Democracy & Education

Educational Responses to the Effects of Polarization

Introduction

By Jeremy Stoddard, University of Wisconsin–Madison; Sarah M. Stitzlein, University of Cincinnati; Diana Hess, University of Wisconsin–Madison; Jonathan Collins, Teachers College, Columbia University; Joseph Kahne, University of California–Riverside

Political polarization has grown rapidly in the United States and in some other countries around the world (Boxell, et al., 2021; Talisse, 2024). Political polarization takes a number of different forms that are worth distinguishing: platform, partisan, and affective. In platform polarization, the distance between the political views of competing political parties expands, moving away from the center. In partisan polarization (sometimes called belief polarization), the views of individuals within a party become both more extreme and more uniform (Talisse, 2019). Finally, in affective polarization, citizens come to hold a negative view of those who belong to opposing political groups, a phenomenon which has been propelled by disinformation campaigns, social media networks, and social stratification (McCarty, 2019; Settle, 2018). The internal and external effects of polarization on classrooms are numerous. For example, within classrooms, teachers face belief and affective polarization amongst their students, which creates challenging environments to engage students, especially regarding controversial issues. Outside classrooms, partisan and affective polarization fuels distrust of public schools and policies limiting what teachers can teach (Rogers, et al, 2022; Woo, et al., 2023). Many of these impacts have ratcheted up in the United Statues since the start of President Trump’s second term just a short few months ago, as executive orders, budget cuts, and new legislation further restrict schools and teachers, while also highlighting partisan differences about educational aims and content.

There is an emerging body of research on the impacts of polarization in schools and classrooms, and a smaller, but growing, group of research projects attempting to develop and study interventions designed to counter the effects of polarization and promote democratic education goals that explicitly counter growing partisan rancor.

The articles in this first special issue of Democracy & Education emerged from a 2024 convening of researchers, titled “Understanding and Addressing the Effects of Political Polarization in Schools.” The gathering was organized by Jeremy Stoddard, Diana Hess, Jonathan Collins and Joseph Kahne. It was funded by the American Educational Research Foundation and the Gibbs Democracy Education Fund (University of Wisconsin-Madison). The convening brought together a diverse group of researchers and professionals from civics education, political science, journalism and communications, as well as Democracy & Education Co-Editor, Sarah Stitzlein. The intent was to examine what is known about polarization, its impact on education, and potential interventions, as well as to set a research agenda for the future.

In particular, the convening was organized around four objectives, with the ultimate goal to inform educational research, policy and practice. First, it sought to identify the ways in which political partisanship and polarization impacts schools, including impacts on teachers. Second, it aimed to examine how polarization impacts civic education policy, teacher decision-making, and the resulting civic opportunities in schools for students. More specifically, we wanted to know how youth, including those who may be marginalized, are impacted. We asked, what civic education opportunities do students from different groups receive? How does the current political context impact their civic identity development? How does it shape their efficacy for engaging in civic action?

The focus of the articles for this special issue comes from our third objective. We sought out current research projects that included pedagogical, curricular, or teacher professional learning interventions that illustrated some promise for addressing the effects of political polarization. We sought out projects that had begun to measure outcomes that in some way reflected knowledge, beliefs, and skills believed to counter or make one resilient to the forces of polarization. These outcomes include self-efficacy for civic engagement, the ability to engage in discussions with people you disagree with, the desire to understand why people hold particular political beliefs and how they are rooted in complex contexts, the ability to evaluate and seek out information across the political spectrum and recognize the role of political perspectives, and the ability to engage in high quality controversial issues discussions. We also sought projects with the potential for scalability. For example, we looked at whether the curriculum was readily available as well as provided resources to help teachers implement it. For some of these projects, a collaborative online platform was available to allow for easy uptake across a range of schools. While some of these projects are in the developmental stage or are conducting initial pilot studies, they all show some evidence of success in mitigating or countering the effects of political polarization. We sought studies that have been conducted across a range of political and social contexts and include students from diverse economic, racial, or ethnic demographics.

Finally, we worked to develop a draft agenda for future research to guide both educational researchers and practitioners. We sought to highlight next steps for understanding the impact of polarization and addressing those effects in classrooms and schools. This agenda was informed in part by the articles included in this special issue as well as the broader questions that we engaged in during our time together. As the current political context illustrates, this project has become more and not less important.

Sensing this growing importance, the organizers approached the journal about publishing our first special issue on the topic of educational responses to polarization in schools. The Editors agreed that this was a substantial topic, with political and educational significance in our schools and in the preparation of teachers. It aligned nicely with the journal’s mission to engage the challenges of educating youth for active participation in a democratic society, one that is increasingly partisan in nature. It also afforded opportunities to bridge conceptual work seeking to understand how polarization plays out alongside discussions of institutional structures, curricula, and pedagogical practices that can support teachers in responding to changes in our democratic environment. We were excited to try out a special collection, in which the articles relate closely and each offers special insight into both the problems of polarization and potential ways to mitigate or manage it. While still ensuring anonymous peer review later in the publication process, we also noted that the convening provided a discursive space aligned with our journal’s “feature and response” organization. Research studies and key ideas could be introduced, followed by feedback and discussion with others working in the field of civics education, including researchers, teacher educators, and practitioners.

We are delighted to share with you the products of those conversations in this inaugural special issue. We invite you to join us as our field continues to make sense of, and respond to, our changing political environment.

References

Boxell, L., Gentzkow, M., and Shapiro, J. (November 2021). CrossCountry trends in affective polarization. Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 26669.

McCarty, N. (2019). Polarization: What everyone needs to know. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Settle, J. E. (2018). Frenemies: How social media polarizes America. Cambridge University Press.

Rogers, J. & Kahne, J. with Ishimoto, M., Kwako, A., Stern, S.C., Bingener, C., Raphael, L., Alkam, S., & Conde, Y. (2022). Educating for a Diverse Democracy: The Chilling Role of Political Conflict in Blue, Purple, and Red Communities. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access. https://idea.gseis.ucla.edu/publications/educating-for-a-diverse-democracy

Talisse, R. B. (2019). Overdoing Democracy: Why We Must Put Politics in its Place. Oxford University Press.

Talisse, R. B. (2024). Civic Solitude: Why Democracy Needs Distance. Oxford University Press.

Woo, A., Lee, S., Tuma, A., Kaufman, J., Lawrence, R., Reed, N. (2023). Walking on eggshells—teachers’ responses to classroom limitations on race- or gender-related topics: findings from the 2022 American instructional resources survey. RAND Corporation, RR-A134-16 https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA134-16.html