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The Civic Empowerment Gap: Defining the Problem and Locating Solutions

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Citizenship and the Civic Empowerment Gap De Facto Segregated Minority Schools What We Can Do

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... For instance, studies have explored the impact of academic motivation on language learning and communication willingness (Cao, 2022;Yung, 2023), while others have examined the correlations between academic motivation and self-concept (Frade & Veiga, 2017). Similarly, the effects of civic knowledge on political behavior and engagement have been well documented (Levinson, 2010;Neundorf et al., 2016). However, gaps remain in understanding how these factors collectively influence each other and contribute to broader educational outcomes. ...
... This could be due to the empowerment and engagement that comes from understanding one's role and rights within society, as civic knowledge likely fosters a sense of purpose and responsibility that transcends into academic realms. This aligns with Levinson's (2010) discussion on the civic empowerment gap, which advocates for integrating civic knowledge to close existing educational and motivational disparities (Levinson, 2010). ...
... This could be due to the empowerment and engagement that comes from understanding one's role and rights within society, as civic knowledge likely fosters a sense of purpose and responsibility that transcends into academic realms. This aligns with Levinson's (2010) discussion on the civic empowerment gap, which advocates for integrating civic knowledge to close existing educational and motivational disparities (Levinson, 2010). ...
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Purpose: Academic motivation is a critical driver of educational outcomes, influenced by various factors including attitudes toward education and civic knowledge. Despite abundant research on these factors independently, their collective impact on academic motivation remains underexplored. This study aims to fill this gap by examining how attitudes toward education and civic knowledge together predict academic motivation. Methodology: A cross-sectional study design was employed with a sample of 350 participants derived from high schools and universities, based on Morgan and Krejcie’s table for sample size. Data were collected using validated scales: the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS), Education Attitude Scale (EAS), and Civic Knowledge Assessment Test (CKAT). Pearson correlation and linear regression analyses were conducted using SPSS version 27 to explore the relationships between the study variables. Findings: Descriptive statistics indicated moderate levels of academic motivation (Mean = 4.21, SD = 1.05), positive educational attitudes (Mean = 3.89, SD = 0.78), and varied civic knowledge (Mean = 3.45, SD = 0.88). Pearson correlation showed significant positive relationships between academic motivation and attitudes toward education (r = .312, p < .001) and civic knowledge (r = .287, p < .001). Regression analysis revealed that both attitudes toward education (β = 0.32, p < .001) and civic knowledge (β = 0.27, p < .001) significantly predicted academic motivation, accounting for 20.9% of the variance (R² adjusted = .209). Conclusion: The findings confirm that both educational attitudes and civic knowledge are significant predictors of academic motivation. These results underscore the importance of integrating civic education into curricula and fostering positive educational attitudes to enhance academic motivation. Future educational policies and practices should consider these dimensions to effectively support academic engagement and achievement.
... Similarly to adults, affluent and middle-class young people reflect this pattern and a small elite group dominates the public political space, rendering a large group of young people with little representation, voice and participation opportunities (Kahne and Sporte 2008;Levinson 2010Levinson , 2012Nairn et al. 2006). While these gaps continue to exist for adults, they operate in particular ways for children and young people (as a result of their age, status, resources and the multitude of ways gender, race and social class play out) and deserve greater attention. ...
... However, civic empowerment is still fractured along class, racial and socio-economic status lines. With reference to the USA, Levinson (2010) writes that: ...
... A large IEA international study found that students with higher-than-average socio-economic status levels were more than twice as likely to study how laws were made, 1.89 times more likely to report participating in service-learning activities and 1.42 times more likely to report that they had debates, panels and open discussions of political issues in their learning (cited in Kahne and Middaugh 2009). Having citizenship education and participation opportunities while young matter because these build political efficacy and capacity, as studies have shown that students with fewer opportunities for volunteering, social action and political representation in schooling were less inclined to be involved in citizenship action later in life (Kahne and Middaugh 2009;Kahne and Sporte 2008;Levinson 2010). As Levinson (2010, p. 327) puts it, 'the legitimacy, stability and quality of democratic regimes are all directly dependent on the robust participation of a representative and large cross-section of citizens'. ...
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While the field of youth citizenship has grown in recent years, many ‘gaps’ still exist. This commentary paper takes a critical look at three of these gaps in youth citizenship studies, namely (i) the Global North/Global South gap in understandings about youth citizenship, (ii) the citizenship status and empowerment gap, and (iii) the citizenship opportunity and participation gap. The paper argues that unless these gaps are attended to, we have a distortion in what we know about youth citizenship as the understandings and young people profiled (predominantly the Global North, elite, White and well resourced) represent only a small subsection of the whole, thus ignoring the experiences, knowledge, stories and voices of many diverse young citizens.
... While research shows students are more civically engaged if they discuss current events in school, contribute to extracurricular activities, engage in service learning, and participate in the school governance, these opportunities are unequally distributed (Kahne & Middaugh, 2008;Levinson, 2010). Affluent, white students benefit from more civic opportunities and show stronger outcomes 2 with civic knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes than low-income and minority youth (Gould et al., 2011;Kahne & Middaugh, 2008). ...
... Affluent, white students benefit from more civic opportunities and show stronger outcomes 2 with civic knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes than low-income and minority youth (Gould et al., 2011;Kahne & Middaugh, 2008). This civic engagement gap creates antidemocratic effects across community participation and learning gaps that are as large, and as destructive, as the persistent academic achievement gaps (Gould et al., 2011;Levine, 2009;Levinson, 2010). The civic engagement gap harms the quality and integrity of our democracy (Levinson, 2010). ...
... This civic engagement gap creates antidemocratic effects across community participation and learning gaps that are as large, and as destructive, as the persistent academic achievement gaps (Gould et al., 2011;Levine, 2009;Levinson, 2010). The civic engagement gap harms the quality and integrity of our democracy (Levinson, 2010). ...
... Disparities in educational opportunities widen the "civic empowerment gap"-where political influence is concentrated among more privileged groups-by providing substandard civics preparation to students most in need of the knowledge, skills, and the dispositions required to participate competently and responsibly in political life (Levinson, 2010(Levinson, , 2012. The "civic empowerment gap" may be widening in the digital era, as the requirements for effective citizenship have broadened (Bennett, 2008;Bennett, et al., 2009;Dalton, 2008). ...
... However, civics instruction for the making of good digital citizens lags behind the shifts in the political environment (Owen, et al., 2011;Owen, 2014;Owen, Doom, and Riddle, 2016). The situation is most dire for high need students, whose access to high quality civics instruction is already constrained (Levinson, 2010). High need students may lose further ground to more advantaged students in the acquisition of civic knowledge, skills, dispositions, and behavior, thus widening the civic empowerment gap. ...
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The civic education of high need students often is shortchanged, contributing to a “civic empowerment gap.” This study examines differences in the pedagogies for digital citizenship employed by teachers of high need students and non-high need students. Are there differences in the pedagogies, activities, and digital media use skills teachers of high need and non-high need students employ in the classroom? Data on 700 middle and high school teachers nationwide are employed. The study finds that teachers of high need students are less likely to incorporate digital technology into the civics classroom. The disparities in the use of technology in the classroom are apparent for accessing information as well as civics-related activities. The inequities in civic education that contribute to the civic empowerment gap are growing in the digital age. Students in high need schools are not receiving civics instruction that keeps pace with the augmented requirements of engaged citizenship.
... Therefore, the guiding principles of informal environmental learning should be incorporated within formalized school curricula. Levinson's [30] advocacy on bridging the civic-empowerment gap in the education sector is a case in point of the above recommendation. Levinson quotes the Civic Mission of Schools, which states that civic education should help young people acquire and learn to use the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that will prepare them to be competent and responsible citizens throughout their lives [30,31]. ...
... Levinson's [30] advocacy on bridging the civic-empowerment gap in the education sector is a case in point of the above recommendation. Levinson quotes the Civic Mission of Schools, which states that civic education should help young people acquire and learn to use the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that will prepare them to be competent and responsible citizens throughout their lives [30,31]. ...
Article
Akey determinant and outcome of successful environmental education is ‘pro-environmental behavior’, i.e., behavior that involves conscious action to mitigate adverse environmental impacts at personal or community level, e.g., reducing resource consumption and waste generation, avoiding toxic substances, and organizing community awareness initiatives. However, some theorists have sought to move away from rationalist models of behavioral modification, towards holistic pedagogical initiatives that seek to develop action competence. In light of the global push towards achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), emerging evidence suggests that education initiatives should foster action competence so studentsmay be equipped to contribute to sustainable development as part of their education. The UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Roadmap 2030 has also identified key priority areas to strengthen ESD in formal curricula. This article reports two informal environmental education initiatives for promoting action competence and pro-environmental behaviors in school-aged children. The authors recommend that formal education settings (e.g., schools) should incorporate self-directed, free-choice project-based learning to augment environmental education programs and promote students’ action competence for contribution to attainment of SDGs. To this end, we propose a Free-Choice Project-based Learning for Action Competence in Sustainable Development (ACiSD) Curriculum, comprising six implementation dimensions, namely: (1) project duration and teaming arrangements, (2) topic selection, (3) student support, (4) teacher support, (5) learning environments, and (6) digital access and equity. For each implementation dimension, we recommend action steps to help educators implement this curriculumin their own educational settings, with the aid of an illustrative worked example.
... Therefore, the guiding principles of informal environmental learning should be incorporated within formalized school curricula. Levinson's [30] advocacy on bridging the civic-empowerment gap in the education sector is a case in point of the above recommendation. Levinson quotes the Civic Mission of Schools, which states that civic education should help young people acquire and learn to use the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that will prepare them to be competent and responsible citizens throughout their lives [30,31]. ...
... Levinson's [30] advocacy on bridging the civic-empowerment gap in the education sector is a case in point of the above recommendation. Levinson quotes the Civic Mission of Schools, which states that civic education should help young people acquire and learn to use the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that will prepare them to be competent and responsible citizens throughout their lives [30,31]. ...
Article
Full-text available
A key determinant and outcome of successful environmental education is ‘pro-environmental behavior’, i.e., behavior that involves conscious action to mitigate adverse environmental impacts at personal or community level, e.g., reducing resource consumption and waste generation, avoiding toxic substances, and organizing community awareness initiatives. However, some theorists have sought to move away from rationalist models of behavioral modification, towards holistic pedagogical initiatives that seek to develop action competence. In light of the global push towards achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), emerging evidence suggests that education initiatives should foster action competence so students may be equipped to contribute to sustainable development as part of their education. The UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Roadmap 2030 has also identified key priority areas to strengthen ESD in formal curricula. This article reports two informal environmental education initiatives for promoting action competence and pro-environmental behaviors in school-aged children. The authors recommend that formal education settings (e.g., schools) should incorporate self-directed, free-choice project-based learning to augment environmental education programs and promote students’ action competence for contribution to attainment of SDGs. To this end, we propose a Free-Choice Project-based Learning for Action Competence in Sustainable Development (ACiSD) Curriculum, comprising six implementation dimensions, namely: (1) project duration and teaming arrangements, (2) topic selection, (3) student support, (4) teacher support, (5) learning environments, and (6) digital access and equity. For each implementation dimension, we recommend action steps to help educators implement this curriculum in their own educational settings, with the aid of an illustrative worked example.
... Estos colegios representan distintas realidades socioeconómicas, sectores geográficos de la ciudad, proyectos educativos y misiones, permitiendo comparar la variedad de énfasis de formación ciudadana que pueden encontrarse en los colegios chilenos, y explorar la brecha de involucramiento cívico documentada nacional e internacionalmente (Levinson, 2010;Westheimer, 2015), en términos de las oportunidades disponibles para la participación, el desarrollo del pensamiento crítico, cómo los estudiantes se perciben en tanto ciudadanos, y cómo perciben que pueden participar en la sociedad y cambiarla. ...
... Cuando analizamos esta baja en participación o involucramiento cívico, no debemos olvidar, como plantea Levinson (2010), que «el conocimiento político y cívico relevante han sido abrumadoramente definidos por académicos, educadores y políticos blancos, de clase alta, que se preocupan de la política formal y electoral» (p. 336). ...
Book
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«Pedagogía de la exclusión en Chile. Perspectivas críticas hacia el 2030», editado por el doctor y profesor Pablo Castillo-Armijo, reúne una serie de artículos que buscan develar las incongruencias entre la teoría y la práctica pedagógica, junto con visibilizar voces de sectores históricamente excluidos de las esferas de poder. Para ello, la obra se estructura en tres partes: la primera, titulada «Identidad de género y feminismo en la educación», desarrolla ideas sobre redefinir políticas a favor de la mujer, discutiéndose el concepto de identidad de género y la falta de oportunidades dada la naturalización de conductas patriarcales en la sociedad; la segunda, «El lento camino hacia la inclusión educativa y social», aborda las necesidades educativas especiales, la marginación de nuestros pueblos originarios y el problema del analfabetismo; y la tercera, denominada «Desigualdad e inequidad en el sistema educativo nacional», analiza el concepto de calidad educativa, el mercado en la educación superior, los inmigrantes y su derecho a la educación, la desigualdad territorial para educar en zonas rurales y extremas, y la denuncia a la gestión educativa que frena a las escuelas. Todo ello, presentado por más de cuarenta autoras/es, quienes contextualizan y desmenuzan esta «pedagogía de la exclusión» que hoy, y desde hace décadas, sigue presente en Chile.
... Schools serving privileged student populations are more likely to offer interactive civic education that is conducive to imparting civic skills and disposition (Levine, 2009). These educational disparities contribute to a civic opportunity gap that disproportionately suppresses the civic agency of poor, non-White citizens while augmenting the influence of wealthy, White, native-born individuals (Levinson, 2010). Studies have shown that students from poor economic backgrounds, including students from impoverished rural and urban areas, and students of color who receive high quality civic education have the same or greater civic gains than their more advantaged counterparts (Kahne and Middaugh, 2008;Owen, Hartzell, and Sanchez, 2020;Winthrop, 2020;Hoskins, Huang, and Arensmeier, 2021;Weinberg, 2022). ...
... However, the inequities in civic knowledge across racial and class divides has grown (Hansen, et al., 2018;Mahnken, 2018). Poor and minority students are educated under conditions of de facto segregation, as they are concentrated in underfunded schools located in central cities and rural areas (Levinson, 2010;United Negro College Fund, 2022). The situation is especially dire for the approximately 60% of young Americans who reside in "civic deserts"-places where opportunities for civic engagement are limited and effective civics and history education is lacking (Atwell, Bridgeland, and Levine, 2017). ...
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Civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions are necessary for responsible, productive, and engaged citizenship. Students from less privileged circumstances often attend poorly resourced schools and receive limited or substandard civics training that is especially devoid of attention to skills and dispositions. They also lack access to curricular interventions that take an active learning approach that is relevant to their needs and personal experience. We examine the effectiveness of two programs of the Center for Civic Education—the Congressional Academy for American History and Civics and Project Citizen. The programs take different approaches to active learning that facilitates students’ development of civic skills and dispositions. We find that both programs impart civic orientations to high-need students more effectively than traditional civics classes. Differences in civic learning based on SES, race, and gender were evident which points to the importance of designing civics curricula that meet the needs of diverse student populations.
... In this paper we seek to investigate 'what happened' at SSTK during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. We begin by outlining the theoretical framework for the pilot study, followed by a brief description of the two constructs we adopted to guide our analysis of the data: Schön's 'reflectionin-action,' [9] and the notion of empowerment recommended by several authors [10]- [12]. After presenting the results of the survey and interview, we formulate 'lessons learned.' ...
... Empowerment is often equated with self-efficacythe ability of individuals to take charge of their lives and make a positive contribution to society [10]. Self-efficacy is also related to one's identity and how one shares a spirit of community-mindedness [11], [12]. According to Levinson [12], empowered individuals are independent thinkers who strive to affect democratic societies positively. ...
... Social studies is particularly sensitive to ecology of the schooling environment (Barton & Levstik, 2004) and teacher perceptions of content purposes (Barton & Avery, 2016). Varying school-level curricular policies (Gerwin & Visone, 2006), socioeconomic factors (Levinson, 2010), and racial demographics (Chikkatur, 2013;Martell, 2013) complicate social studies teaching and learning. ...
... Complementing these teacher characteristics, results indicate eight-grade social studies teachers with an inclusive education pathway were proportionally less likely to teach in low wealth schools; aligning with previous research within (Fitchett, 2010) and outside of social studies (Ingersoll & Collins, 2018) finding the least-prepared teachers more commonly working in less-resourced schools. Prior studies suggest exposure to under-prepared social studies teachers (Levinson, 2010) has a deleterious impact on what and how students learn. As this trend persists, school staffing within and across school districts deserves greater scrutiny. ...
Article
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Examining the connections among teacher characteristics, instructional decision-making, and student learning in social studies education are both complicated and contentious. In the current study, we shed light on middle grades social studies teaching and learning—a black hole of research in the subject area. Using data from the National Assessment for Education Progress (NAEP) eighth grade U.S. history assessment, we explore the intersections of eighth grade social studies teachers’ teacher education pathways, instructional, decision-making, and curricular structure on students’ knowledge of history. Results suggest that teachers identified as having a social studies-inclusive teacher education background and who only teach social studies (as opposed to multiple subjects) were associated with higher average student performance on the NAEP exam. Findings have implications for middle grades social studies teacher education and how the subject is organized within middle schools.
... Around the world, wealthier schools are more likely to offer extracurricular programs, and even within the same school, a small minority of students are more likely to participate in those programs and decision-making spaces, such as student government. These students are afforded multiple opportunities for civic learning and leadership development, whereas the rest of the students only receive a "sit and get" curriculum based on rote memorization (Diliberti et al., 2023;Hawkman et al., 2015;Kahne & Middaugh, 2008;Levinson, 2010;Lo, 2019). School PB attempts to narrow the inclusion gap through several strategies, including the opportunity for all students to participate in the process. ...
... Around the world, wealthier schools are more likely to offer extracurricular programs, and even within the same school, a small minority of students are more likely to participate in those programs and decision-making spaces, such as student government. These students are afforded multiple opportunities for civic learning and leadership development, whereas the rest of the students only receive a "sit and get" curriculum based on rote memorization (Diliberti et al., 2022;Hawkman, 2015;Kahne & Middaugh, 2008;Levinson, 2010;Lo, 2019). School PB attempts to narrow the inclusion gap through several strategies, including the opportunity for all students to participate in the process. ...
Book
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This captivating book provides a detailed examination of school participatory budgeting (SPB), a democratic process that combines citizenship education, civic engagement and participatory governance. Presenting insights from SPB processes across the globe, it advocates for the wider rollout of programs which amplify students’ voices, their deliberative capacities and decision-making power while improving school climate and campus infrastructure. Daniel Schugurensky and Tara Bartlett bring together an international range of practitioners and researchers to analyse the main accomplishments, challenges and lessons learned through the design, implementation, and evaluation of SPB. Chapter authors highlight how SPB is gaining traction and how national and local contexts can explain similarities and differences. The authors contend that this learner-centered pedagogy nurtures student agency, cross-curricular learning, prosocial behaviors and democratic practices. This book is an essential tool for teachers, educational leaders, and scholars from social sciences and related fields interested in implementing SPB and evaluating its impact.
... Contextual investigations often focus on school factors (e.g., "democratic classroom climate", [28,29]) and community factors (e.g., interactions with the police, civic opportunities, [16,30,31]). Extensive research has shown how civic opportunities are unequally available to young people, especially across racial and socioeconomic backgrounds, in the micro-contexts of schools and communities (e.g., [32,33]), which result from, and perpetuate, disparities in civic preparedness and power. ...
Article
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The objectives of the present study were to describe civic attitudes and behaviors among Latinx child farmworkers in North Carolina, examine civic outcomes across relevant demographic characteristics, and discuss the implications for research on sociopolitical development among Latinx child farmworkers and for developmental theory. Descriptive statistics (count, percent, or mean, standard deviation as appropriate) were calculated for demographic and civic variables. Associations between the demographic variables and the four civic summary variables were calculated using Generalized Linear Models, the Kruskal–Wallis test, t-tests, or Chi-Square tests. Latinx child farmworkers in North Carolina (N = 169; ages 11–19, Mage = 15.8, 62.7% boys) endorsed relatively high levels of beliefs that society is fair and connections/efficacy in their communities. They reported relatively low involvement in volunteering and political activity. Future work should examine how the daily lives and experiences of child farmworkers inform their developing ideas about civic life in the US and their behavioral participation as they mature.
... From the RDS perspective, civic engagement can be understood as a multiple exchange between an individual and the environment, facilitated by adequate resources and opportunities. For example, previous research has shown that individuals from low-income, immigrant, minority, or otherwise marginalized backgrounds are usually less engaged in civic activities than their counterparts (Flanagan & Levine, 2010;Levinson, 2010) and face greater political costs (e.g., stress) but also benefits (e.g., empowerment) in relation to politics (Oosterhoff et al., 2022). Thus, individual trajectories of civic engagement might differ, some producing adaptive outcomes and others not (Lerner et al., 2014). ...
Article
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Youth civic engagement is usually framed positively by existing literature, which finds that it can benefit young people’s well-being. Despite that, the literature lacks summarized evidence of the effects of various forms of youth civic engagement on different dimensions of well-being (i.e., psychological, emotional, social, and mental health). This scoping review identified 35 studies on this topic. Results demonstrated that social engagement (e.g., volunteering) generally positively affected psychological and social well-being and mental health. In contrast, the effects of other forms of civic engagement (i.e., protest action, conventional and online engagement) on these dimensions were more heterogeneous. Mixed evidence was found for the effects of all forms of civic engagement on emotional well-being. The issue of possible opposite effects, i.e., from well-being dimensions to civic engagement, was also addressed. They were found mainly for emotional well-being, which usually predicted civic engagement but not vice versa. Overall, this scoping review stresses the importance of distinguishing between different forms of civic engagement and between different dimensions of well-being in future research.
... Approaches to civic learning that ignore the cultural context of BIPOC students result in a "civic opportunity gap" (Kahne & Middaugh, 2008) or "civic empowerment gap" (Levinson, 2010). ...
Article
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This article argues that current approaches to civic learning tend to normalize whiteness and describes how a team in Massachusetts developed a framework for civic learning through a lens of racial equity and provided professional development opportunities based on this framework. Civic learning for a multiracial democracy cannot be done in a manner that fails to embrace the cultural wealth and lived experiences of all students. The approach described in this article offers an alternative way of thinking about civic learning that can inform other efforts or be replicated in other locations.
... As students learn by doing civics, the notion of a researchactionreflection pattern could allow an opportunity to get a grip on issues which are significant to learning civics and become actively engaged in community actions (Levinson, 2010). ...
Article
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to engage readers with Unity Productions Foundation (UPF) films, which provide a powerful, inspirational digital tool for teachers. The organization's mission is to create documentaries, films and educational materials that contribute to bringing to light compelling stories of Muslim engagement through history and culture. UPF films and educational projects aim to promote peace and understanding to increase cultural pluralism and counter bigotry in our world. Design/methodology/approach Teachers will be able to utilize the resources provided in this paper to harness the power of media in their classrooms. Outlining the process by which teachers can follow the C3 inquiry using the film Prince Among Slaves will prepare teachers to see the alignment of the C3 Framework with their teaching. The “best practice” classroom strategies in structuring deliberations are ones that encourage students to fully participate and emphasize their voice. Findings This paper will unpack the practice methods that address the film Prince Among Slaves to be of benefit when sharing narratives through digital film and engage students in critical thinking through the C3 Framework. UPF films are the product of scholarly research and innovative production teams as the films provide the opportunity to visualize and explore multiple perspectives to understand historical content by providing a context for inquiry teaching and learning that is inclusive through deliberative discussions in the classroom. Originality/value The author certifies that this manuscript submission is original work and that all authors were involved in the intellectual elaboration of the manuscript and all parties have been acknowledged.
... Too often, youth civic participation is too narrowly defined in ways that do not necessarily reflect the sensibilities of working-class and racially and linguistically minoritized youth or their nuanced forms of political engagement with the public sphere. Consequently, research on traditional civic education has emphasized civic knowledge "gaps" in racially and linguistically minoritized youth communities (Kahne and Middaugh 2008;Levinson 2010;Niemi 2012) that position youth of color as lacking the knowledge or skills necessary to contribute to democratic society compared to their white counterparts (Cohen and Luttig 2020). In their critique of dominant definitions of civic education and youth civic engagement, Cohen, Kahne, and Marshall (2018) coined lived civics to argue that civic knowledge and participation is not something that one learns solely via textbooks or curricula, but rather-particularly for minoritized youth-it is lived and embodied through experiencing and resisting institutional inequities. ...
Article
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While the national media continues to highlight the tensions of cultural politics in education, there is a need for young people and educators to be equipped for the daunting local, national, and global challenges that mark their everyday lives. Many educators and young people alike are interested in engaging youth in civic reasoning and discourse that prepares them to meet those many challenges. This article highlights applications of civic reasoning and discourse in three contexts: a traditional high school social studies classroom, a hybrid school-community action project, and an out-of-school Youth Participatory Action Research program. We argue that these case studies show a path forward for developing students’ civic reasoning and discourse skills because the students turn toward and lean into what we define as moments of critical dissonance: in each case, the students and educators work together to engage, rather than avoid, complex sociopolitical realities, even while holding a variety of racial, ethnic, political, and cultural identities.
... Civic education varies greatly in quantity and quality across-and within-schools and the breach is widening (Kaufman and Diliberti, 2023). A civic learning opportunity gap has been identified for lower-SES, non-White students (Kahne and Middaugh, 2008;Levine, 2009;Levinson, 2010) and students with disabilities (Bueso, 2022). The civics instruction and curricular materials that students of color, ELLs, and students with disabilities receive omit content that is most germane to them. ...
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This study offers a blueprint for the development, implementation, and assessment of a civic education program through a cooperative, iterative process. It explores the evolution of the James Madison Legacy Project Expansion during its formative stages. The Center for Civic Education was responsible for the implementation aspects of the JMLPE which involved updating and adapting the We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution (WTP) curriculum for the three student populations while designing and providing teacher professional development (PD). Georgetown University's Civic Education Research Lab simultaneously conducted research on the JMLPE that informed the implementation process.
... High-need students are more likely to attend poorly resourced schools, have limited access to civics classes, and be taught by civics instructors from outside the field than wealthy, White, native-born, and academically successful students (Kahne and Middaugh, 2008;. Educational disparities exacerbate the civic opportunity gap that simultaneously diminishes the power and potential of marginalized groups while augmenting the influence of more privileged citizens (Levinson, 2010(Levinson, , 2012. ...
Conference Paper
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The James Madison Legacy Project Extension (JMLPE) is a program of the Center for Civic Education that focuses on adapting the We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution (WTP) curriculum for students with disabilities, English language learners (ELLs), and students of color. The research questions addressed in the paper are: What are the priorities and needs of middle and high school civics teachers whose classes include significant numbers of ELLs, students with disabilities, and students of color? What are the barriers to successfully implementing civics curriculum interventions in their classrooms? What are the best practices for imparting civic and social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies to the three target student populations? And finally, how was the WTP curriculum adapted to meet the needs of teachers and ELLs, students with disabilities, and students of color? The Civic Education Research Lab (CERL) at Georgetown University surveyed teacher-experts working with these student populations to identify priorities, educational objectives, challenges, needs, and best practices. The Center worked with teacher-experts, consultants, and stakeholders to adapt the WTP curriculum to meet the needs of the target student groups. Teacher-experts identified providing civics content knowledge to teachers and students, making the curriculum accessible and relevant to the target populations, devising culturally appropriate and varied instructional approaches, and incorporating SEL competencies into the curriculum as priorities. These factors were considered when the WTP curriculum was adapted for use with the specified student groups. Lesson plans were devised for a pilot test of the curriculum to prepare for the next phase of the JMLPE where teachers will be provided with professional development to prepare them to teach using the adapted materials. 1 Civic education that takes an integrative and active learning approach to imparting knowledge, skills, and dispositions is a precursor to good citizenship and political engagement over the life course (Galston, 2004). It is well-documented that disparities in the quality of civic education contribute to civic achievement and opportunity gaps that disproportionately suppress the political agency of disadvantaged students (Kahne and Middaugh, 2008; Loewecke, 2016; Kuang, Zhu, and Kennedy, 2020; Owen and Irion-Groth-2022). These gaps are widening, as high-need students often attend schools that are poorly resourced and receive civics training that is substandard, if not lacking entirely (Levine, 2009; Levinson, 2012; Hansen, et al., 2018). Most extant civics curricula are not designed to effectively educate students from marginalized and disadvantaged backgrounds. Lesson plans, materials, and instructional resources mostly fail to make civic learning relevant to these students and are rarely adapted to meet their specialized needs. Further, teachers lack access to professional development dedicated to instructing high-need students. The James Madison Legacy Project Expansion (JMLPE) is a three-year program of the Center for Civic Education (Center) that focuses on making accessible the We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution (WTP) curriculum intervention to English language learners (ELLs), students with disabilities, and students of color in middle and high school. The WTP curriculum bolsters students' knowledge acquisition with cooperative learning activities that also are designed to develop their civic dispositions and skills. The Civic Education Research Lab (CERL) at Georgetown University is responsible for the research component of the project. This study has two major goals: 1) to identify priorities, educational objectives, challenges, needs, and best practices of civics teachers of ELLs, students with disabilities, and students of color, and 2) to describe the ways that the WTP curriculum was adapted to meet the needs of the three target student populations. The research questions addressed in the paper are: What are the priorities and needs of middle and high school civics teachers whose classes include significant numbers of ELLs, students with disabilities, and students of color? What are the barriers to successfully implementing civics curriculum interventions in their classrooms? What are the best practices for imparting civic and social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies to the three target student populations? And finally, how has the WTP curriculum been adapted to meet the needs of teachers and ELLs, students with disabilities, and students of color? To address these questions, CERL gathered data from teacher-experts on the pressing needs of civics teachers of the three target student populations, instructional strategies that work best, barriers to implementation of the WTP curriculum intervention, and the SEL competencies that should be emphasized during instruction. These insights informed the development of lesson plans and instructional materials designed for the target student groups by the Center's staff working with teacher-experts, stakeholders, and educational consultants. Civic Education for Marginalized Students Civic education offers an opportunity for members of marginalized groups to learn about government and politics, identify with the values and symbols of a nation, develop a sense of efficacy, and become engaged citizens. Research has shown that high-need students, including students of color, who receive high quality civic education that allows them to engage with 2 content relevant to their life experience have the same or greater civic gains than their more
... One of the main challenges faced by SMEs is the limited resources available for marketing and business expansion. Based on our analysis, we found that SMEs primarily use social media for marketing purposes [76], as it provides a cost-effective marketing tool compared to traditional methods. Social media platforms enable SMEs to promote their products and services effectively and efficiently, enhancing brand awareness and loyalty and reaching a wider audience [77][78][79][80]. ...
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This bibliometric review explores the role of social media in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by examining the current literature and identifying research gaps. A comprehensive analysis of 293 Scopus-indexed journal articles published between 2007 and 2022 was conducted using VOSviewer software. The study’s objective is to understand the impact of social media on SMEs’ growth and development, with a focus on customer engagement, return on investment (ROI) metrics, and marketing strategies. The analysis uncovers three primary research clusters: (i) social media customer engagement, (ii) social media ROI metrics, and (iii) social media marketing strategies. These findings offer valuable insights for researchers and practitioners aiming to comprehend the existing knowledge landscape and inform future studies regarding the practical implementation of social media in SMEs.
... These programs, however, seldom include all students. Unequal access to civic learning opportunities is well documented (Baumann and Brennan, 2017; Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement [CIRCLE], 2013; Kahne and Middaugh, 2008;Levinson, 2009Levinson, , 2010Lo, 2019;Sherrod et al., 2010). The civic learning opportunity gap 1 can be observed, among other factors, along the lines of race, class, and ability. ...
Article
Calls for more civic education have risen alongside political polarization, social injustices, and threats to democracy. Although civic learning opportunities are disproportionately accessible and often not inclusive, one model has shown promising results. Through School Participatory Budgeting, students deliberate and decide how to allocate funds to improve their school community using a democratic process and learn democracy by doing. However, like other civic engagement programs, students with disabilities (SWD) are often underrepresented. To address this challenge, a pilot project focused on engaging SWD in every aspect of the process, including overrepresentation on the student steering committee. In a mixed methods case study, we explored the effects of participation in the process and found that the inclusive model increased civic knowledge, attitudes, skills, and practices for all students and fostered self-skills, relationships, and school leadership roles for SWD. These findings yield important lessons for future implementation of inclusive civic education practices.
... High-need students are more likely to attend poorly resourced schools, have limited access to civics classes, and be taught by civics instructors from outside the field than wealthy, White, native-born, and academically successful students (Kahne and Middaugh, 2008;. Educational disparities exacerbate the civic opportunity gap that simultaneously diminishes the power and potential of marginalized groups while augmenting the influence of more privileged citizens (Levinson, 2010(Levinson, , 2012. ...
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The James Madison Legacy Project Extension (JMLPE) is a program of the Center for Civic Education that focuses on adapting the We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution (WTP) curriculum for students with disabilities, English language learners (ELLs), and students of color. The research questions addressed in the paper are: What are the priorities and needs of middle and high school civics teachers whose classes include significant numbers of ELLs, students with disabilities, and students of color? What are the barriers to successfully implementing civics curriculum interventions in their classrooms? What are the best practices for imparting civic and social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies to the three target student populations? And finally, how was the WTP curriculum adapted to meet the needs of teachers and ELLs, students with disabilities, and students of color?
... Another especially pernicious deficiency is what researchers have termed the "civic opportunity gap," in which Black, Brown and low-income students are much less likely than their white and wealthier peers to receive high quality civic education (Kahne & Middaugh, 2008;Levine & Kawashima-Ginsberg, 2017;Levinson, 2010). In recent years, some states have begun to address this gap by requiring a civics course for high school graduation (Shapiro & Brown, 2018). ...
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We have created an innovative design for a civics course, that is interdisciplinary, experiential, and rooted in both political theory and the lived experiences of students. This paper outlines the rationale, pedological approach, theoretical support, and resources involved in developing in implementing our course. Theoretically we root this course in an interrogation of the social contract in the United States. Moving to the personal and practical skill building, the course centers the lives of students through the Lived Civics approach, which embraces the experiences of each student in their various communities as examples of civic knowledge and valuable experience. The design of this course is built on a flexible structure that is designed to teach and explore civics through an interdisciplinary approach. The interdisciplinary nature of the course also contributes to a community of teacher-scholars, dedicated to quality civic education, that can emerge and grow within the college or university.
... There is a renewed interest in civic education and it is considered as an increasingly important matter in societies striving to (re)establish democratic governments, but also in societies with continuous democratic traditions (De Winter, Schillemans & Janssens, 2006). Civic education is thought to be an essential and effective way to promote the knowledge, skills and attitudes that are necessary for responsible democratic citizens, to encourage political participation and to foster social cohesion (Levinson, 2010). Today, civic education is found in various areas of society: as a learning path in secondary education, in citizenship courses and in a variety of other initiatives. ...
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Youth work is often regarded as a fruitful place for the creation of democratic citizens and is thus a favoured space for civic educational activities. Despite these efforts, there is a growing concern on the civic empowerment gap: the difference that can still be found across various domains of civic outcomes between disadvantaged groups and those from dominant and socio-economically advantaged backgrounds. From a democratic point of view, the civic empowerment gap is deeply problematic. Various efforts exist to include excluded or so-called ‘nonparticipating’ youngsters, albeit often with a socialization or disciplinarian discourse. The presented study challenges such approach and builds on the concept of political subjectification to offer an alternative approach to remedy the civic empowerment gap? To do so, a case study has been conducted with a youth social organization in Molenbeek, Brussels. The findings emphasize the importance of the explicit and implicit role of advocacy by the organization and the importance of the fragile pedagogical and political relationship between youth workers and youngsters to enable meaningful participation.
... A common thread across our calls to action is the importance of youth engagement in these improvements. Youth want opportunities for engagement; however, there is a gap in what we can do, what resources we have access to, and what we want to do-this is called a civic empowerment gap (Levinson, 2010). To reduce this gap, the power and resources of adults must be leveraged using youth-adult partnerships. ...
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Over the last decade, youth have been acknowledged as agents of change in the fight against climate change, and more recently in disaster risk reduction. However, there is a need for improved opportunities for youth to participate and have their voices heard in both contexts. Our Photovoice study explores youth perceptions of the capability of youth to participate in disaster risk reduction and climate change action. We conducted six focus groups from February 2019 to June 2019 with four teenaged youth participants in Ottawa, Canada, hosting two virtual Photovoice exhibitions in 2021. Our results highlight 11 themes across a variety of topics including youth as assets, youth-adult partnerships, political action on consumerism, social media, education, accessibility, and art as knowledge translation. We provide four calls to action, centering youth participation and leadership across all of them, to guide stakeholders in how to improve disaster risk reduction and climate change initiatives by meaningfully including youth as stakeholders.
... Unfortunately, opportunities to develop civic efficacy are not only limited but inequitably distributed. In a national survey, less than one-third of youth (29%) reported that they often used their learning for real-world problem solving in the past year (Levy & Sidhu, 2013), and persistent and increasing racial and socioeconomic disparities in civic engagement speak to widespread and systemic opportunity gaps (Levinson, 2010;Schlozman et al., 2013;Wray-Lake & Hart, 2012). Economically marginalized youth of color are less likely to have access to the civics learning that would begin to address the structural inequities they face (Gould et al., 2011). ...
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This study examined the effects of behavioral and social engagement and classroom supportiveness on the development of civic efficacy in fourth-grade science classrooms. We define civic efficacy as children's beliefs that they are not only capable of making a difference in their community, but they also feel a responsibility to do so. This study enrolled 815 students (48% female) across 39 classrooms, including 31 fourth-grade teachers at 25 schools in a large urban school district in the South Central U.S. Stepwise regression showed that behavioral engagement, social engagement, and classroom supportiveness in science class all positively predicted civic efficacy, and social engagement accounted for the greatest amount of variance in that civic efficacy. Findings suggests that social engagement is a stronger driver of civic efficacy than behavioral engagement and classroom supportiveness, pointing to the importance of collaboration and teamwork in science classrooms. We discuss implications for elementary classroom practices.
... These programs, however, seldom include all students. Unequal access to civic learning opportunities is well documented (Baumann and Brennan, 2017; Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement [CIRCLE], 2013; Kahne and Middaugh, 2008;Levinson, 2009Levinson, , 2010Lo, 2019;Sherrod et al., 2010). The civic learning opportunity gap 1 can be observed, among other factors, along the lines of race, class, and ability. ...
... As an example, one powerful opportunity for enacting maturity during adolescence is through civic engagement, or joining with others to address issues of collective concern in communities. Young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and racial/ethnic minority backgrounds are offered fewer and lower-quality civic opportunities (Kahne and Middaugh, 2008;Levinson, 2010;Gaby, 2017). As one young person from a civically underserved community put it, "We all have ideas how things could be better in our schools. ...
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Conceptions of adolescent “storm and stress” may be tied to a developmental mismatch that exists between young people’s need for meaningful roles and autonomy – which we refer to as a need for enacting maturity – and the lack of such opportunities in most adolescents’ contexts. First, we summarize our previous work on enacting maturity, including a review of the key components, links to wellbeing, and the nuances and limitations of this construct. Next, we extend this work by considering how the ecological contexts (e.g., family, school, community) young people are embedded in and their various intersecting social positions and identities (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender, immigrant origin) influence their experiences with enacting maturity. In this section, we pose several key questions for developmental scientists around: (a) identifying a young person’s desire for, and phenomenological processing of, their adult-like roles, (b) understanding how complex and unequal responses to physical maturation shape opportunities for enacting maturity, and (c) attending to disparities in curricular and extracurricular pathways to leadership, responsibility, and autonomy. Finally, we discuss spaces with high potential to support enacting maturity, including both specially designed programs (e.g., youth participatory action research, leadership programs) as well as routine, everyday opportunities (e.g., interactions with teachers, training for companies that employ youth). We offer two levers for supporting enacting maturity across both types of spaces: adult allies and responsive organizations. Looking to exemplary programs, innovative leaders, social media, and case studies, we re-imagine how adults and organizations can promote young people enacting maturing in ways that are safe, worthwhile, and equitable.
... Decentralization, according to a number of authors, implies the broad involvement of stakeholders in the decision-making process, which is extremely important and very difficult (Litvack & Seddon, 1999) (Levinson, 2010) (Rebell, 2018) (Mihaylov, 2012). Several theories and models have been found in the scientific literature examining the relationship between power and society. ...
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Integrated territorial investments are a fundamentally new approach to the implementation of regional policy. The approach requires decentralization of the decision-making process and active participation of citizens in this process. The bottom-up approach involves identifying the needs of the community and looking for alternatives to meet those needs. The choice of the best alternative, ie. the choice of a specific measure or project implies the application of adequate working mechanisms to ensure the involvement of the general public. There are various theories about how to encourage and motivate citizens to participate in public decisions that have a direct impact on them and their way of life. Different strategies and approaches are applied, their effectiveness is different, and it is difficult to find a universal solution. The aim of this article is to bring out the main theoretical and conceptual issues related to the role, importance, tools for civic participation in public policy-making processes in general and in relation to regional policy in particular. On this basis, an iterative model for applying the bottom-up approach to inclusion in integrated planning will be proposed. Content analysis of documents and empirical research will outline the main steps that would be useful in the process of decentralization and promoting participation. Based on the deduction and induction, the main barriers and limiting factors will be identified, which so far hinder the more active participation of civil society, business and other organizations in the process of making decisions for regional development. The aim is to outline the main groups of constraints and to suggest possible reactions to them. The framework for decentralization of the process of regional development and stakeholder involvement will be outlined, as well as good practices, existing hypotheses about the commitment of public institutions to ensure inclusion, opportunities to build an environment that ensures a high degree of integration of public policies.
... However, opportunities for the dreams and possibilities of civic engagement have not been provided to all our nation's youth. Levinson (2010) describes this disparity between non-White and poor youth and White, wealthier youth as a "civic empowerment gap" (p. 331) that stems from a lack of opportunities to develop the efficacy and commitment required for civic engagement. ...
... Civic education serves three primary purposes: perpetuation of the nation-state, realization of the nation-state's civic ideals such as equality or common national identity, and guidance of citizens with regard to participation in public life (Levinson 2014). 1 This final purpose generally refers to helping young people "acquire and learn to use the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that will prepare them to be competent and responsible citizens throughout their lives" (Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning [CIRCLE] 2003, 4). In democracies in particular, this has traditionally included knowledge of government and political processes, foundations of democracy, and individual rights and responsibilities; skills related to information gathering, critical thinking, and engaging in dialogue with those who hold divergent perspectives; behaviors that demonstrate community and political participation; and dispositions such as the preservation of freedom, equality, social responsibility, tolerance, and respect (Educating for American Democracy [EAD] 2021;Gould 2011;Levinson 2010). A citizenry without such knowledge, skills, and dispositions is unlikely to be able to maintain-much less improve-democratic systems for future generations (Gould 2011). ...
... Contemporary research on youth civic identity and beliefs in schools emphasizes substantial disconnects between the opportunities that youth receive based on the sociopolitical contexts of schools (e.g., Kahne & Middaugh, 2008;Rubin, 2007). Such differences often frame Black, Indigenous, and Youth of Color as seeming disillusioned and aloof to civic engagement and learning opportunities (Levinson, 2010;Mitchell et al., 2015).[AQ: 1][ AQ: 2] Recent efforts to instill contextual and responsive approaches to civics recognize civics as "lived" (Cohen et al., 2018), connected to student interests (Clay & Rubin, 2020), and linked to affective and sociopolitical dimensions (Nasir & Kirshner, 2003). ...
Article
This study investigates teacher participation in a national online youth civic letter writing project through the lens of teacher civic commitments. Drawing on in-depth interviews and survey data from teachers who participated in the Letters to the Next President 2.0 project, civic commitments are articulated through civic beliefs, learning goals, instructional enactments, and geopolitical context. With a generic shared belief in “youth voice,” teachers enacted the civic letter writing project through instructional activities that included (a) choice of topic, (b) publication, (c) reading letters from other youth, (d) research, (e) peer dialogue, and (f) connections beyond the Letters project. While beliefs appeared widely shared, divergence in learning goals and enactments led to distinct learning opportunities for students. With minimal research exploring the role of teachers in student civics learning, this study provides new insights to guide teacher preparation and ongoing teacher development in the realm of civics education.
... Als politieke vorming "maakt het burgers klaar om deel te nemen in de bewuste reproductie van hun samenleving" (Gutmann, 1999, 287, alle vertalingen zijn eigen vertalingen). Het is gericht op het doorgeven en aanleren van kennis, vaardigheden en attitudes die cruciaal en noodzakelijk zijn voor verantwoordelijke democratische burgers (Levinson 2010). Burgerschap is met andere woorden iets wat je kan leren. ...
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Since the turn of the century, citizenship and civic education enjoy a renewed attention by scholars, educators and politicians. This attention follows the apparent, worrisome state of democracy, the decline of social cohesion and the rise of populistic figures. Citizenship and civic education have figured as the preferred answer to these societal challenges. They focus on the acquisition of skills and attitudes required to be a full-fledged political member of society and thus on becoming a good citizen. In this paper, the value of these initiatives is recognized, but there is also critique: on the one hand towards an idealized notion of the good citizen, on the other hand towards citizenship as a mere form of political socialization. Using the idea of the political difference (the difference between politics and the political) this article explores how subversive and disruptive forms of citizenship-education can be considered as forms of democratic engagement. We build on the works of Carl Schmitt, Chantal Mouffe, and Jean-Luc Nancy to explore the consequences of the political for citizenship and civic education. This article advocates and underlines the importance of a space where citizens can question the boundaries of the societal order and redefine the political playing field.
... Civic knowledge is a broad construct that comprises both information about how the political system works (e.g., civic societies, civic principles) and the necessary skills for making use of that information (see Schulz et al. 2008;Torney-Purta 2001). For example, it is known that at least some degree of civic knowledge is essential when it comes to participating in the civic arena, and such knowledge is required in order to experience an activecitizenship (Levinson 2010;Owen et al. 2011). Civic knowledge has also been highlighted in relation to the concept of political sophistication, which greatly influences how individuals evaluate political candidates for elective office (DeWitt 2012; Galston 2001Galston , 2004Galston , 2007Gomez and Wilson 2001). ...
Article
The global need to reverse political disaffection has motivated researchers to seek ways of fostering citizenship engagement. This study focuses on the role adolescents' citizenship self-efficacy plays in linking civic knowledge and classroom climate to civic engagement. We use data from 4838 Chilean students (Mage = 14.16) who participated in the ICCS Study. Using structural equation modeling, a mediational model with multilevel clustering showed that civic knowledge positively affects formal participation, but not civil participation, while an open classroom climate relates increases both forms of engagement during adolescence. Citizenship self-efficacy mediates the relation between classroom climate and both types of participation. We discuss the implications of these findings for the design citizenship education curricula for youth who live in contexts of inequality.
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Learning is a process in which students experience change. During the learning process, teachers need to empower students to lead them to be independent in learning. Therefore, the present study focused on learner empowerment and academic motivation from the students' perspectives and the probable relationship. The participants were high school students who took English as a compulsory subject and were selected randomly. The researchers conducted mix method in this study. Two kinds of instruments were used as the quantitative data, namely the Academic Motivation Scale and the Learner Empowerment Scale. Meanwhile, open-ended questions were used as the instrument for the qualitative one. The result revealed that students' academic motivation and learner empowerment levels were at the moderate level. Moreover, the findings implied a statistically significant relationship between academic motivation and learner empowerment. Thus, higher motivation and empowerment in learning English are associated with each other. This expected study could explain the relationship between two crucial things in the classroom: motivation and empowerment.
Article
To better prepare students for active and thoughtful participation in a democratic society, civic education should foster an array of civic competencies. Cultivating student civic agency—an under-studied civic competency—is of particular importance to equip students to authentically use their voice in their communities. But what does it look like to foster student civic agency in a classroom setting? This article leverages a social and emotional learning (SEL) framework to uncover the active curricular ingredients and educational mechanisms through which a student-led civics curriculum has fostered civic agency. In this multi-site case study, we analyze the implementation of an eighth grade student-led civics curriculum in a northeastern U.S. state. We outline how implicit SEL processes in these classrooms, stemming from a pedagogical focus on “changemakers,” supported development of civic agency. We found that the changemakers theme facilitated student exploration of their own civic identity and values, while prompting students to critically examine political power structures. Notably, the theme also helped students to develop a narrative of self as changemakers and to envision themselves actively engaged in civic spaces. This study adds insights to growing evidence on the multi-faceted benefits that civically-oriented SEL may offer to preparing young people to engage in democracy.
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Significant civic education transpires through establishing connections with students' local realities. Nevertheless, a literature gap exists concerning civic education in rural settings, which introduces concerns regarding equity influenced by the neoliberal educational paradigm. Through interviews with twelve Israeli civics teachers working in the country's peripheral regions, we investigated their perspectives on classroom practices. We identified four primary approaches: Spoon-feeding, Redeeming, Demanding, and Empowering. These perceptions of practices contribute to the development of a theoretical model that advocates for a place-based approach. This model promotes equitable practices by concentrating on the unique needs and contexts of students in peripheral areas. Keywords: Equity; Marginalized students; Civics; Remote areas\periphery
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Action civics is a model for civic education that offers youth opportunities to participate in authentic democratic activities. In this chapter, we trace the origins of action civics and explore the field’s defining features, strengths, and challenges. We frame our analysis through two case descriptions of action civics intermediary organizations: Generation Citizen and Design Your Neighborhood. We discuss action civics education as a psychologically empowering process, and we illustrate tensions that arise as youth develop psychological empowerment. Through these examples, we reveal features of the action civics process model that support community power in the situational, institutional, and systemic domains. We explore empowering characteristics of empowering settings that are present in Design Your Neighborhood and Generation Citizen. These include common belief systems, a relational environment that supports intergenerational partnerships, opportunity role structures, opportunities to develop local leadership, and external linkages to community stakeholders. Our chapter concludes with recommendations for practitioners, researchers, and other stakeholders to consider as the field of action civics expands.
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This chapter begins by reviewing the history of citizenship education in social studies curricula in British Columbia (BC), Canada, as a way of framing how the topic has been understood. It then discusses the latest curriculum revision in the province, which is in the process of being implemented. This new revision has dramatically changed the style of the curriculum in comparison with previous revisions, while also maintaining continuity in some areas, such as its conception of citizenship education. After this review, the author discusses issues related to the new curriculum such as its specific focus on particular concepts or theories which can limit teacher views and practices related to citizenship education. The chapter concludes by discussing alternative curriculum-framing and teaching ideas for citizenship education and social studies in general that connect into contemporary work and contexts.
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We examine the civic engagement of three individuals from the Brass Bell Elementary School community who are facing the potential closure of their school by the district. In a community meeting with district personnel, a teacher, student, and Spanish-speaking parent challenge the district's dehumanizing use of mathematics in their presentation. The community members are actively resisting the school's closure and their opposition to the district's mathematical model of equality (Tate et al., 1993) highlights the strategies they use to contest the erasure of their humanity. Their actions also challenge the myth that mathematics is purely objective and neutral. This paper explores the contestation strategies employed by these community members in response to the district's presentation.
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Social studies education research lauds the importance of schools as spaces to practice democratic values while also largely ignoring the agency youth exercise to shape their lives in the present. This article explores how young people organize and enact democratic practices within youth-mediated contexts in schools by examining the pedagogy of solidarity that adults must enact to support youths’ visions of democratic life. This qualitative study examines youth organizers’ response to the murder of a Black man in their community and how adults acted in solidarity or against their civic action. The findings elucidate how youth organizing and action can be re-framed as democratic actions and what it takes for adults to make this epistemic and ontological maneuver. The article concludes with a discussion about implications for social studies research when centering youth agency, as well as an analysis of social education beyond the classroom and adult-centered understandings of democratic education.
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The disruptions to community functioning caused by the COVID‐19 pandemic spurred individuals to action. This empirical study investigated the social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) skill antecedents to college students' volunteering during the COVID‐19 pandemic (N = 248, Mage = 20.6). We assessed eight SEB skills at the onset of a volunteering program, and students' volunteer hours were assessed 10‐weeks later. Approximately 41.5% of the sample did not complete any volunteer hours. Higher levels of perspective taking skill, abstract thinking skill, and stress regulation were associated with more time spent volunteering. These results suggest that strength in particular SEB skills can prospectively predict prosocial civic behaviors.
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Background/Context There is currently a dearth of research on Asian American civic engagement broadly, and the scholarship on Asian American youth is even more limited. The lack of research contributes to opacity in understanding how Asian Americans fit into the civic landscape. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study This study offers a window into the civic engagement experiences of a group of Asian American youth and differentiates the motivations that initiated their civic engagement from the motivations that sustained it. The research questions are: (a) How do these Asian American adolescents describe the motivations behind their civic engagement? (b) How do they make choices among different kinds of civic engagement? (c) What do they describe as the impact of their civic engagement? Research Design Participants in this study were 14 highly engaged Asian American youth, 16 to 18 years of age, from a small city in the Northeast. I conducted semistructured interviews with the participants, examining their descriptions of civic involvement. Knowledge of youth civic engagement has tended to emanate from survey studies that count and categorize civic participation as opposed to investigating youth’s own meaning-making of their civic activities. Thus, to answer the “why” of civic participation, I took a grounded theory approach to explore youth’s own constructions of what motivated their civic involvement. Findings/Results Participants initiated civic involvement with instrumental motivations to “look good for college” and socialize with friends, whereas continuing civic engagement was supported by a deep relational commitment to teenage colleagues in their civic endeavors, a sense of self-efficacy engendered through complex civic work, and pride in making a tangible impact on their community. Asian American youth in this study demonstrated sophisticated capabilities as civic actors and sustained their civic engagement through organizations that scaffolded the development of such capabilities. Conclusions/Recommendations Participants’ experiences illustrate how civic engagement motivations can change. While individuals were the unit of analysis in this study, participants’ experiences point strongly to the integral role of organizations in supporting continued, rather than intermittent, civic engagement. Specifically, organizations can support youth in continuing their civic involvement in the long term by facilitating conditions for young people to build deep relationships in furtherance of common goals and appealing to identities that can be bolstered through civic participation.
Article
Traditional notions of civic education often introduce privilege and reproduce Eurocentric notions of citizenship. Proponents of cultural citizenship champion Black cultural knowledge, and critical race pedagogies to help marginalized individuals, including students of color, actualize their agentic selves. This manuscript presents three vignettes to demonstrate how teachers implemented the Black Lives Matter at School's 13 Guiding Principles to develop Black cultural citizenship with students. Three salient aspects emerged: (1) the need for students to be active contributors in the current movement for Black liberation; (2) a call to support students unlearning and relearning Black history; and (3) instruction that provides opportunities for students to recognize and challenge systems of oppression.
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We challenge the widely held view that classic American voluntary groups were tiny, local, and disconnected from government. Using newly collected data to develop a theoretically framed account, we show that membership associations emerged early in U.S. history and converged toward the institutional form of the representatively governed federation. This form enabled leaders and members to spread interconnected groups across an expanding nation. At the height of local proliferation, most voluntary groups were part of regional or national federations that mirrored the structure of U.S. government. Institutionalist theories suggest reasons for this parallelism, which belies the rigid dichotomy between state and civil society that informs much current discussion of civic engagement in the United States and elsewhere.
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Which of the following headlines never appeared in a daily newspaper? (a) Capital City Students Show No Gain in Reading, Math- Governor Threatens Takeover (b) Middletown Schools to be Taken Over by State for Failure to Develop Democratic Citizens If you answered (b), you not only answered correctly, your response also reflected an important challenge facing our democracy today: Although we say that we value a democratic society, the very institutions expected to prepare democratic citizens-our schools-have moved far from this central mission. There is now frequent talk of "state takeovers" of schools that fail to raise test scores in math or reading, but it is unimaginable that any school would face such an action because it failed to prepare its graduates for democratic citizenship.
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This paper is drawn from a larger qualitative study that explores the perspectives of eight retired Black school superintendents who personally experienced segregated schools as students and subsequent desegregation efforts as administrators. Unlike much of the mainstream literature that extols the virtues of desegregation for Black children, their accounts tell a very different story. Their reflections suggest that although they ‘got what they fought for,’ they ‘lost what they had’ and that many of the problems attributed to Black education today ‘started with desegregation.’ This study adds to the growing literature that interrogates the widely accepted assumptions that desegregation resulted in significant educational progress for Black children. Further, the perspectives of Black superintendents, which are often missing or forgotten in education research, can help inform our understanding of race‐conscious education policies and the role they play in promoting and/or realizing racial equality and social justice in education.
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Why is education policy so contentious? Do conflicts over specific issues in schooling have anything in common? Are there general principles that can help us resolve these disputes? In this book the authors find the source of many debates over schooling in the multiple goals and internal contradictions of the national ideology we call the American dream. They also propose a framework for helping Americans get past acrimonious debates in order to help all children learn. The American Dream and the Public Schools examines issues that have excited and divided Americans for years, including desegregation, school funding, testing, vouchers, bilingual education, multicultural education, and ability grouping. These seem to be separate problems, but much of the contention over them comes down to the same thing--an apparent conflict, rooted in the American dream, between policies designed to promote each student's ability to pursue success and those designed to insure the good of all students or the nation as a whole. The authors show how policies to promote individual success too often benefit only those already privileged by race or class, and too often conflict, unnecessarily, with policies that are intended to benefit everyone. The book also examines issues such as creationism and Afrocentrism, where the disputes lie between those who attack the validity of the American dream and those who believe that such a challenge has no place in the public schools. At the end of the book, the authors examine the impact of our nation's rapid racial and ethnic transformation on the pursuit of all of these goals, and they propose ways to make public education work better to help all children succeed and become the citizens we need.
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When the landmark Supreme Court case of Brown vs. Board of Education was handed down in 1954, many civil rights advocates believed that the decision, which declared public school segregation unconstitutional, would become the Holy Grail of racial justice. Fifty years later, despite its legal irrelevance and the racially separate and educationally ineffective state of public schooling for most black children, Brown is still viewed by many as the perfect precedent. Here, Derrick Bell shatters the shining image of this celebrated ruling. He notes that, despite the onerous burdens of segregation, many black schools functioned well and racial bigotry had not rendered blacks a damaged race. He maintains that, given what we now know about the pervasive nature of racism, the Court should have determined instead to rigorously enforce the "equal" component of the "separate but equal" standard. Racial policy, Bell maintains, is made through silent covenants--unspoken convergences of interest and involuntary sacrifices of rights--that ensure that policies conform to priorities set by policy-makers. Blacks and whites are the fortuitous winners or losers in these unspoken agreements. The experience with Brown, Bell urges, should teach us that meaningful progress in the quest for racial justice requires more than the assertion of harms. Strategies must recognize and utilize the interest-convergence factors that strongly influence racial policy decisions. In Silent Covenants, Bell condenses more than four decades of thought and action into a powerful and eye-opening book.
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This chapter discusses political education, which fosters the realization of universal political participation and respect for everyone's civil rights. Before beginning an exploration of political education, it is necessary to distinguish among political socialization, political education in a general sense, and political education that fosters human rights. Political socialization is the totality of experiences through which one develops cognitive understandings and attitudes toward the political world. Both formal and non-formal educational experiences contribute to political socialization. Political education consists of those aspects of education that are planned particularly to develop students' competencies in thinking about and acting in political arenas. Political education can be thought of as developing four dimensions—information, values, inquiry skills, and participation. Political education most often conveys information about the structure and function of government, the rights and responsibilities of citizens, and how the political process works. Political education may attempt to develop values of national loyalty and concern for justice, equality, and freedom.
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In spite of Brown v. Board of Education, U.S. schools have never really been desegregated and recent patterns of movement among Hispanics and blacks suggest that the pattern that has existed in urban schools for decades will now be repeated in the suburbs.
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Using a vast swath of data spanning the past six decades, Unequal Democracy debunks many myths about politics in contemporary America, using the widening gap between the rich and the poor to shed disturbing light on the workings of American democracy. Larry Bartels shows the gap between the rich and poor has increased greatly under Republican administrations and decreased slightly under Democrats, leaving America grossly unequal. This is not simply the result of economic forces, but the product of broad-reaching policy choices in a political system dominated by partisan ideologies and the interests of the wealthy. Bartels demonstrates that elected officials respond to the views of affluent constituents but ignore the views of poor people. He shows that Republican presidents in particular have consistently produced much less income growth for middle-class and working-poor families than for affluent families, greatly increasing inequality. He provides revealing case studies of key policy shifts contributing to inequality, including the massive Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 and the erosion of the minimum wage. Finally, he challenges conventional explanations for why many voters seem to vote against their own economic interests, contending that working-class voters have not been lured into the Republican camp by "values issues" like abortion and gay marriage, as commonly believed, but that Republican presidents have been remarkably successful in timing income growth to cater to short-sighted voters. Unequal Democracy is social science at its very best. It provides a deep and searching analysis of the political causes and consequences of America's growing income gap, and a sobering assessment of the capacity of the American political system to live up to its democratic ideals.
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Youth-led organizing, a burgeoning movement that empowers young people while simultaneously enabling them to make substantive contributions to their communities, is increasingly receiving attention from scholars, activists, and the media. This book studies this dynamic field. It takes an important step toward bridging the gap between academic knowledge and community practice in this growing area. The book's social justice-rooted perspective on the field's conceptual and practical foundations is an effective basis for analyzing youth-led community organizing, but it also offers glimpses of successful groups in action and helpful insight into how fledgling organizations can become stronger. These groups and their young participants represent the politics and activism of the future, and the book guides to their key aspects and recent developments.
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This is the second of the four essays in Part II of the book on liberalism and traditionalist education; all four are by authors who would like to find ways for the liberal state to honour the self-definitions of traditional cultures and to find ways of avoiding a confrontation with differences. Melissa Williams examines citizenship as identity in relation to the project of nation-building, the shifting boundaries of citizenship in relation to globalization, citizenship as shared fate, and the role of multicultural education within the view of citizenship-as-shared-fate. She argues the other side of the same coin to that presented by Shelley Burtt in the previous chapter: according to Williams, the liberal state often demands too much in the way of loyalty from traditional groups, and when it does, it runs a strong risk of becoming oppressive and illiberal. Moreover, she holds that there is no need for a single shared identity among citizens of the liberal state. Her conception of people tied together by a shared fate is to this extent compatible with Burtt's attempt to make liberalism's commitment to autonomy more hospitable to groups of individuals encumbered by unchosen attachments, but her notion of citizenship as shared fate also goes further than that, and possibly stands in some tension with, Burtt's view, since it allows and even encourages people to develop primary affiliation to all kind of groups - traditional as well as global.
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Class does make a difference in the lives and futures of American children. Drawing on in-depth observations of black and white middle-class, working-class, and poor families, Unequal Childhoods explores this fact, offering a picture of childhood today. Here are the frenetic families managing their children's hectic schedules of "leisure" activities; and here are families with plenty of time but little economic security. Lareau shows how middle-class parents, whether black or white, engage in a process of "concerted cultivation" designed to draw out children's talents and skills, while working-class and poor families rely on "the accomplishment of natural growth," in which a child's development unfolds spontaneously—as long as basic comfort, food, and shelter are provided. Each of these approaches to childrearing brings its own benefits and its own drawbacks. In identifying and analyzing differences between the two, Lareau demonstrates the power, and limits, of social class in shaping the lives of America's children. The first edition of Unequal Childhoods was an instant classic, portraying in riveting detail the unexpected ways in which social class influences parenting in white and African American families. A decade later, Annette Lareau has revisited the same families and interviewed the original subjects to examine the impact of social class in the transition to adulthood.
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In this article, Thea Renda Abu El-Haj shares her research on how a group of Palestinian American high school youth understand themselves as members of the U.S. community, of the Palestinian American community, and of communities in Palestine. She argues that, for these youth, coming to terms with who they are has a great deal to do both with how they view themselves and how Palestinian Americans are viewed in the imagined community of the United States, especially after September 11, 2001. Her research reports on the tensions these youth face as they deal with school issues, like pledging allegiance to the U.S. flag, teacher harassment, and disciplinary sanctions related to being framed as "terrorists," that affect how they think about citizenship and belonging. Given the complex way these and other youth experience belonging, Abu El-Haj ends with a call for a greater commitment to, and a more nuanced understanding of, citizenship education.
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Abstract After decades of neglect, civic education is back on the agenda of political science in the United States. Despite huge increases in the formal educational attainment of the US population during the past 50 years, levels of political knowledge have barely budged. Today's college graduates know no more about politics than did high school graduates in 1950. Recent research indicates that levels of political knowledge affect the acceptance of democratic principles, attitudes toward specific issues, and political participation. There is evidence that political participation is in part a positional good and is shaped by relative as well as absolute levels of educational attainment. Contrary to findings from 30 years ago, recent research suggests that traditional classroom-based civic education can significantly raise political knowledge. Service learning—a combination of community-based civic experience and systematic classroom reflection on that experience—is a promising innovation, but program evaluations have yielded mixed results. Longstanding fears that private schools will not shape democratic citizens are not supported by the evidence.
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On the panorama of the twentieth century, occasionally a red glow emanated from a city electrified by the culture of the left: red Vienna of the 1920s and 1930s; Moscow, after the Revolution; Weimar Berlin; Paris '68. Midcentury New York, with its Broadway musicals, liberal Democratic leaders, and commercialized mass culture, seems a world apart. "Cultural Capital of the World," some dubbed it, not for its radicalism, but for its embrace of depoliticized modernism—abstract painting, modern dance, jazz, International-style architecture. Yet in its own way, New York in the 1940s and early 1950s had a tangle of left culture as dense as any in the history of the United States. This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full. Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.
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William Wilson and other scholars argue that one of the attributes of devastated neighborhoods is social isolation. We shall explore whether neighborhoods that seem to indicate significant social isolation also foster political isolation. We begin our examination by providing a description of the poor in the samples from the 1989 Detroit Area Study. We then turn our attention toward analyzing the effects of neighborhood poverty on African–American public opinion and political participation. We conclude with a discussion of how neighborhood poverty affects African-American politics and the consequences of those politics for the theory and practice of American democracy.
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Students' ignorance of civics is often viewed with alarm, as in interpretations of the 1998 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP); yet adults' incomplete knowledge of government is considered by many to be reasonable and acceptable. We show that aggregate distributions of political knowledge are actually quite similar for students and adults. However, the types of questions differ greatly: Where adults are typically asked about contemporary politics, students are asked about political institutions. We also show that the construction of NAEP does not permit comparative identification of knowledge levels across sub-topics. Moreover, we note that levels of performance are determined only after the results of the test are known, making it difficult to evaluate the success of civic education. We conclude that understanding student knowledge levels—and thus evaluating civic education—requires careful scrutiny of the content and construction of the NAEP test, and perhaps requires changes that more readily permit comparison of students' performance against preestablished criteria; across topics, states, or time; or between today's students and various generations of adults.
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The Council of the American Political Science Association approved the appointment of a Task Force on Inequality and American Democracy in the fall of 2002. A fifteen-member task force was convened in January 2003 and collectively worked during the subsequent eighteen months to prepare extensive reviews of research on inequality and American democracy. (The research reviews are available on the APSA Web site—as are materials for undergraduate and graduate teaching—http://www.apsanet.org/inequality.) Based on three reviews, the task force prepared a short report, which forms the basis of the present text. It concludes that progress toward realizing American ideals of democracy may have stalled—and in some arenas reversed. The task force's work was extensively and rigorously debated among its members, scrutinized by three distinguished independent peers, and reviewed by the APSA Council. This report is ultimately the responsibility of its authors; no opinions, statements of fact, or conclusions should be attributed to the American Political Science Association or to the Russell Sage Foundation, which provided some support to the task force. The members of the task force are: Lawrence Jacobs (Chair, University of Minnesota), Ben Barber (University of Maryland), Larry Bartels (Princeton University), Michael Dawson (Harvard University), Morris Fiorina (Stanford University), Jacob Hacker (Yale University), Rodney Hero (Notre Dame University), Hugh Heclo (George Mason University), Claire Jean Kim (University of California, Irvine), Suzanne Mettler (Syracuse University), Benjamin Page (Northwestern University), Dianne Pinderhughes (University of Illinois, Champagne–Urbana), Kay Lehman Schlozman (Boston College), Theda Skocpol (Harvard University), and Sidney Verba (Harvard University). © 2004, American Political Science Association. All rights reserved.
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This article reports on one facet of a researcher–practitioner project undertaken with class of 23 diverse fifth graders. The project was rooted in taking recent history education reforms seriously. It was premised principally on reforms dealing with teaching practices found in the history standards and the research literature. As the researcher–practitioner, the author engaged the students in historical investigations to help them learn to think historically and better understand the past. He operated from a theoretical framework based on how he believed historical thinking and understanding occur for such novice learners. During the first three lessons, on Jamestown’s “Starving Time,” the author and class encountered history’s interpretive paradox. The article begins with an analogy drawn from the discipline of history. It then describes classroom events. The analysis focuses on a teaching dilemma that the encounter with the paradox provoked and conveys how the author’s pedagogical thinking and decision making were influenced by that encounter. The discussion of the dilemma suggests how research and reform in history education and the theories that underpin them mingle, in promising but unpredictable ways.
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The author examines the relative impact of concentrated-poverty neighborhoods and social isolation on the political behavior of white and black inner-city residents. She demonstrates that social isolation undermines the political participation of blacks and that residence in concentrated-poverty neighborhoods is most detrimental to the political participation of whites. The effects of social isolation and concentrated-poverty neighborhoods exert substantively and statistically significant effects on the political behavior of whites as well as blacks above and beyond the influences of human capital characteristics and sociopolitical resources.
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After presenting demographic data to demonstrate why immigrant youth are and will be important, this article addresses the limited literature on immigrant youth civic engagement. It also examines the historical literature of immigrant youth in the United States, specifically that of the last great wave of immigration approximately 100 years ago, along with the literature on contemporary adult immigrant civic engagement. It concludes that today's immigrant youth are Americanizing. Nevertheless, when U.S. society and particularly the U.S. state treats immigrant youth as different, the immigrant youth respond with pride by defending their cultural integrity, their right to be different. Contemporary immigrant youth also have the opportunity to maintain transnational ties with their homeland. In response to these forces and opportunities, immigrant youth maintain multiple identities, sometimes identifying with their homeland culture at other times with the United States. The unanswered question is what difference these multiple ties may make for civic engagement.
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Civic competence and obstacles to its development are explored in urban youth. Our review suggests that urban youth lag behind suburban adolescents in civic knowledge and civic participation. These lags may be attributable to low levels of political participation among urban adults, educational failures, and a lack of childhood opportunities to join clubs and teams. A comparison of a small city and a neighboring suburban town illustrates both the intertwined obstacles that confront urban youth on the path to civic development and the difficulty that most urban centers face in improving opportunities for civic development. We conclude that urban youth's genuine interest in acquiring civic competence is frustrated by demographic factors largely outside the control of those living in America's cities.
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Schools achieve the best results in fostering civic engagement when they rigorously teach civic content and skills, ensure an open classroom climate for discussing issues, emphasize the importance of the electoral process, and encourage a participative school culture. Schools whose students do not plan to attend college and have few educational resources at home face a special challenge. These are among the conclusions of the IEA Civic Education Study in which 90,000 14-year-olds in 28 countries were tested on knowledge of civic content and skills and were surveyed about concepts of citizenship, attitudes toward governmental and civic institutions, and political actions.
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Recent studies have documented the potential of youth activism for influencing political change toward socially just ends. This special issue builds on such research by focusing on youth activism as a context for learning and development. What kinds of learning opportunities are generated through working on social action campaigns? How do adults support youth's participation in ways that foster youth engagement and leadership? In addition to previewing the articles in this issue, this introduction proposes and describes four distinctive qualities of learning environments in youth activism groups: collective problem solving, youth—adult interaction, exploration of alternative frames for identity, and bridges to academic and civic institutions. It concludes by highlighting directions for future research.