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Diana Hess

Diana Hess

Dean Emerita, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Google Scholar Profile

About Diana Hess

Diana Hess is Dean Emerita of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a leading scholar of civic and democratic education. Her research focuses on how teachers engage students in discussions of highly controversial political and constitutional issues, and what impact this approach has on what young people learn. She began her career as a high school social studies teacher in Illinois. Her book Controversy in the Classroom won the NCSS Exemplary Research Award, and The Political Classroom (co-authored with Paula McAvoy) won the AERA Outstanding Book Award and the Grawemeyer Award in Education.

Major Contributions

  • Controversy in the Classroom: The Democratic Power of Discussion (2009): Landmark study on how discussion of controversial issues prepares students for democratic citizenship.
  • The Political Classroom: Evidence and Ethics in Democratic Education (2015, with Paula McAvoy): Winner of the Grawemeyer Award, examining how political dynamics play out in classrooms.
  • The Discussion Project: Founded this professional development program to help university faculty lead effective classroom discussions.
  • Research on civic education and deliberation: Pioneered research on how discussing controversial political issues affects civic engagement.
  • Democratic education ethics: Developed frameworks for ethically navigating political topics in educational settings.

Key Ideas

Controversial Issues Are Essential: Discussion of controversial political issues is not optional in democratic education β€” it is essential preparation for citizenship.
The Political Classroom: Classrooms are inherently political spaces, and teachers must learn to navigate this reality ethically.
Best Practice: Teachers should use structured discussion approaches that ensure all students can participate meaningfully.
Democratic Education: The goal of civic education should be preparing students for democratic participation, not political neutrality.
Evidence and Ethics: Teachers need both evidence-based strategies and ethical frameworks for handling controversial topics.

β€œThe primary purpose of education in a democracy is to prepare students to participate in democratic life. That means teaching them how to talk about things they disagree about.”

Selected Publications

View on Google Scholar
Controversy in the Classroom: The Democratic Power of Discussion (2009): Routledge.
The Political Classroom: Evidence and Ethics in Democratic Education (2015, with Paula McAvoy): Routledge.
"Discussion in Social Studies: Is It Worth the Trouble?" (2008): Social Education.
"The Future of Civic Education" (2015): Theory & Research in Social Education.

Suggested Reading

Controversy in the Classroom by Diana Hess
The Political Classroom by Diana Hess and Paula McAvoy
The Discussion Project materials (discussionproject.org)

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