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The Forum on the Future of Public Education

The Forum on the Future of Public Education strives to bring the best empirical evidence to policymakers and the public.

The Forum draws on a network of premier scholars to create, interpret, and disseminate credible information on key questions facing P-20 education. The Forum pursues original research and facilitates collaboration between researchers and policymakers to examine the pressing issues shaping the future of public education. Key constituencies of the Forum include scholars who influence research, policy and practice; policy makers and policy making bodies at all levels; members of the media who influence public opinion; foundations, organizations, business groups and others who support, criticize and advocate for reform; and citizens who make choices about education for themselves and their children.

America is witnessing a drastic redefinition of the policies and practices associated with “public education.” Too often, discussions around the future of public education are strong on passion but short on actual evidence. The Forum for the Future of Public Education is filing that gap by building a resource of objective, research-based insights on key educational issues. We are establishing an open venue- a true public forum to debate controversial and consequential policy issues that will shape American’s future.

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"It's your World, So Change It:" Reflections on Youth Civic Engagement and Life Abroad in Tanzania

by the College of Education at Illinois / Sep 6, 2016

­Department of Educational Psychology Brownbag Seminar Series
Taking Educational Psychology Abroad

"It's your World, So Change It:" Reflections on Youth Civic Engagement and Life Abroad in Tanzania

Monday, September 19, 2016
12:00 – 12:50
22 Education Building

In this presentation Helen Neville of the Department of Educational Psychology will discuss the process of conducting research and teaching abroad, with a focus on Tanzania. She will summarize research findings from the #PowerUp: Youth Civic Engagement Project. Tanzanian secondary school youth in this project identified pressing social concerns needing attention that are consistent with the literature in other countries, but they also articulated intersecting concerns of larger social and political structures which remain largely unexplored in the research on civic engagement. Youth expressed clear ideas about what types of changes are needed to promote democracy in their environment and how they see themselves becoming active to make a difference in the communities in which they belong.