Based on decades of research and experience concerning how average citizens think and talk about issues, Public Agenda's Choicework Discussion Starters are designed to help groups and communities talk productively about public problems.
Our discussion starters, available here for free download, outline several different approaches to solving specific public policy problems, along with the pros, cons and trade-offs of each choice. We use everyday language, not professional jargon, and focus on the kinds of concerns and values that non-experts can readily understand. Many of our discussion starters have corresponding videos available here and on YouTube; some of our written discussion guides are also available in Spanish. Ready to get more involved in shaping the world we all live in?
Choicework Discussion Starters Available for Download:
Citizens' Solutions Guides
CITIZENS' SOLUTIONS GUIDE - ENERGY
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2012
Despite serious knowledge gaps on the part of the public, energy is still on the minds of 8 out of 10 Americans, right after concerns for the economy, education, and healthcare.
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Issue Area(s): Energy & Environment
CITIZENS' SOLUTIONS GUIDE - EDUCATION
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2012
Each Citizens' Solutions Guide provides essential background on a complex issue and analyzes the pros and cons behind some of the policy solutions endorsed by candidates, so that voters can weigh the tradeoffs before they head to the polls.
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Issue Area(s): K-12 Education, Higher Education
CITIZENS' SOLUTIONS GUIDE - HEALTH CARE
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2012
The newest addition to Public Agenda's Citizens' Solutions Guides series arms voters with the knowledge they need to understand our health care challenges.
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Issue Area(s): Civic Education, Health Care, Voting & Government
CITIZENS' SOLUTIONS GUIDE - IMMIGRATION
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2012
Each Citizens' Solutions Guide provides essential background on a complex issue and analyzes the pros and cons behind some of the policy solutions endorsed by candidates, so that voters can weigh the tradeoffs before they head to the polls.
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Issue Area(s): Immigration
CITIZENS' SOLUTIONS GUIDE - JOBS AND THE ECONOMY
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2012
Each Citizens' Solutions Guide provides essential background on a complex issue and analyzes the pros and cons behind some of the policy solutions endorsed by candidates, so that voters can weigh the tradeoffs before they head to the polls.
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Issue Area(s): Jobs & Economy
CITIZENS' SOLUTIONS GUIDE - THE FEDERAL BUDGET
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2012
For most voters in the U.S., the federal budget is one of their top concerns as they decide who to vote for this November.
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Issue Area(s): Federal Budget
Early Childhood & Preschool
A GREAT EDUCATION STARTS AT HOME
Increasing Parent Involvement in Education
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2010
This Choicework Discussion Starter is designed to help you and your neighbors figure out how to inspire and help more parents to become more involved in their children’s education.
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Issue Area(s): Early Childhood, Children & Families
EVERYBODY READY FOR SCHOOL
How Can we Ensure High Quality Early Childhood Programs?
Media Type: PDF
This Choicework Discussion Starter is designed to help you discuss the best way to ensure all children have access to high quality preschool programs.
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Issue Area(s): Early Childhood, K-12 Education
Childcare & Afterschool Programs
AFTER THE BELL
What Do We Want Our Afterschool Programs To Do?
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2008
This Choicework Discussion Starter can help you decide which priorities for afterschool programs are most important for your community.
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Issue Area(s): K-12 Education
ALL ACCOUNTED FOR
What Do We Want Out Of Our Afterschool & Summer Programs
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2010
This discussion guide will help you work through some of the choices, while understanding their pros and cons.
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Issue Area(s): K-12 Education, Children & Families
CHILDCARE
A Public Agenda Citizen Choicework Guide
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2005
This Choicework Discussion Starter will help your community decide what makes the most sense for children, parents and families.
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Issue Area(s): Children & Families
LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD
A Choicework Discussion Starter for Communities in DC
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2012
This Choicework is intended to help parents, students, families, neighbors, educators, policymakers and other concerned citizens in Washington DC collaborate to find common ground and priority areas for action.
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Issue Area(s): K-12 Education, Public Engagement/Deliberative Democracy
WHAT DO YOU WANT IN AN AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAM?
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2010
This guide, intended for high school and middle school students, will help them talk about the programs they'd like to have available.
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Issue Area(s): K-12 Education, Children & Families
K-12: Kids, Parents, Teachers, Schools
A QUALITY HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION FOR ALL
Addressing the Dropout Challenge in our Community
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2010
This Choicework Discussion Starter is intended to help you and your neighbors think together about how the schools and community can do more to help all students graduate
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Issue Area(s): Higher Education
CREATING A FORMULA FOR SUCCESS IN LOW-PERFORMING SCHOOLS
A Public Agenda Citizen Choicework Guide
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2005
This Choicework Discussion Starter can help your community talk about ways to boost student achievement in schools whose students are not succeeding academically.
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Issue Area(s): K-12 Education
ENSURING TEACHER QUALITY
A Public Agenda Citizen Choicework Guide
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2005
This Choicework Discussion Starter is designed to help your community generate ideas about how to make sure all students have quality teachers.
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Issue Area(s): K-12 Education
HELPING ALL STUDENTS SUCCEED IN A DIVERSE SOCIETY
A Public Agenda Citizen Choicework Guide
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2005
The Choicework Discussion Starter is designed to support community dialogue about how, in a society as diverse as ours, we can work together to help all students succeed.
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Issue Area(s): K-12 Education
MAKING STANDARDS WORK FOR ALL STUDENTS
A Public Agenda Citizen Choicework Guide
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2005
This Choicework Discussion Starter is designed to help communities talk about how to make sure these standards work for all students.
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Issue Area(s): K-12 Education
NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS AND STUDENT DIVERSITY
A Public Agenda Citizen Choicework Guide
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2005
This Choicework Discussion Starter can help your community discuss how to balance the often competing values of neighborhood schools and student diversity.
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Issue Area(s): K-12 Education, Immigration, Race
READY FOR 21ST CENTURY CAREERS
Making Sure Students Get the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Education They'll Need to Suceed in the New Economy
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2010
This Choicework Discussion Starter is intended to help your community discuss how to work together to ensure students today get the education they'll need to succeed in the 21st Century.
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Issue Area(s): K-12 Education, Higher Education
TEACHING METHODS
A Public Agenda Citizen Choicework Guide
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2005
This Choicework Discussion Starter can help your community examine different teaching methods and discuss which approach you would want in your school district.
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Issue Area(s): K-12 Education
THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION
A Public Agenda Citizen Choicework Guide
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2005
The Choicework Discussion Starter is designed to help you and your neighbors discuss what purposes of education are most important to you and what educational priorities you’d like to see in your own community.
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Issue Area(s): K-12 Education, Higher Education
THE QUESTION OF SCHOOL CHOICE
A Public Agenda Citizen Choicework Guide
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2005
Some people want educational alternatives to the traditional public school system. This Choicework Discussion Starter can help you discuss which approach is best for your community.
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Issue Area(s): K-12 Education
Higher Education
EVERYBODY READY FOR COLLEGE
A Choicework Discussion Starter
Media Type: PDF
This Choicework Discussion Starter can help begin a conversation on ways to improve college readiness and help students achieve their goals.
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Issue Area(s): K-12 Education, Higher Education
MAKING OPPORTUNITY AFFORDABLE
Ramping Up Post-Secondary Student Success While Containing Costs & Maintaining Quality
Media Type: PDF
In this Choicework Discussion Starter, we look at three different approaches to the problem, with pros, cons and tradeoffs which can also provide a starting point for considering other new ideas.
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Issue Area(s): K-12 Education
SUCCESS IS WHAT COUNTS
A Community Conversation to Help to Help All Community College Students Achieve
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2008
This Choicework Discussion Starter can help community college administrators, faculty and students discuss approaches community colleges can take to help students achieve their goals and be more successful in college.
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Issue Area(s): Higher Education
Interfaith Relations
MANY RELIGIONS, ONE COMMUNITY
Lessons from Islamic Spain for Today's World
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2009
How can people of different cultures and faiths live together in peace and prosperity in a shared society? Are tensions between different faiths and cultures inevitable?
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Issue Area(s): Religion
Public Safety & Police-Community Relations
ENSURING SCHOOL SAFETY
A Public Agenda Citizen Choicework Guide
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2005
This Choicework Discussion Starter is designed to help communities evaluate different approaches to ensuring safety and security in schools.
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Issue Area(s): K-12 Education, Children & Families
IMPROVING POLICY-COMMUNITY RELATIONS
A Public Agenda Citizen Choicework Guide
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2005
This Choicework Discussion Starter offers communities an opportunity to discuss the best ways to prevent these tensions from developing and of resolving them when they do arise.
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Issue Area(s): Other
PREVENTING CRIME AND PROMOTING PUBLIC SAFETY
A Public Agenda Citizen Choicework Guide
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2005
This Choicework Discussion Starter can help you better understand the range of strategies police departments can use and which strategies are most appropriate for your community.
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Issue Area(s): Other
PREVENTING TERRORISM AND PROTECTING CIVIL RIGHTS
A Public Agenda Citizen Choicework Guide
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2005
Local law enforcement plays a critical role in the fight against terrorism. How can law enforcement officers be most effective in fighting terrorism?
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Issue Area(s): Other
Taxes & Spending
A CITIZENS' ASSEMBLY ON NEW JERSEY'S TAX SYSTEM
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2003
This Choicework Discussion Starter is intended to help citizens in New Jersey take stock of the taxes in their state and talk about the ways the state can raise resources for the public services citizens want.
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Issue Area(s): Jobs & Economy, Voting & Government
Environment
FACING THE CHALLENGES OF CLIMATE CHANGE
A Guide for Citizen Thought and Action
Media Type: PDF
This Choicework Discussion Starter can help you examine different arguments about the best way to face the challenges of climate change.
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Issue Area(s): Energy & Environment, Science & Society
OCEANS FOR EVERYONE
A Dialogue on Seattle, the Sound and the Seas in the 21st Century
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2004
This Choicework Discussion Starter is designed to help Seattle residents discuss what they can do about the state of the Sound and surrounding oceans.
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Issue Area(s): Energy & Environment
Economy & Federal Budget
MAKING SURE OUR GOVERNMENT USES OUR MONEY RESPONSIBLY
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2008
Bringing the federal debt under control will mean making tough choices, but people need to be able to trust their leaders to act and spend responsibly.
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Issue Area(s): Jobs & Economy, Federal Budget
SOCIAL SECURITY, THE BUDGET AND AN AGING POPULATION
A Choicework Discussion Starter
Media Type: PDF / YEAR: 2011
This discussion starter helps citizens think through tough decisions involving values and money and consider several approaches to keeping Social Security solvent.
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Issue Area(s): Civic Education, Jobs & Economy, Federal Budget