surprised students at Bronx Guild High School, teaching Democracy Class and registering the seniors to vote.

About Democracy Class

Democracy Class is a one-class-period program that uses video, a classroom discussion and a mock election to teach young people the skills to navigate the elections process and engage as active citizens. As part of this national launch of the program, we partnered with local and national organizations including the National Education, the Future Educators Association, YouthBuild and the Youth Policy Institute, the largest after-school provider for high schools in the country.

Rock the Vote has served as the leader in engaging young people in politics for over two decades. We have worked to simplify and demystify voter registration and elections for young adults by using the latest technology and popular culture to energize young Americans to participate in the political process. Holding true to this mission and given the incredible need to foster civic participation among our country’s young people, we developed Democracy Class.

Democracy Class targets high school students across the country, bringing them into the political process and encouraging them to get involved. Through the program, we develop new interactive learning methods to foster civic engagement and to reach a generation of young people and register them to vote.

Democracy Class is supported by an impressive and diverse advisory board of education leaders, civic engagement experts and artists, including: Ted McConnell, Executive Director, Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools; Susan Griffin, Executive Director, National Council of Social Studies; Steve Barr, Founder and Chair Emeritus, Green Dot Public Schools; and Benji and Joel Madden of the band Good Charlotte. A full list of advisory board members is available on the Democracy Day site.

DemocracyClass.com is a destination for students, offering interviews with Alicia Keys, NBA All-Star Baron Davis, singer Michael Franti, Good Charlotte and Cali Swag District where they discuss the issues that concern them most. The site also features a video with John Legend encouraging students to bring Democracy Class to their school, and which offers information on volunteer opportunities to register voters and free music from more than 20 different bands.


Lesson Plan Overview:

  • The class begins with a video covering the history of voting rights and how young people are affected by elections.
  • The lesson plan continues with a discussion of national and local issues identified by the students, showing how the leaders we elect to office impact most of our daily concerns.
  • Eligible students are then registered to vote, and non-eligible students have an opportunity to “pledge to vote.”
  • The lesson ends with an in-class mock election where students run for office based on a platform of issues they support.


Program Components:

  • Interactive lesson plan (45 minutes) that uses music and popular culture as a means to teach students about civics and democracy. This can be taught by Rock the Vote staff or downloaded from the Democracy Day website.
  • An online hub (www.democracyclass.com) allows students to learn more about elections and civic engagement.
  • Videos, music and personal appearances from Rock the Vote artists, who share their thoughts on issues most important to them and encourage students to take action by participating in politics.
  • Registration of eligible students.


A Proven Model:

We’ve spent the last several years building and testing the program across the country. In that time, we’ve partnered with groups like Upward Bound, Mikva Challenge and YouthBuild to bring Democracy Class to their programs and we’ve presented at various conferences such as the National Council for the Social Studies annual meeting. The feedback from students and teachers has been overwhelmingly positive : “Great program,” “Outstanding program and a treat for the students” and “The opportunity to collaborate with respected organizations like Rock the Vote greatly enhanced the education of my students.”


Contact:
Chrissy Faessen | V.P. Marketing & Communications
Rock the Vote
Chrissy@rockthevote.com
202-719-9941