Brett Levy, associate professor at UAlbany’s School of Education and an expert in how educational programs support civic engagement among youth, has co-authored a new article on teaching about electoral integrity in Social Education that may be useful to educators. The open-access article, "How Do We Ensure that Elections are Free and Fair?: An Inquiry-Based Mini-Unit," includes specific teaching strategies and URLs for free online resources.

“This article provides background information about our election system and a straightforward method for educators to help students understand how elections are managed, including the processes of registration, voting, tallying, and certification,” said Levy. “It also provides links to numerous reliable sources where students can explore details about each of these processes and about the real challenges faced by our election system, such as misinformation.”

Levy hosts a monthly podcast, Education for Sustainable Democracy, and its latest episode features a recent discussion with Thomas Connolly, New York State Board of Elections (NYSBOE) Director of Operations, Brendan Lovullo, NYSBOE Deputy Director of Operations, and Meghan Cook, a UAlbany colleague and co-author of the above article. It offers an additional resource for teachers and students interested in learning about the safeguards surrounding the U.S. electoral process.

Levy recently authored an opinion piece in the Times Union with a focus on how to teach students about election integrity. He notes, “Over the past decade, I’ve conducted several studies of high school government courses, and my research has shown that when students have opportunities to discuss public issues in an open, emotionally safe environment, they become more interested in political issues and more willing to consider viewpoints that differ from their own. These kinds of discussions can also strengthen students’ verbal skills and civic knowledge.”

Brett L.M. Levy is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice at the University at Albany’s School of Education, and a faculty fellow at CTG UAlbany. He has written articles for a variety of publications, including Educational Researcher, Political Psychology, and Journal of Teacher Education. Dr. Levy teaches courses on youth civic engagement, social studies education, and research methods, and he also hosts a podcast on civic education, Education for Sustainable Democracy. Before graduate school, he taught middle school social studies, history, and English at public and private schools in California.