EdDemTech

At the frontier of civic innovation, EdDemTech is where education, democracy, and technology converge. This mission area pioneers new digital tools and platforms that strengthen democratic participation within public education systems. From AI-assisted deliberation to real-time community engagement interfaces, we build technologies that enable inclusive, solution-oriented dialogue between schools and the communities they serve. Our flagship initiative, Outreach, transforms public input into structured, actionable data—helping districts listen better, govern smarter, and make democracy work in every ZIP code.

OUTREACH

Overview

OUTREACH is a first-of-its-kind digital platform that uses AI to enhance community participation in school governance. Designed for equity and transparency, it supports inclusive deliberation, summarizes community input, and shares decisions back to participants, closing the loop between voice and action.

Why It Matters

Most school districts lack meaningful public engagement infrastructure.
Community feedback is often siloed, inaccessible, or ignored.
OUTREACH creates a digital public square that prioritizes equity, clarity, and impact, especially for communities historically excluded from governance processes.

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Figure 1. Screenshot of the School Extracurricular Budget Allocation online forum.

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Figure 2. Summary dashboard of the School Extracurricular Budget Allocation Forum.

Our Approach

Asynchronous deliberation forums hosted online
An unlimited amount of participants can:
- Submit ideas and comments
- React and deliberate with peers
- Review AI-generated summaries of key themes
- See what actions were taken
Design for use by:
- School boards
- Parent Teacher Associations
- Student governments
- Community advocacy groups and foundations

Key Activities

2023: Collected findings from facilitating participatory budgeting processes all across the country
2024: Developed the first version of the platform and piloted with board members in New York State, concluding in a Community Co-Design Symposium
2025: Integrated learnings into the second version of the platform and began a research study to prove the efficacy of our process

Impact Goals

Increase engagement in local school decision-making across race, class and language
Improve transparency and policy responsiveness
Reduce guess work in policy decisions to increase school budget efficiency

Democratizing Modern School Governance: The Outreach Model of Parent and Community Engagement

Teams & partners

Development led by CEE's School Board and Youth Engagement Lab
Collaborators from Barnard College, Columbia College Computer Science Department and the Stanford Graduate School of Education

Contact

We are open to new district partnerships and foundations looking to support this work
Request a consultation