For many high school students, the benefits of civic education seem irrelevant and take place in their future lives. Student performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in Civics is stagnant. In 2018, the average civics score for eighth-grade students was not significantly different from 2014 and had only increased by 3…

The Project Citizen Research Program (PCRP) was a three-year research initiative that evaluated the effectiveness of the Center's Project Citizen teacher professional development (PD) program and curriculum intervention for middle and high school students. The program took place over three academic years that were impacted by the COVID-19…

This study examines the effectiveness of the Center for Civic Education's Project Citizen teacher professional development program and curriculum intervention in producing positive student learning outcomes that support civic engagement. Through Project Citizen, students identify and research a problem in their community, explore solutions,…

The objective of this research was to enhance the life and career skills of the students at Khon Kaen Wittayayon School in Khon Kaen Province by utilizing participatory action research methodology that involved the development of three aspects: (1) changes in the expected and unexpected outcomes from the implementation, (2) learning gleaned from…

High school social studies teachers play an important role in fostering the civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions that students need to thrive after graduation. These efforts can also help counter Truth Decay--the diminishing role of facts and analysis in American public life. Although several factors, such as state standards and assessments,…

Purpose: We discuss and preliminarily evaluate the SCA, a novel educational experiment that takes place in a Greek high school. Drawing on contemporary educational and political theory as well as the rich history of democratic ideas SCA has a twofold aim: to enable students to substantially participate in direct democratic decision-making…

An increasing number of K-12 schools and educational organizations in the U.S. emphasize Global Citizenship Education (GCE) in their curricula. As a kind of social studies education, GCE is often marketed as an effective means to provide students with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to succeed in our unpredictable, challenging future.…

The future of the nation, and the future of world civilization, will soon rest in the hands of today's youth (Kleon & Rinhart, 1998). Youth organizations such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and 4-H provide lifelong leadership and life skills that youth of all ages will continue to use throughout their life. Leadership and positive youth…

In our response to "Deliberating Public Policy Issues with Adolescents," we address the matter that students seem to be reluctant to changing their minds, opinions, and initial positions in classroom deliberations and instead see such deliberations as an opportunity to perform and publicly announce their preexisting views. We argue that…

In this response, we make the case for the power and promise of scaffolded reading instruction for teaching civic literacy--civic content knowledge and skills needed to both comprehend and take a stand on civic issues at a local, national, or global level. We argue the following: (a) Now, more than ever, students need to develop the skills and…

The Civics Education Initiative is a project of the Joe Foss Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to shaping "young Americans for civic engagement as voters and informed members of their community." The three-year initiative, which launched in September 2015 and concludes in September 2017, has three goals: (1) To ensure students graduate…

Education for citizenship is more important than ever. The author describes a technology-supported curriculum that engages young teens in electronic discourse with peers on significant personal and societal issues and assists them in decision making on topics ranging from their personal futures to the futures of their communities, nation, and…

As students continue to experience low test scores on national civics assessments, it is important to identify curriculum which can increase their civic capabilities. This is especially true for the quickly growing Hispanic population, which suffers a civic achievement gap. The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental nonequivalent…

Drawing on analysis of student work, we will discuss the ways in which literacy supported youth's civic engagement in the context of sustainable democracy projects that engaged students from an alternative high school in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago in the investigation of social issues relevant to their communities. Our presentation…

Originally founded as a private means for diplomats' children to earn an internationally recognized high school diploma, today the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme (DP) serves students from a variety of backgrounds in 144 countries. The IB mission and Learner Profile--consisting of ten attributes to foster in students--suggest…