Preparing students to be engaged participants in our democratic society has long been an important college outcome. Over the past few decades, postsecondary institutions have primarily attempted to improve civic outcomes by integrating service activities into their curricula. While research on the effects of service learning are plentiful, research on how other educationally beneficial activities influences democratic outcomes is scarce. In this study, we find that service learning may not be the only means for promoting democratic outcomes because other high impact practices, most prominently learning communities, had greater or equivalent relationship to two dimensions of democratic engagement. Preparing students to be engaged participants in our democratic society has long been an important college outcome (Boyte & Hollander, 1999; Ehrlich, 2000; The National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement, 2012). Some of our nation's founding fathers, such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, asserted that educated citizens were necessary for our democracy to flourish, and Franklin and Jefferson founded the Universities of Pennsylvania and Virginia to provide such education. Similar beliefs were a rationale behind the Morrill Act of 1862, which created land grant colleges. More recently, the President's National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement (2012) stated, "As a democracy, the United States depends on a knowledgeable, public spirited, and engaged population. Education
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