From efforts to ban books, censor curricula, and pit parents' rights against the professionalism of teachers, school boards and legislatures are undermining and dismantling our nation's public educational system, the pillar of a healthy democracy. In Beyond Civics: The Education Democracy Needs, author Sandra Every Dean reminds educators that they can counter these dispiriting trends and support students and colleagues by practicing, modeling, and imparting democratic values in the schoolhouse. Educators must create a democratic ecosystem that equips children with the tools that allow them to envision and construct a future that is more equitable, more compassionate, and more just for all Americans. Democracy depends on a citizenry well practiced in such interactions as working together, listening to the ideas and opinions of others, making compromises, and finding solutions that benefit the common weal.

In her long career as a teacher and school administrator, Sandra Every Dean taught in both public and private schools. She received a B.S. in economics from the Wharton School, an M.Ed. from Temple University, and an Ed.D. from the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania.