ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author interprets educational policy as legislated attempts to engineer particular forms of education in school settings. He suggests the areas where he thinks policy might be helpful in ensuring that schools can provide educational practices that one may know encourage youth civic engagement. The notion that questions of civic learning and engagement might be addressed through policy solutions hinges on a particular understanding of how change occurs in educational settings. Policymakers believe, to some extent, that policy has an "irrevocable influence on orders of being and practice down the chain of command". Discussion of controversial issues, along with the other practices known for developing active civic engagement, requires students to learn to think in complex, rigorous, and open-minded ways. Civic education policies should support such instruction, yet be attentive to the ways that mandates can take shape within schools and classrooms.
