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Action Civics for Promoting Civic Development: Main Effects of Program Participation and Differences by Project Characteristics
Abstract
Using both quantitative and qualitative data, this study examined the effect of participating in an action civics intervention, Generation Citizen (GC), on civic commitment, civic self-efficacy, and two forms of civic knowledge. The sample consisted of 617 middle and high schools students in 55 classrooms who participated, or were soon to participate, in Generation Citizen. Hierarchical linear models revealed that participating in Generation Citizen was associated with positive gains in action civics knowledge and civic self-efficacy. Qualitative coding identified three types of project characteristics that captured variability in the action projects student chose to complete: context, content, and contact with decision makers. Interactions between project characteristics and participation in GC revealed differences in civic outcomes depending on project characteristics.
... As an intervention strategy, YPAR is meant to enhance civic development through meaningful civic experiences that build skills and experiences of empowerment. AC is a classroom-based approach to civic education that brings civic lessons to life through youth engagement in communities (Ballard, Cohen, & Littenberg-Tobias, 2016). AC is conceptually similar to YPAR, but more singularly aimed at enhancing civic skills through practice while YPAR aims to build youth research skills and capacity more broadly. ...
... Existing evaluations are primarily based on self-reported student civic and academic outcomes (Gingold, 2013) and most often are conducted by action civics organizations themselves with the goal of self-understanding and improvement, or have focused on narratives from teachers or other implementers about their experiences teaching action civics (Bass, 2012;Blevins & LeCompte, 2015;Cipparone & Cohen, 2015;Serriere, Mitra, & Cody, 2010). Some work has found that specific AC programs increase students' action civics knowledge (knowledge specific to identifying "root causes" of social issues; Ballard et al., 2016;Cohen et al., 2018) civic selfefficacy (Ballard et al., 2016), and preparation for civic action (Cohen et al., 2018). ...
... Existing evaluations are primarily based on self-reported student civic and academic outcomes (Gingold, 2013) and most often are conducted by action civics organizations themselves with the goal of self-understanding and improvement, or have focused on narratives from teachers or other implementers about their experiences teaching action civics (Bass, 2012;Blevins & LeCompte, 2015;Cipparone & Cohen, 2015;Serriere, Mitra, & Cody, 2010). Some work has found that specific AC programs increase students' action civics knowledge (knowledge specific to identifying "root causes" of social issues; Ballard et al., 2016;Cohen et al., 2018) civic selfefficacy (Ballard et al., 2016), and preparation for civic action (Cohen et al., 2018). ...
... As an intervention strategy, YPAR is meant to enhance civic development through meaningful civic experiences that build skills and experiences of empowerment. AC is a classroom-based approach to civic education that brings civic lessons to life through youth engagement in communities (Ballard, Cohen, & Littenberg-Tobias, 2016). AC is conceptually similar to YPAR, but more singularly aimed at enhancing civic skills through practice while YPAR aims to build youth research skills and capacity more broadly. ...
... Existing evaluations are primarily based on self-reported student civic and academic outcomes (Gingold, 2013) and most often are conducted by action civics organizations themselves with the goal of self-understanding and improvement, or have focused on narratives from teachers or other implementers about their experiences teaching action civics (Bass, 2012;Blevins & LeCompte, 2015;Cipparone & Cohen, 2015;Serriere, Mitra, & Cody, 2010). Some work has found that specific AC programs increase students' action civics knowledge (knowledge specific to identifying "root causes" of social issues; Ballard et al., 2016;Cohen et al., 2018) civic selfefficacy (Ballard et al., 2016), and preparation for civic action (Cohen et al., 2018). ...
... Existing evaluations are primarily based on self-reported student civic and academic outcomes (Gingold, 2013) and most often are conducted by action civics organizations themselves with the goal of self-understanding and improvement, or have focused on narratives from teachers or other implementers about their experiences teaching action civics (Bass, 2012;Blevins & LeCompte, 2015;Cipparone & Cohen, 2015;Serriere, Mitra, & Cody, 2010). Some work has found that specific AC programs increase students' action civics knowledge (knowledge specific to identifying "root causes" of social issues; Ballard et al., 2016;Cohen et al., 2018) civic selfefficacy (Ballard et al., 2016), and preparation for civic action (Cohen et al., 2018). ...
... Following Westheimer and Kahne's (2004) classification, GC promotes participatory and justice-oriented citizenship. GC programs increase civic knowledge, self-efficacy beliefs, and civic commitment (Ballard, Cohen, & Littenberg-Tobias, 2016; center for information and research on civic learning and engagement (CIRCLE) staff, 2013; Cohen et al., 2018). A majority of GC students are typically students of color, and most attend schools where a majority of students are low income (Cohen & Chaffee, 2013;. ...
... This formative research presents many opportunities for future youth civic engagement research. Burgeoning research on action civics shows that these programs can increase measures of civic knowledge, self-efficacy beliefs, and civic commitment, and that action civics aligns with theories on sociopolitical development, critical consciousness, youth empowerment, and positive youth development (e.g., Ballard et al., 2016;Cohen et al., 2018). While this study takes a first step, researchers must deepen our understanding of what youth identify as critical issues for their communities and how they choose to engage with these topics. ...
... It could be useful to identify what inspires classes' project choices, and whether there are clear root causes. One prior paper did a simplified analysis of one year of GC action project data, coding only by context (in-school or out-of-school), content (safety, school, or social issue), and contact (direct or difficult decision-maker access), and assessed how these categories were associated with student outcomes (Ballard et al., 2016). They found that safety issues were associated with gains in future civic commitments and self-efficacy, and outside-school context and easy contacts were associated with gains in self-efficacy, suggesting student project choice may affect civic development. ...
Youth civic engagement is relatively low in the United States. However, when students are involved in an action civics class (like Generation Citizen), they enthusiastically take action on a wide variety of topics. To systematically assess what issues youth are interested in, we analyzed administrative data from 1,651 action projects conducted by students in Generation Citizen classes across the United States from fall 2012 through fall 2017. We found that the most common issues of interest were related to safety and violence or schooling. Over one quarter of projects tackled issues of trauma, and a similar proportion tackled issues of equity. This exploratory study helps reveal what urban youth in Generation Citizen classes around the county view as of civic interest and important to them. We encourage future researchers and practitioners to further document youth voice regarding civic action as we seek to understand and lift up young people’s unique insights.
... Introduction making, leadership skills, teamwork, civic engagement, etc.) among participating youth, a common benefit of YPAR (Anyon et al., 2018;Ballard et al., 2016;Shamrova & Cummings, 2017;Valdez et al., 2020). ...
... These outcomes demonstrate how YPAR can support the development of anti-oppressive research practices through its role in amplifying the voices of marginalized populations to drive research and social change (Iwasaki, 2016). Other benefits involved the development of new skills and experiences among youth partners to support future aspirations and employment opportunities, which are consistent with other YPAR studies (Anyon et al., 2018;Ballard et al., 2016;Shamrova & Cummings, 2017;Valdez et al., 2020). ...
Background
Although youth participatory action research (YPAR) has been gaining popularity in the context of substance use research over the last decade, few studies report on how to apply these methods effectively with youth. To address this gap, this paper describes how we engaged youth as advisors and research assistants in a qualitative research study, as well as our key learnings and practical considerations for engaging youth with lived and/or living experience of substance use.
Methods
We applied YPAR methods by partnering with youth from across BC who have lived and/or living experience of substance use to form a project youth advisory that co-designed the research protocol and materials. Three members became youth research assistants to facilitate focus groups and qualitative interviews with other youth with lived/living experience and peer support workers who work with youth, and support with data analysis and the dissemination of research findings. Mid- and end-point surveys were distributed to evaluate and improve our youth engagement methods over the course of the study.
Results
The positive impact of engaging youth with lived/living experience over the course of the study was reflected by study participant responses to the quality and relevance of the focus group/interview questions and positive experiences with the youth facilitators. Youth partners also described developing new skills in research, group facilitation, leadership, communication, and professionalism. Lessons learned and considerations for engaging youth in substance use research included: an equitable hiring process; proper compensation; communication, transparency, and accountability; safe spaces; flexibility; and youth capacity building.
Conclusion
This study demonstrates varying ways of engaging youth with lived and/or living experience of substance in research and how youth contributions can improve the relevance, quality, and validity of the research. Lessons learned from this study can be applied by other researchers considering engaging youth with lived/living experience or other marginalized populations.
... Civic engagement refers to prosocial and political contributions to community and society (Wray-Lake, DeHaan, Shubert, & Ryan, 2019). An example of a civic engagement intervention is the action-oriented "Generation Citizen curriculum," in which students choose a local issue that they wish to tackle, learn strategies and skills to take action, and develop an implementation plan (Ballard, Cohen, & Littenberg-Tobias, 2016;Pope, Stolte, & Cohen, 2011). This program is found to be effective in promoting civic self-efficacy; meaning that after following the program, middle and high school students had stronger beliefs in their ability to make a difference in their community, and believed that their voice would be heard if they would speak up about an issue in their community (Ballard et al., 2016). ...
... An example of a civic engagement intervention is the action-oriented "Generation Citizen curriculum," in which students choose a local issue that they wish to tackle, learn strategies and skills to take action, and develop an implementation plan (Ballard, Cohen, & Littenberg-Tobias, 2016;Pope, Stolte, & Cohen, 2011). This program is found to be effective in promoting civic self-efficacy; meaning that after following the program, middle and high school students had stronger beliefs in their ability to make a difference in their community, and believed that their voice would be heard if they would speak up about an issue in their community (Ballard et al., 2016). An interesting direction for future research is to examine the interrelatedness of prosocial development and civic engagement in relation to the formative phase of adolescence. ...
Adolescent development is often regarded as a period of social sensitivities, given that brain development continues into the early 20s in interplay with social experiences. In this review, we present adolescence as a unique window for prosocial development; that is, behavior that benefits others. We present evidence for multiple pathways of neural sensitivity that contribute to key developmental processes related to prosocial behaviors, including valuing, perspective taking, and goal-flexibility. Yet, these processes are dependent on several contextual factors including recipients, audience effects, and strategic motivations. Next, we present intervention findings suggesting that prosocial experiences within these various contexts are crucial for adolescents developing into engaged and contributing members of society. These findings suggest a new interpretation of the elevated socio-affective sensitivity and emerging socio-cognitive development in adolescence, focusing on opportunities rather than risks.
... By engaging in action civics, students are able to relate their civic purpose to civic acting. For example, research about civic development in middle and high school students suggests that two characteristics of action civics projects-project content that feels important and addressable, as well as ease of access to decision-makers-uniquely support civic development (Ballard et al., 2016). Existing action civics research supports a link between participation in the activities of iEngage and developing across the dimensions of civic purpose, because in action civics, students engage with personally relevant issues and learn to take action on them (Blevins et al., 2016;Gingold, 2013). ...
... Although our participants did not articulate that they found these activities interesting because they provided a context for efficacy in the specific ways that participants of earlier research have (see Ballard et al., 2016), our participants noted characteristics of these activities that might be considered prerequisites of discovering their own efficaciousness. In highlighting real-world applications and learning useful and/or important information, participants recognized that they were most drawn into activities through which a pathway to efficacious action might be found. ...
Research has shown that youth and their communities benefit from civics education, with its aim to prepare citizens for democracy. However, civics education for adolescents in the United States is not equitable, and determining how to best measure aspects of civic development in younger adolescents is a challenge. In this qualitative study, we explored how the constructs of action civics and civic purpose might inform teachers, other practitioners, and researchers who are interested in understanding the kinds of educational opportunities that promote civic development in young adolescents. Specifically, we examined how activities characteristic of an action civics approach to civic education in the context of a week-long summer civics camp would influence young adolescents’ thinking across the dimensions of civic purpose. We conducted focus groups with 49 young adolescents (entering 5 th -9 th grades) as they participated in the civics camp, and we analyzed transcripts using qualitative content analysis. Our findings reveal four key considerations for promoting civic purpose development in young adolescents: the importance of adult guides, the significance of developmentally matched activities, opportunities for growth in educating diverse and marginalized youth in the civics camp setting, and action civics as a curricular mechanism for promoting civic purpose.
... As students examine issues and work to create meaningful solutions, they engage in democratic practices that require they listen to others, examine varying viewpoints, and work together to solve issues (Youniss, 2011). Students may also develop civic and political competence and a willingness to engage more completely in active civic life, which often occurs when they are connected to and trust other people in various contexts situating social life (Ballard et al., 2016). ...
... Pretest of DV demonstrate civic possibility for the use of civic knowledge and skills, the authentic opportunity to connect with others, and the potential to be part of democratic decision-making during civicrelated experiences (Ballard et al., 2016;Kahne et al., 2006;McIntosh et al., 2007;Torney-Purta, 2002;Zeldin et al., 2005). For instance, on the first day of iEngage, students participated in a community issues fair where they learned about various local organizations who were working to make change in the community. ...
This study present findings related to students’ community and political engagement and activism after participation in an action civics institute. The institute, iEngage, is a weeklong summer experience for rising fifth through rising ninth graders that utilizes the action civics inquiry cycle to foster civic skills and cultivate participation and engagement in one’s community. Through this 4-year longitudinal quantitative study, researchers evaluated youth participants’ abilities, competencies, and experiences related to three civic constructs: community engagement, political engagement, and political activism. Results from the study show effective increases in students’ participation within each of the three respective constructs and provide promising alternatives to the conventional teaching and learning of civics education.
... Ozer et al. (2010) study of the implementation of youth-led research in middle schools identified several factors that either facilitated or inhibited the implementation of the initiative, including students' social maturity according to gender (girls were calmer and more mature), available space and large group size in urban schools. Other contextual barriers include institutional norms and traditions that do not prioritize youth voice, including physical and financial resources and a general lack of time for nonacademic activities or to devote to the process of student voice (Ballard et al., 2016;Ozer et al., 2010;Zeldin et al., 2008). Such contextual barriers could be minimized with an action-research approach that includes student-voice strategies, as well as consultation and collaborations with school psychologists responsible for program planning and related communication to school-based educators, in order to ensure a successful implementation of the program (Elias et al., 2003;NASP, 2010, Domain 2). ...
... Such contextual barriers could be minimized with an action-research approach that includes student-voice strategies, as well as consultation and collaborations with school psychologists responsible for program planning and related communication to school-based educators, in order to ensure a successful implementation of the program (Elias et al., 2003;NASP, 2010, Domain 2). Ballard et al. (2016) found that urban secondary-school students who participated in a semester-long student voice program benefitted in terms of the development of their civic competencies (i.e., civic knowledge, commitment, and self-efficacy). Students in the program could focus on any issue inside or outside of their schools; issues including safety, teacher-student relationships, school resources, and the physical environment of the school resulted in the most favorable outcomes for participants. ...
This qualitative case study explores how urban high schools implement a district‐initiated student‐voice program, referred to as Student Advisory Committees, intended to improve school climate. The study uses an implementation science framework to analyze interview data from principals and advisors in 22 urban high schools. An iterative, top-down thematic analytic procedure was used for analysis and interpretation of the data. The results suggest wide variation in how the program was implemented in terms of fidelity, dosage, quality, program reach, and adaptation, with contextual school factors—namely, principal and school characteristics—that help to explain this variation. In addition, the findings indicate that these contextual factors had a significant influence on how the school district implemented the student advisory committees. The authors discuss the implications for program implementation in the context of urban school districts and for school psychologists.
... We reason that in the U.S. and Canada the most effective approach to GCE is through youth engagement, which can be broadly conceptualized as involving young people in their institutions, communities and decisions (Checkoway and Gutiérrez 2006). Western discourses on GCE are already closely linked to the concept of youth engagement (Hartung 2017), and act as a way of combatting common public perceptions of youth as unmotivated in civic engagement or failing to contribute to political activities (Ballard et al. 2016;Youniss et al. 2002). Barring youth from contributing to major decisions that affect their lives has often been justified by characterizing them as lacking expertise or an understanding of the negative impacts of ill-informed decisions (Blanchet-Cohen et al. 2013;Bulling et al. 2013). ...
... At a broader level, youth participation has been shown to increase public knowledge and encourage future democratic action (Zeldin et al. 2013). Researchers have proposed that how older generations conceptualize political engagement may no longer be relevant, with a growing interest by youth in unconventional forms of civic participation and a willingness to mobilize for issues directly related to their generation, such as environmental justice, educational reform, and internet laws (Ballard et al. 2016;Checkoway et al. 2005;Shaw-Raudoy and Mcgregor 2013;Youniss et al. 2002). The widescale impacts of these types of issues link youth engagement in these areas to the tenants of GCE discussed previously in this chapter. ...
This chapter examines the historical and current uses of global citizenship education (GCE) in Canada and the U.S. in public schools from primary through secondary levels, with attention to Canada as well as similarities and differences within and across the two countries. We assess how social and political contexts have influenced the definition and operationalization of multiculturalism, civic studies, and global studies in curricula, noting that the neo-liberal perspective has focused on making people an economic powerhouse rather than socially concerned global citizens. In our examination of educational approaches that relate to GCE, we present decolonizing pedagogies, the multiculturalism approach in Canada, as well as culturally responsive and anti-racist pedagogies. To illustrate these issues, we offer an example in the Canadian context and raise the need to prevent GCE from becoming yet another tool for hegemony by the Global North on the Global South, as dominant groups have long defined citizenship. We conclude by proposing that to realize GCE in these two countries, teacher/practitioner and local, national, and international actors must engage youth, and in doing so, power imbalances that prohibit becoming global citizens will be addressed.
... Project Citizen and Generation Citizen also aim to teach students about local advocacy and governance. In these programs, students identify community policy problems, conduct research to develop policy solutions, and present their proposals (Root and Northup 2007;Ballard, Cohen, and Littenberg-Tobias 2016). Kids Voting, on the other hand, is a multisystemic intervention that engages both students and their families in a curriculum focused on the history of voting rights, while Student Voices provides students with practical political knowledge on how to research candidate platforms, use media to access information, and carry out a campaign (McDevitt and Kiousis 2006;Syvertsen et al. 2009). ...
... More specifically, one analysis revealed that a school-based intervention focused on community advocacy called Project Citizen led to increased levels of civic knowledge and discourse among students (Root and Northup 2007). Furthermore, studies of Generation Citizen, an intervention focused on local civic engagement, and Students Voices, an intervention designed to provide students with tangible civic skills, demonstrate that school-based interventions targeting political engagement can have a positive impact on political dispositions as well; results from these studies show that students who received these interventions felt increased self-confidence in their ability to participate politically and increased political efficacy, or a belief that they have the power to influence government (Ballard et al. 2016;Syvertsen et al. 2009). Still, another study of a multisystemic intervention called Kids Voting, a program which provides a voting rights history curriculum to parents and children, found significant benefits of the intervention on future political behavior, including volunteering, activism, and voting. ...
The public education system in the United States was founded upon a civic mission, but youth have been historically politically disengaged. While research has been conducted on the impact of high school civics courses on youth civic engagement, research on targeted school-based interventions for youth political engagement is limited and outdated at the high school level. This paper explores the effects of a five week voter education curricular intervention on youth political engagement and behavior through a program evaluation study conducted in three Philadelphia schools. The curricular intervention included three lessons and guidelines for organizing peer-to-peer voter registration drives, and was developed by undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Pennsylvania. This curricular intervention was designed to be implemented in high school social science and history classes. Future findings will support the civic education system in improving civic education curricula, and expanding youth civic and political participation.
... We reason that in the U.S. and Canada the most effective approach to GCE is through youth engagement, which can be broadly conceptualized as involving young people in their institutions, communities and decisions (Checkoway and Gutiérrez 2006). Western discourses on GCE are already closely linked to the concept of youth engagement (Hartung 2017), and act as a way of combatting common public perceptions of youth as unmotivated in civic engagement or failing to contribute to political activities (Ballard et al. 2016;Youniss et al. 2002). Barring youth from contributing to major decisions that affect their lives has often been justified by characterizing them as lacking expertise or an understanding of the negative impacts of ill-informed decisions (Blanchet-Cohen et al. 2013;Bulling et al. 2013). ...
... At a broader level, youth participation has been shown to increase public knowledge and encourage future democratic action (Zeldin et al. 2013). Researchers have proposed that how older generations conceptualize political engagement may no longer be relevant, with a growing interest by youth in unconventional forms of civic participation and a willingness to mobilize for issues directly related to their generation, such as environmental justice, educational reform, and internet laws (Ballard et al. 2016;Checkoway et al. 2005;Shaw-Raudoy and Mcgregor 2013;Youniss et al. 2002). The widescale impacts of these types of issues link youth engagement in these areas to the tenants of GCE discussed previously in this chapter. ...
Open acess: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-030-44617-8
This book takes a critical and international perspective to the mainstreaming of the Global Citizenship Concept and analyses the key issues regarding global citizenship education across the world. In that respect, it addresses a pressing need to provide further conceptual input and to open global citizenship agendas to diversity and indigeneity.
Social and political changes brought by globalisation, migration and technological advances of the 21st century have generated a rise in the popularity of the utopian and philosophical idea of global citizenship. In response to the challenges of today’s globalised and interconnected world, such as inequality, human rights violations and poverty, global citizenship education has been invoked as a means of preparing youth for an inclusive and sustainable world.
In recent years, the development of global citizenship education and the building of students’ global citizenship competencies have become a focal point in global agendas for education, international educational assessments and international organisations. However, the concept of global citizenship education still remains highly contested and subject to multiple interpretations, and its operationalisation in national educational policies proves to be challenging.
This volume aims to contribute to the debate, question the relevancy of global citizenship education’s policy objectives and to enhance understanding of local perspectives, ideologies, conceptions and issues related to citizenship education on a local, national and global level. To this end, the book provides a comprehensive and geographically based overview of the challenges citizenship education faces in a rapidly changing global world through the lens of diversity and inclusiveness.
... Yet while scholars have established outcomes associated with various action civics curricula and their features, there has been a paucity of research that has explored variations in implementation or context (for an exception, see Ballard, Cohen, & Littenberg-Tobias, 2016) or the specific factors that shape the curricula's outcomes. Civic education practices are subject to state requirements, district and school support, as well as teacher implementation effects (Kahne & Middaugh, 2008;Niemi & Junn 1998;Westheimer & Kahne, 2004). ...
... Civic education practices are subject to state requirements, district and school support, as well as teacher implementation effects (Kahne & Middaugh, 2008;Niemi & Junn 1998;Westheimer & Kahne, 2004). As Ballard et al. (2016) explain, civic education programs are not ''homogenous interventions'' (p. 378). ...
This research examines the factors that shape high school students’ experiences with an action civics program—Project Soapbox—that fosters democratic and social-emotional learning. Drawing on pre- and postsurveys with 204 students, classroom observations, teacher interviews, student work samples, and student focus group interviews, the study illuminates how specific features of the curriculum and its implementation are linked to its promising outcomes. Our findings indicate that the curriculum’s emphases and structure, along with instructional decisions and context, play key roles in influencing student outcomes. Project Soapbox’s power lies in its alignment with many well-established civic education best practices and in its intentional linkage with key social-emotional learning practices, many of which are newly recognized as having particular civic import.
... Approaches to more active civics education-also termed action civics-focus on engaging youth in meaningful political actions. The idea is that youth learn and practice commitments to political engagement by participating directly in political processes (Ballard, Cohen, & Littenberg-Tobias, 2016). Action civics usually occurs in schools and involves young people identifying and researching a problem of interest and engaging in efforts to create change, a process similar to community-based youth participatory action research (YPAR). ...
... Action civics usually occurs in schools and involves young people identifying and researching a problem of interest and engaging in efforts to create change, a process similar to community-based youth participatory action research (YPAR). Through action civics and YPAR, youth develop increased political efficacy, knowledge, critical reflection skills, and commitments to future political engagement (Ballard et al., 2016;Kirshner, 2015). Yet creating political change can be arduous and does not always succeed, so for some youth, action projects may lower political efficacy. ...
Despite the importance of examining how adolescents and young adults contribute solutions to society's pressing problems, gaps in the literature leave unanswered the question of how young people become politically engaged. Research suggests that youth learn to be political by forming attachments to their communities and accessing opportunities in the settings of their everyday lives. Settings operate as mini‐polities through which youth develop a sense of what it means to be a member of a collective. Meaningful opportunities to practice political skills and behaviors can be fostered in schools and communities, via social media, and through policy change. Historic events, particularly elections, can also influence political attitudes and behaviors in lasting ways. Cultural and contextual variability in experiences, access to opportunities, and reactions to historic events shape youth's political developmental pathways. Research that is developmentally and culturally informed and that uses rigorous study designs can identify more effectively what determines the formation and growth of youth political engagement.
... This emerging body of work has tended to agree on and is building a strong evidence for the kinds of learning outcomes of student participants. The preponderance of research indicated how experiential civics can contribute to or be a protective factor for student engagement, agency, and belonging (Ballard et al., 2016;Cabrera et al., 2014;Cammarota, 2007Cammarota, , 2011Hipolito-Delgado & Zion, 2017). Core practices, such as critical reflection about experiences with racism or injustice, learning about issues that are relevant to one's life, and gaining skills to challenge injustice or discrimination, foster a sense of engagement and purpose in academic learning (Cammarota, 2011;Irizarry, 2011;Seider & Graves, 2020). ...
Critical pedagogies often prioritize critical thinking and social awareness at the expense of preparing urban youth for social action. Though sociopolitical efficacy is argued to bridge critical reflection and social action, this relationship is undetermined. We argue that critical reflection and sociopolitical efficacy are independent predictors of sociopolitical action. We surveyed 158 high-school students and found that critical reflection and sociopolitical efficacy were positively related to sociopolitical action. Additionally, participation in transformative student voice (TSV) and classroom leadership opportunities positively influenced sociopolitical efficacy. We argue that educators and community organizers should promote leadership development and TSV activities to encourage youth sociopolitical efficacy and action.
... Recent voices in the field have emphasized the need for youth-centered and participatory approaches to media literacy (Kiesa & Vito, 2018), which are especially important given young people's lack of trust in the news and perceived lack of relevance (CIRCLE, 2018;Media Insight Project, 2018;Robb, 2017). In particular, research has shown that interactivity and active pedagogies can play a significant role in 1 While acknowledging the wide variance in both popular and academic uses of the term "fake news" (Shu et al., 2017;Tandoc et al., 2018), we refer to Allcott & Gentzkow's (2017) widely used definition of fake news as "articles that are facilitating youth civic education and efficacy (Ballard et al., 2016). Within this context, games emerge as a particularly promising and under-utilized avenue for media literacy education (Basol et al., 2020;Foxman, 2015;Literat et al., 2020;Wilson et al., 2017). ...
Given the need for innovative, engaging, and youth-centered approaches to media literacy, as well as the potential of active pedagogies to facilitate youth civic education and efficacy, games emerge as a particularly promising and under-utilized avenue for news literacy education. Our research asks, how might we use game-based learning to tackle fake news and stimulate news literacy among a youth audience? Here, we reflect on the process of designing LAMBOOZLED!, a news literacy game for middle school and high school students, based on a multilevel game design framework that allowed us to articulate learning objectives, consider suitable mechanics, dynamics and aesthetics, and integrate relevant instructional principles along multiple learning dimensions. Positioning this work at the nexus of game design and media literacy education, we discuss our key decision points and the larger stakes of adopting a game-based approach to news literacy education in the current political climate.
... The GC intervention is aligned with standards in each U.S. state for History, English/Language Arts, and Civics. Mixed-methods studies of the intervention with students in middle school and high school (none of whom were noted as SWD) indicate significant increases in students' civics self-efficacy and action civics knowledge, as well as students reporting increased feelings of preparation for taking civic action (Ballard et al., 2016;Cohen et al., 2018). ...
Compared to other academic content areas, educational researchers conduct relatively few empirical studies focused on students’ civics knowledge and teachers then have fewer opportunities to learn about research-based practices. A mixed-methods study was undertaken with 326 high school students (n = 52 with disabilities) and 21 social studies and special education teachers. Results indicated 12th-grade students with disabilities scored significantly lower than their peers on a formative assessment of civics knowledge; students with and without disabilities identified school as their primary source of civics knowledge; and interviews with high school special education and social studies teachers revealed several areas for future research and promising practices teachers can use with their students.
... Although YPAR has the potential to impact individuals, organizations, communities, practices, and policies, most of the empirical literature has focused on first-order change with respect to YPAR's effects on individual youth participants. This burgeoning literature has reported positive youth development outcomes in domains such as cognition, leadership, academics, social, and civic engagement (e.g., Anyon et al., 2018;Ballard, Cohen, & Littenberg-Tobias, 2016;Shamrova & Cummings, 2017;Voight & Velez, 2018). There is a smaller but growing literature that goes beyond first-order change: A recent systematic review identified 36 studies that reported effects of YPAR and related youth inquiry approaches on setting-level outcomes such as practitioner growth, programs, and policies (Kennedy, DeChants, Bender, & Anyon, 2019). ...
Youth‐Led Participatory Action Research (YPAR) is a social justice‐focused approach for promoting social change and positive youth development in which youth conduct systematic research and actions to improve their schools and communities. Although YPAR is oriented to generating research for action, with evidence‐based recommendations often aimed at influencing adults with power over settings and systems that shape youths’ lives, we have little understanding of how YPAR evidence influences the thinking and/or actions of adult policymakers or practitioners. In general, the participatory research field lacks a theoretically informed “use of research evidence” lens, while the use of evidence field lacks consideration of the special case and implications of participatory research. To start to address these gaps, this paper presents a conceptual linkage across these two fields and then provides six illustrative case examples across diverse geographic, policy, and programmatic contexts to demonstrate opportunities and challenges in the use of YPAR evidence for policy and practice. Our illustrative focus here is on U.S. K‐12 educational contexts, the most‐studied setting in the YPAR literature, but questions examined here are relevant to YPAR and other systems domestically and internationally, including health, educational, and legal systems.
Highlights
• The use of research evidence (URE) field identifies characteristics of research and conditions that strengthen URE.
• Youth‐led Participatory Action Research is a special case for factors that influence research use.
• Six case examples across diverse K‐12 contexts illustrate facilitators and barriers for YPAR use.
• We propose next steps for community psychology research and action to promote the study and use of YPAR evidence.
... Initial efforts have been undertaken with youth aging out of child protective services and moving into adult behavioral health services (Rowe 2015). Recent studies have delineated ways of encouraging civic engagement among high school students (Ballard et al. 2016), and the ways in which white, African American, and Latinx students learn and respond to exposure to democratic principles. A citizenship framework's contribution to this exposure and to the differences in ways different groups respond to it could eventually have a positive impact on clinicians' support for their clients' "social lives." ...
This study employed a citizenship measure to explore mental health providers’ views of citizenship to support the societal participation of people with mental illnesses, with citizenship defined as a person’s (or people’s) strong connection to the 5Rs of rights, responsibilities, roles, resources and relationships and a sense of belonging that is validated by others. Providers identified key structural barriers to full citizenship for clients. Their comments reflect openness to citizenship as a framework for understanding their clients and the need for greater access to normative community life, but also skepticism regarding providers’ and public mental health centers’ abilities to incorporate citizenship approaches in current care models. Findings suggest there are challenges to implementing “citizenship-oriented care” in public mental health settings, but efforts to address these challenges can support the goal of “a life in the community.”
... Furthermore, some youth did apply a structural perspective when reasoning about more mainstream forms of civic engagement, including voting and volunteering, suggesting that adolescents have the capacity to reason about the broader, structural impact of different civic behaviors. Civic educators and scholars who are interested in promoting youth civic engagement, particularly youth activism, could benefit from considering a structural understanding of civic behaviors as a potentially important component of youth's developing civic knowledge and beliefs (Ballard, Cohen, & Littenberg-Tobias, 2016). ...
The current study examined sociodemographic characteristics and political discussion as correlates of adolescents’ qualitative understanding of three civic behaviors. Participants were 743 adolescents ( M age = 15.87, range = 13-20; 55.6% female; 89.9% White) from a midsized city and a small rural town in an Appalachian state. Open-ended responses to three civic behavior scenarios, asking participants why should people protest, vote, and volunteer were content coded (28 codes total). Anecdotal statements are provided to illustrate the variety of themes that emerged among adolescents’ written responses. Adolescents applied domain-specific reasons (moral, conventional, and personal) for specific types of civic behavior. Structural justifications were provided for all three civic behaviors, suggesting that many adolescents reason about the broader, structural impact of civic behaviors. In probit regression models, coding categories were differentially associated with adolescent demographic characteristics and political discussion. Findings offer insight into youth’s divergent understanding of different forms of civic responsibility and shed light on individual differences in youth’s developing civic beliefs.
... As students discuss issues in their community, they practice democracy by learning how to listen to others, respect views different from their own, and understand why multiple perspectives are essential for democracy (Youniss, 2011). Students also develop civic competence and the ability and willingness to engage in active civic life based on an attitude of trust in other people in various contexts of social life (Ballard, Cohen, & Littenberg-Tobias, 2016). ...
This paper describes student outcomes from participating in a week-long out-of-school action civics program designed to increase students’ civic and political competence and engagement. Using analysis from four years of survey data, this paper presents findings related to changes in students’ civic competence as a result of participating in the program, including findings related to both first time and repeat campers. Data revealed that participants experienced gains in half of the civic competence construct variables, with first-time campers experiencing significant gains in five of the civic competence construct variables. Data analysis suggests that iEngage, an action civics summer experience, was effective in increasing elements of students’ civic competence, including their ability to get people to care about a problem, organize and run a meeting, write an opinion letter or contact a media outlet to express their views, and contact an elected official or community leader to address an issue.
... Similar to previous studies, projects that engaged students directly with the community created more authentic learning experiences, which enhanced students' perceived value of the projects as well as their commitment to civic action (Metz, McLellan, & Youniss, 2003;Reinders & Youniss, 2006). Direct interactions with the community beyond the school walls have also been linked to gains in civic competence; Ballard et al. (2016) posited that such experiences provide unique opportunities for students to feel efficacious in civic life. Students who did not have access to such opportunities may not have gained an understanding of the importance or direction of the project. ...
Using both quantitative and qualitative data, the study discussed in this article examined the effects of participating in an action civics service-learning program on civic commitment and civic competence. The sample consisted of 393 eighth-grade students in three diverse middle schools from urban and rural contexts. Though previous research has demonstrated positive influences of service-learning on youth civic development, few studies have focused on younger adolescents and underrepresented populations, particularly Latino students. The results of this study indicated that a school-based action civics service- learning program may support the development of middle school students’ civic commitment and competence. A significant effect was found in relation to gender, with females reporting significantly higher levels of civic commitment and competence than males. The results demonstrated the complexity of developing civic dispositions, as project characteristics and implementation procedures influenced students’ participation levels and civic outcomes.
... Civic engagement might serve an instrumental or social function by helping young people develop greater social capital, professional skills that support academic and job performance, connecting them to social networks, and helping them develop occupational expectations(Diemer, 2009;Jarrett, Sullivan, & Watkins, 2005; La Due Lake & Huckfeldt, 1998;Malin et al., 2015). Civic activities can also allow young people to connect with important "real life" issues, especially through active schoolbased civic programs (e.g.,Levinson, 2010;Ballard, Cohen & Littenberg-Tobias, 2016) perhaps re-invigorating a sense of their own potential or inspiring them put more effort into school and career development. In sum, civic participation in its various forms might affect SES in adulthood by altering education and professional trajectories. ...
... While action civics models have demonstrated a better ability to support students in "doing civics" over traditional civics classes (Ballard, Cohen, & Littenberg-Tobias, 2016;Cipparone & Cohen, 2015), this study suggests that the mentors leading such instruction should provide students with the means and capacities to access and build civic networks. For example, action civics mentors could enable students to research key community figures related to a selected issue and enable them to contact such decision makers. ...
Civic leaders who are highly and effectively engaged often have strong relationships with key stakeholders across institutions and communities. The prevalence and nature of these relationships is not known among those with more typical levels of civic engagement. We were interested in the perceptions of likelihood of individual versus community action on particular topics. We surveyed a random sample of residents of two neighboring French towns and found that people perceive their neighbors to be, on average, more engaged than they perceive themselves to be, and that few individuals can provide specific action steps for how they would tackle social issues in their community. These results suggest that teaching civic action skills, including how to identify key decision makers as possible allies, is important for civic educators.
... Civic engagement might serve an instrumental or social function by helping young people develop greater social capital, professional skills that support academic and job performance, connecting them to social networks, and helping them develop occupational expectations (Diemer, 2009;Jarrett et al., 2005;La Due Lake & Huckfeldt, 1998;Malin et al., 2015). Civic activities can also allow young people to connect with important "real life" issues, especially through active school-based civic programs (e.g., Ballard, Cohen, & Littenberg-Tobias, 2016;Levinson, 2010), perhaps reinvigorating a sense of their own potential or inspiring them to put more effort into school and career development. In sum, civic participation in its various forms might affect SES in adulthood by altering education and professional trajectories. ...
The present study examines links between civic engagement (voting, volunteering, and activism) during late adolescence and early adulthood, and socioeconomic status and mental and physical health in adulthood. Using nationally representative data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, a propensity score matching approach is used to rigorously estimate how civic engagement is associated with outcomes among 9,471 adolescents and young adults (baseline Mage = 15.9). All forms of civic engagement are positively associated with subsequent income and education level. Volunteering and voting are favorably associated with subsequent mental health and health behaviors, and activism is associated with more health-risk behaviors and not associated with mental health. Civic engagement is not associated with physical health.
Civic-science integrates science knowledge with civic practice but differs from the citizen-science prototype by reframing science as a public good and citizens as both recipients of and actors in policy. We draw from our studies of a civic-science model in which adolescents (majority African-American) collaborate with teachers and community partners to mitigate an environmental problem in their urban community. Based on students’ reflections on what they learn from these projects we have developed Environmental Commons theory, referring both to the natural resources on which life depends and the public spaces where people negotiate how they will care for those resources and for the communities they inhabit. We contend that, to solve twenty-first century environmental and climate challenges, it is myopic to rely on elite groups of scientific experts and policymakers. Instead, a civic science skill set should be part of the preparation of younger generations to be informed citizens and youth from urban ethnic minority communities should be a high priority. From an eco-justice standpoint, these groups bear a disproportionate share of the burdens of environmental pollution and climate change yet historically have been marginalized by the institution of science and, until recently, relatively neglected by environmental movements.
Problem of formation Ukrainian students` civic consciousness is in the focus of research in philosophical and psychological and pedagogical sciences of Ukraine. United States of America is an example of the formation of civic consciousness in a democratic society. Education of citizenship of students on the basis of respect for the rights of every person, the recognition of the rule of law, conscious voluntary citizens to perform their duties and care for the common good is a key concept in US philosophy of higher education. This concept provides the priority of training students as responsible members of the democratic society to conscious activity for the benefit of the community. It is established that education Citizenship of student youth in the United States has a universal public nature. The state, higher education and social institutions are involved in this process environment (public organizations, mass media, institutions of the sphere culture, etc.). Students of higher educational institutions have been considered a resource for future social development in the United States of America that make a significant contribution to social transformation in society. Formation of students’ civic consciousness upbrings certain personal qualities, skills and attitudes necessary for a citizen of a democratic society.
Case studies of single classrooms and schools have shown promising evidence of learning outcomes associated with action civics and student voice. These findings justify efforts to expand and sustain such opportunities, to ensure greater access for students, and to create a positive feedback loop between youth activism and equity-centered systems change. Although the literature on educational innovation and scaling offers some guidance, this literature has not grappled sufficiently with issues of power that come to the fore when the innovation, such as student activism, challenges dominant systems and practices. We draw on theories of antiracist education and community organizing to propose a theory of change for scaling and sustaining justice-centered civic learning. We situate this argument in examples from a research-practice partnership that has sought to scale a district-sponsored program that works with teachers and students to raise awareness about injustices and to catalyze student engagement in action research and policy change.
Using a student-centered approach, Generation Citizen’s (GC) action civics model helps students gain civic knowledge and skills as they work together to take action on a local issue in their community. This paper draws upon reflections from GC’s decade-plus of teaching action civics at scale in middle and high schools across the United States, highlighting drivers for nonpartisan civics education efforts in Texas, Oklahoma, California, Alabama, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York. Reflections on GC’s work also point to the opportunities and challenges that GC encountered as it scaled We suggest future directions for research and practice for nonpartisan action civics work into the next decade.
Student-centered, project-based, guided experiential civics education approaches, like action civics, may have benefits for general academic outcomes. Action civics programs provide applied settings for learning civics: students work together in groups to take action on a local issue. To the best of our knowledge, we conducted the first quasi-experimental evaluation of the impact of a school-based action civics intervention, Generation Citizen (GC), on academic engagement. Exposure to GC was associated with increased participation in non-GC classes and there was no statistically significant effect on unexcused absences. Oftentimes, schools deprioritize civics education due to limited resources and/or focusing on other subjects; our findings suggest that action civics education may have useful, generalized spillover benefits for student academic engagement.
Recently, scholars have begun exploring the benefits and challenges of using college students to help develop Kindergarten-12th Grade (K-12) students' civic engagement capacities, specifically through action civics programs. However, much of the literature focuses on the political and social knowledge obtained by the K-12 students. By contrast, the authors explore the dispositions that college students need to effectively facilitate such learning with K-12 students, culled from grounded coding of four cases. They argue that action civics facilitator training programs should focus on action civics dispositions because dispositions underpin the knowledge and skills facilitators need to access to support complex civic work with K-12 students. Specifically, training programs should include dispositional work, valuing student-led projects, multiple perspectives, the development of relationships in contexts, and social justice. In this way, the values that drive Dewey's concept of democratic life can continue to underpin students' future civic work.
Civic engagement can be empowering and might promote well-being, especially for individuals from marginalized backgrounds. This study uses a novel experimental approach to simulate civic engagement in a laboratory study and to test whether this approach engenders civic empowerment and buffers psychological and physiological reactivity to stress and social rejection. Young adults, primarily experiencing low socioeconomic status ( N = 128), were randomly assigned to deliver a speech about a civic or a neutral issue. Giving a civic speech leads to higher feelings of empowerment compared with giving a neutral speech. Delivering the civic speech buffers sympathetic nervous system reactivity to stress (measured through the pre-ejection period) and leads to higher identification with social class background. This is one of the first studies to use an experimental approach and psychophysiological methods to examine the effects of civic empowerment on civic, psychosocial, and physiological reactivity outcomes.
Meaningfully engaging and supporting youth in their communities can promote their sense of efficacy and potentially their health and wellbeing. The objective of this study was to test whether a school-based youth civic empowerment program, Generation Citizen (GC), was associated with self-reported mental and physical health among participants, and whether these associations differed by two potential modifiers: civic self-efficacy and a sense of meaningful contributions to one's community. Participants were middle and high school students (N = 364) who participated in GC in the fall semester of 2014 and completed surveys at the beginning and end of the semester. Analyses revealed a small but statistically significant increase in self-reported physical health after GC and no statistically significant change in self-reported mental health. There was evidence of effect measure modification by civic self-efficacy such that the difference in physical health as civic self-efficacy increased was smaller post-intervention compared to pre-intervention. This could suggest that GC participation is particularly beneficial for those with lower civic self-efficacy. While our findings suggest that public health interventions may benefit from centering empowerment opportunities for youth, future research is warranted to better understand the particular role of civic self-efficacy in that process.
If Congress passed a law saying that those who earned less than $35,000 a year no longer had the right to vote or influence who gets elected to the U.S. Senate, most of us would be outraged. With such a law, some would ask, "Can we still call ourselves a democracy?" Unfortunately, according to recent research by Larry Bartels of Princeton University, such a law might not make a big difference. Indeed, after reading Bartels's findings, one might be tempted to ask, "Have we already passed this law?".
Civic engagement is an important marker of thriving among adolescents, and more research is needed that clarifies the ecological assets (positive supports across settings) that foster youth civic engagement. Simultaneously modeling associations between multiple ecological assets and civic behaviors can provide a nuanced view of the way adolescents’ ecological assets relate to distinct forms of civic engagement. To advance positive youth development theory, we used a bifactor modeling approach to examine general and specific ecological asset factors in relation to volunteering, conventional political, online political, and informal helping behaviors. In a large ethnically diverse sample of adolescents, the general ecological asset factor was positively associated with informal helping only. Classroom civic learning opportunities were positively associated with volunteering, conventional, and online political behaviors. Family political discussions were positively associated with conventional and online political behaviors. Our study suggests that civic engagement should be understood multidimensionally and that broad and specific ways of conceptualizing ecological assets have merit for understanding different types of youth civic engagement.
Empowerment and critical consciousness are concepts with shared roots. Both are associated with attempts at overcoming oppression and fostering human development, community participation, and wellbeing. Both concepts have been influential in theoretical accounts and empirical studies of youth civic development. This is particularly true in studies of young people's involvement and leadership in change efforts such as community organizing , activism, and social movements. The differences between the concepts, however, are often difficult to discern , even for those conducting research informed by these concepts. For instance, although critical consciousness provides a greater relative emphasis on cognitive aspects of civic development in contrast to empowerment's accentu-ation of emotional aspects, both have been theorized as overarching conceptual frames spanning emotional and cognitive aspects of civic development. In this article, we examine these two kindred concepts and their associated bodies of research literature. Our analysis identifies opportunities for cross-fertilization between critical consciousness and psychological empowerment that can lead to more holistic understanding of youth civic development.
In this article, we attempt to distinguish between the properties of moderator and mediator variables at a number of levels. First, we seek to make theorists and researchers aware of the importance of not using the terms moderator and mediator interchangeably by carefully elaborating, both conceptually and strategically, the many ways in which moderators and mediators differ. We then go beyond this largely pedagogical function and delineate the conceptual and strategic implications of making use of such distinctions with regard to a wide range of phenomena, including control and stress, attitudes, and personality traits. We also provide a specific compendium of analytic procedures appropriate for making the most effective use of the moderator and mediator distinction, both separately and in terms of a broader causal system that includes both moderators and mediators. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This article proposes psychological empowerment as an orientation and targeted outcome for community development efforts.
Psychological empowerment has been the focus of many studies in community psychology, where it has been defined as the psychological
aspects of processes through which people, organizations, and communities take greater control over their affairs. Psychological
empowerment has been found to increase with greater levels of community participation, and to have protective mental health
effects. Community and organizational processes that are psychologically empowering are promising as approaches to sustainably
promote both subjective well-being and objective changes in local systems. The case is made in this article for more widespread
use of empowerment theory, at multiple levels of analysis, in community development processes. Participatory development is
viewed as a particularly promising approach for the promotion of psychological empowerment, yet more thorough consideration
and assessment of psychological empowerment holds promise for achieving the full potential of participatory approaches.
The findings on the association between Social Networking Sites and civic engagement are mixed. The present study aims to evaluate a theoretical model linking the informational use of Internet-based social media (specifically, Facebook) with civic competencies and intentions for future civic engagement, taking into account the mediating role of civic discussions with family and friends and sharing the news online. Participants were 114 Italian high school students aged 14-17 years (57 % boys). Path analysis was used to evaluate the proposed theoretical model. Results showed that Facebook informational use was associated with higher levels of adolescent perceived competence for civic action, both directly and through the mediation of civic discussion with parents and friends (offline). Higher levels of civic competencies, then, were associated with a stronger intention to participate in the civic domain in the future. Our findings suggest that Facebook may provide adolescents with additional tools through which they can learn civic activities or develop the skills necessary to participate in the future.
The topic of youth civic engagement is increasingly popular in social science research; however, the question of why some youth are civically involved while others are not is not well understood. This article addresses the following questions: What motivations and barriers do youth report for civic involvement? How do motivations and barriers differ across school contexts? A qualitative study using in-depth semi-structured interviews with youth (N = 22) was used to identify four categories of motivations and two categories of barriers for civic involvement. Variation emerged in the motivations and barriers for civic involvement both within and across school contexts. Understanding civic motivations in context uncovers new insights about how to structure opportunities to better facilitate youth civic involvement.
Participating in civic life is an important developmental task of adolescence and a central tenet of democracy. What motivates diverse youth in the United States to become involved in civic life? Using a mixed-method and person-centered approach, the authors (1) identified subgroups of participants based on their motivations for political and nonpolitical volunteering and (2) explored differences in civic motivations by ethnic and immigration backgrounds among Asian and Latino adolescents. Using latent class analysis, the authors identified four classes of motivation for political (n = 414) and nonpolitical volunteer (n = 1,066) activities: helping identity, instrumental, personal issue, and weak motivation. Overall, first- and second-generation Latino and Asian youth and nonimmigrants showed more similarities than differences in civic motivations. Survey and interview data revealed that youth from immigrant backgrounds were more motivated to volunteer by instrumental reasons compared to nonimmigrants. Qualitative analyses also revealed that immigrant youth from Mexican backgrounds were mobilized around issues of immigration reform whereas youth from Asian backgrounds were concerned with issues in their local communities.
The context of privilege provides unique opportunities and challenges for youth civic development. A mixed-method approach was used to examine links between school-based community service, school climate, and civic orientation among students in cultures of privilege. Surveys completed by students (N = 376) at two private high schools—one with an extracurricular community service requirement and one without—suggest that students in the school without the service requirement report similar, and in some cases more positive, civic attitudes than students from the school with the requirement. Focus-group data indicated that the service requirement was viewed positively, but illuminated other school experiences that might promote community orientation in cultures of privilege, such as an emphasis on global awareness and making civic priorities fundamental to school identity.
Recent methodological research has addressed the important issue of sample size at each level when estimating multilevel models. Although several design factors have been investigated in these studies, differences between continuous and binary predictor variables have not been scrutinized (previous findings are based on models with continuous predictor variables). To help address this gap in the literature, this Monte Carlo study focused on the consequences of level-2 sparseness on the estimation of fixed and random effects coefficients in terms of model convergence and both point and interval parameter estimates. The 5,760 conditions simulated in the Monte Carlo study varied in terms of level-1 sample size, number of level-2 units, proportion of singletons (level-2 units with one observation), type of predictor, collinearity, intraclass correlation, and model complexity.
Published in: Social Education, 2011; 75(5): 267-270. Introduction: Teachers, policymakers, and researchers recognize the importance of addressing the country's devastating academic achievement gap, but discussion and action have focused primarily on traditional content knowledge and skills: literacy and math. Less attention has been paid to an expanding gap in civic engagement amongst our nation's youth. Similar to the academic achievement gap, non-white, poor, and/or immigrant youth demonstrate significantly lower levels of civic knowledge, skills, motivation, and participation (Levinson, 2010; Verba, Schlozman, & Brady, 1995). For instance, compared to Americans earning under $15,000, Americans earning over $75,000 are twice as likely to contact an elected official and protest, almost three times more likely to participate in informal community activities, and more than four times more likely to work on a campaign or serve on a board (Verba, Schlozman, & Brady, 1995). On the 2006 NAEP Civics Assessment, poor White 4 th and 8 th graders performed as well as middle-and upper-class Black and Latino students, and significantly better than poor Black and Latino youth (Levinson, 2010). This gap ensures that policy decisions and social structures generally reflect the interests of a small minority rather than our diverse nation as a whole (Levinson, 2010; Verba, Schlozman, & Brady, 1995). The widening civic engagement gap deserves our urgent attention, and it starts with ensuring that students receive an effective civics education. Civic education has been neglected in recent years due to the questionable effectiveness of its more traditional forms (Niemi & Junn, 1998) and the increased importance of economic competiveness and standardized tests (Grubb & Lazerson, 2004; Reuben, 2005; Graham, 2005), which rarely cover civics. However, high-quality civics instruction, which includes discussion of current events, service-learning opportunities, and simulations of democratic processes (Carnegie Corporation of New York and CIRCLE, 2003), has been associated with gains in civic outcomes, especially for poor and minority students (Kahne & Sporte, 2008). Moreover, civic engagement is positively associated with educational attainment and achievement test scores (Carnegie Corporation and CIRCLE, 2003). When taught in an engaging manner that also reinforces and applies interdisciplinary knowledge, civic education can help stimulate and motivate students to excel in other academic areas, while simultaneously preparing our young people to be active citizens in our democracy. While this research suggests that civic education has an important place in schools, and that its quality matters, there is less research that closely examines the curriculum and instruction taking place in civics programs that attempt to challenge the status quo. This dearth of research Page 2 of 8 means that little guidance is available to policymakers and practitioners who hope to narrow the gap in civic engagement. Several organizations promoting high-quality civic education have recently banded together to form the National Action Civics Collaborative, an attempt to create and share strategies for more effective practice and evaluation. As an initial attempt to more systematically analyze civic education practice, this paper presents four case studies of projects in one action civics program, Generation Citizen. While it is a descriptive study and cannot be used to draw conclusions about best practices in civic education, it can raise questions to guide much-needed further research, as well as share lessons learned that may be applicable to schools or organizations hoping to incorporate action civics into their curriculum. What is action civics? One approach to civic education, action civics, has recently been developed by nonprofit organizations that collaborate closely with schools and districts. While action civics programs, such as the Mikva Challenge in Chicago and Earth Force, based in Colorado, may differ in the specifics of their programming, all emphasize collective action, youth voice and agency, and reflection. Students select issues important to them, and take action on those issues within a context that promotes reflection, skills development, and other forms of learning. Generation Citizen, the action civics organization profiled in this article, promotes civic engagement in historically under-represented youth populations by offering a student-centered curriculum explicitly aligned with state educational standards in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New York. Based on the literature outlined above and preliminary evaluation findings in action civics organizations, we hypothesize that students' learning in civics can simultaneously promote motivation and self-efficacy, which may also spill over to affect performance and engagement in other academic disciplines.
Prior research highlights the mismatch between adolescents' growing capacities for autonomy and the limited opportunities for influence in U.S. secondary schools. Youth-led participatory research (YPAR), an approach in which young people research and advocate for change on problems of concern to them, could increase students' autonomy in secondary schools. This qualitative study of YPAR examined whether and how the intervention meaningfully affected the interactions and roles of students and adults in two distinctive urban high school settings, identifying concepts for further empirical investigation. Results suggested that YPAR enabled processes of student professionalization that led to novel student-adult “collegial” interactions, expansion of domains of student influence, and diversification of students with opportunities to influence policies and practices across these two schools.
Evidence suggesting that the growth of civic roots in adolescence may be crucial to the long-term development of citizenship has stimulated research into factors that might influence civic development during this time. One interesting finding to emerge from that exploration is the apparent importance of discussion to the development of civic competence. Adolescents who discuss politics and current events with their parents, peers, or teachers tend to score higher than other youth on measures of civic behaviors, attitudes, and skills. They develop higher levels of political knowledge, show greater intention to vote in the future, and do better on a range of civic outcomes from petitioning and boycotting to raising money for charities and participating in community meetings (Torney-Purta et al. 2001; Andolina et al. 2003).
For more than a century, there has been a growing interest in school climate. Recently, the U.S. Department of Education, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Institute for Educational Sciences, a growing number of State Departments of Education, foreign educational ministries, and UNICEF have focused on school climate reform as an evidence-based school improvement strategy that supports students, parents/guardians, and school personnel learning and working together to create ever safer, more supportive and engaging K–12 schools. This work presents an integrative review on school climate research. The 206 citations used in this review include experimental studies, correlational studies, literature reviews, and other descriptive studies. The review focuses on five essential dimensions of school climate: Safety, Relationships, Teaching and Learning, Institutional Environment, and the School Improvement Process. We conclude with a critique of the field and a series of recommendations for school climate researchers and policymakers.
We employed a quasi‐experimental design using pre/post surveys and comparisons with control groups to examine the impact of the Constitutional Rights Foundation’s CityWorks (U.S.A.) curriculum. In particular, we assessed its ability to further democratic aims by supporting the development of three forms of social capital: norms of civic participation, social trust, and knowledge of social networks. Our evaluation indicates that this curriculum and several of its curricular features (use of simulations, role models, service learning, learning about problems in the community, learning how local government works, and personal relevance) have the potential to further the democratic purposes of education.
This study of 4,057 students from 52 high schools in Chicago finds that a set of specific kinds of civic learning opportunities fosters notable improvements in students’ commitments to civic participation. The study controls for demographic factors, preexisting civic commitments, and academic test scores. Prior large-scale studies that found limited impact from school-based civic education often did not focus on the content and style of the curriculum and instruction. Discussing civic and political issues with one’s parents, extracurricular activities other than sports, and living in a civically responsive neighborhood also appear to meaningfully support this goal. Other school characteristics appear less influential.
Qualitative research describing and theorizing about the emerging civic identities of diverse youth is scarce. This study provides a textured view of how civic identity is constructed and negotiated by racially and socioeconomically diverse adolescents, based on interviews and in-class discus- sions conducted with students in four public secondary schools. Youth living in distinct contexts come to school-based civic education with varied understandings—shaped by disparate daily experiences—of what it means to be an American citizen and a participant in the civic life of a democracy. This investigator's examination of diverse adolescents' discussions of their in-school and out-of-school civic experiences suggests a "typology" of civic identity that runs counter to prevalent views of the civic engagement of urban, minority youth. The study illustrates sharp dis- parities in daily civic experiences of youth from diverse racial and socioeconomic backgrounds, and suggests that schools can either hinder or encourage development of engaged, action-oriented civic identities among students from various contexts.
This multi-method study examines tensions in the practice of youth-led participatory research (YPAR) in urban high schools among 15 semester-cohorts. Student participants in the present study were 77 ethnically diverse youth from four high schools in a major metropolitan school district. Data were gathered using systematic classroom observations, interviews with teachers and students involved in the projects, and participant observation. The two most commonly-constrained phases of the YPAR project were issue selection and action steps. A central tension in the issue selection phase for projects enacted across multiple semester cohorts was the tension between original inquiry and "traction:" Sticking with the same topic enabled sustained building of strategic alliances and expertise for making change, but limited the incoming cohort's power to define the problem to be addressed. In further analyses, we identified processes that promoted student power despite continuity-related constraints-teachers' framing and buy-in strategies, "micro-power" compensation, and alignment of students' interests with the prior cohort-as well as constraints in other phases of the projects. This study's findings regarding the promotion of youth power in the face of constraints advance the integration of theory and practice in youth-led research and have implications for participatory research more broadly.
The developmental correlates of diffuse support for the polity and civic commitments were explored in a survey of 1,052 students (mean age = 14.96 years) from African American, Arab American, European American, and Latino American backgrounds. Results of structural equation modeling revealed that regardless of their age, gender, or ethnic background, youth were more likely to believe that America was a just society and to commit to democratic goals if they felt a sense of community connectedness, especially if they felt that their teachers practiced a democratic ethic at school. Discussion focuses on the civic purposes of education in inculcating a sense of identification with the polity in younger generations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Taking the position that there is a developmental process in the formation of citizenship, the authors reviewed studies that reported a link between youth's participation in organized activities and civic behaviors 15 or more years later in adulthood. Data uniformly showed that students who participated in high school government or community service projects, meant in the broad sense, are more likely to vote and to join community organizations than are adults who were nonparticipants during high school. Results support the authors' view that participation during the youth era can be seminal in the construction of civic identity that includes a sense of agency and social responsibility in sustaining the community's well-being.
Justin is not alone. In a recent study of high school seniors from California, for example, only 28% agreed that “I think people in government care about what people like me and my family need” (Kahne and Middaugh 2005). Related findings are common. A survey by the National Association of Secretaries of State, for example, revealed that two-thirds of all young people agreed that “our generation has an important voice, but no one seems to hear it.” Moreover, those youth who were least trusting were also the least likely to vote, to believe that government can affect their lives, or to pay attention to politics (National Association of Secretaries of State 1999). These findings, combined with numerous other indicators that show low and in many cases declining civic and political participation, indicate that forms of engagement required for a participatory democracy to thrive are in need of attention (Macedo et al. 2005). The initial research for this essay was generously supported by a grant from the Surdna Foundation. Subsequent research and writing was generously supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. We also wish to thank Melinda Fine, Barbara Leckie, Tobi Walker, and James Youniss for helpful feedback on earlier drafts. The authors are solely responsible for any and all conclusions.
In this article, we take a critical look at the growing interest in U.S. political participation as it exists in the youth civic engagement literature. Our critique draws from principles of liberation and developmental psychology, and from the incisive writings of experts in youth organizing. Youth Organizing evolved from the Positive Youth Development (PYD) and Community Youth Development (CYD) perspectives but its addition of social justice activism is consistent with liberation psychology. The essence of our critique is this: Although there is certainly value in the current civic engagement literature, much of it focuses on the maintenance of social and political institutions rather than on action for social justice. To promote a better balance, and one more relevant to the lives of youth of color and other marginalized young people, we offer a framework for empirical research on youth sociopolitical development. The focus is on the relationship between social analysis (including critical consciousness) and societal involvement that includes the full range of service and political work. Because youth is the focus, we also include a brief discussion of a distinctive challenge that adults face in doing just work with young people—namely, adultism. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 35: 779–792, 2007.
This article describes an Action Civics project conducted with fourth graders in Peter’s classroom at P.S. 29, John M. Harrigan School, in Brooklyn, New York. This project was based on ideas and methods in the curriculum of Generation Citizen, which is geared for middle and high school students, but applied here to the fourth grade. The project required four 50-minute classes over a two-week period, with some additional time at the end for following up with students as the results of their efforts unfolded. Co-teachers in this project included Generation Citizen’s Director of Programming Sarah Andes and Executive Director Scott Warren.
The exploration of social networking sites (SNS) in promoting social change efforts offers great potential within the field of community psychology. Online communities on SNS provide opportunities for bridging across groups, thus fostering the exchange of novel ideas and practices. Currently, there have only been limited efforts to examine SNS within the context of youth-led efforts. To explore the potential of SNS to facilitate the diffusion of social justice efforts between distinct youth groups, we linked three school-based youth-led participatory action research projects involving 54 high school students through a SNS. This study offers an innovative methodological approach and framework, utilizing social network analysis and strategic sampling of key student informants to investigate what individual behaviors and online network features predict student adoption of social change efforts. Findings highlight prospective facilitators and barriers to diffusion processes within a youth-led online network, as well as key constructs that may inform future research. We conclude by providing suggestions for scholars and practitioners interested in examining how SNS can be used to enhance the diffusion of social justice strategies, youth-led engagement efforts, and large-scale civic organizing.
There is increasing concern about the large civic engagement gap between Whites and Latina/o and African American youth. Some suggest this may be because traditional models and measures of civic engagement may not be as applicable for youth from historically marginalized groups. With an urban sample of middle and high school-age youth (n = 903, 52% female), we used structural equation modeling to identify differences in civic pathways between youth from different racial/ethnic backgrounds. We found significant differences between groups including much stronger relationships between exposure to democratic practices and civic self-efficacy and knowledge for African American and Latina/o youth than for White youth and a stronger relationship between civic knowledge and future civic engagement for Whites and Latina/os than for African Americans. These findings suggest that educators and researchers interested need to take into account the diversity of youths' racial experiences when examining youth civic development.
We examined links among three dimensions of youth involvement (intensity, duration, and engagement) in Boy Scouts of America (BSA), an international out-of-school time (OST) youth development program designed to promote moral and performance character in boys. Using data from 737 youth and their parents who participated in one of 40 BSA program sites (commonly referred to as “packs”), we first considered how individual- and pack-level measures of program involvement were differentially linked with character development. Next, we examined whether pack-level involvement characteristics moderate individual-level involvement characteristics, hypothesizing that highly involved packs would serve to further enhance the positive effects of high levels of individual involvement. Results indicated engagement was the strongest, most frequent predictor of increases in both moral and performance character. Although there were no direct effects of pack-level intensity, duration, or engagement, the effects of individual-level engagement were moderated by pack-level engagement, suggesting that the largest increases in moral and performance character occurred among highly engaged youth who were enrolled in highly engaged packs. These results highlight the need to examine multiple dimensions of OST program involvement simultaneously, and suggest that strengthening youth engagement in programming may provide a means for enhancing the positive effects of high-quality youth programming.
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.
Grounded in the context of the gap in civic participation, action-based civics curricula, and how classroom interactions may affect student development, we present the CIVVICS (Civic Interactions motiVating diVerse Individuals in Classroom Settings) observation tool. CIVVICS's four domains—Lesson Planning and Implementation, Classroom Interactions, Student Engagement, and Civic Empowerment—integrate awareness of classroom organization and student engagement with attention to how a classroom promotes students’ connections to civic goals and engages all students in positive interactions. This tool can be used to inform curricular implementation as well as professional development for interventions that promote democratic classroom climates and youth empowerment. We demonstrate the use of CIVVICS in partnership with Generation Citizen, a youth civic education program.
Introduction: Education programs rarely have the same effect for all students and all settings. Individual-, school-, and community-level factors can affect the success of program implementation. Here, we analyzed the impact of school-level factors on the effectiveness of Generation Citizen, a program run by a non-profit in partnership with classroom teachers and college student volunteers that provides school-based programming to empower students with the knowledge, skills, and motivation for civic action through youth participatory action research.
Several types of settings can influence and/or alter the effectiveness of program interventions: innovations, or the intervention itself; providers, or those that administer the intervention; communities, or those that receive the intervention; and the delivery system, the mechanisms that make up the intervention (Durlak & Dupre, 2008).
Methods: Our analysis focuses primarily in the provider, community, and delivery categories, since we have previously documented the impact of the Generation Citizen intervention overall. In the provider category, we consider how the school-organization partnership was initiated, whether there was a fee for program participation, and whether the school is public, charter, or private. In the community category, we consider the demographics of participating schools. In the delivery category, we examine the type of class into which the program is introduced (i.e. required or elective course), the level of classroom teacher involvement, the quality of the relationship between the college student volunteer and the classroom teacher, and various volunteer characteristics.
Our outcome variable, future intended civic engagement, is a sum score of several Likert-scaled items that assess likelihood of future civic engagement in several domains, including voting, expressing opinions to media, and leading initiatives (Cronbach’s alpha= 0.78). We use a quasi-experimental design to collect data through student survey over three winters (total n is over 1000) among students immediately following their participation in Generation Citizen over the fall semester (intervention group) and students about to begin their participation in Generation Citizen in the spring semester (control group).
We conduct random-effects regression accounting for clustering at the classroom and school-level and controlling for covariates.
Results: Preliminary results for geographic location and year of implementation find different effect sizes and directions.
Conclusion: Our findings will have implications for positive youth development programs as well as school-based programs more generally.
This meta-analysis assessed the effect of community service on adolescent development and the moderation of this effect by reflection, community service, and adolescent characteristics to explicate the mechanisms underlying community service effects. Random effects analyses, based on 49 studies (24,477 participants, 12–20 years old), revealed that community service had positive effects on academic, personal, social, and civic outcomes. Moderation analyses indicated that reflection was essential; the effect for studies that include reflection was substantial (mean ES = .41) while community service in the absence of reflection yielded negligible benefits (mean ES = .05). Effects increased when studies include more frequent reflection and community service, reflection on academic content, and older adolescents. These findings have implications for understanding and improving community service.
The use of multilevel modeling with data from population-based surveys is often limited by the small number of cases per Level 2 unit, prompting a recent trend in the neighborhood literature to apply cluster techniques to address the problem of data sparseness. In this study, the authors use Monte Carlo simulations to investigate the effects of marginal group sizes on multilevel model performance, bias, and efficiency. They then employ cluster analysis techniques to minimize data sparseness and examine the consequences in the simulations. They find that estimates of the fixed effects are robust at the extremes of data sparseness, while cluster analysis is an effective strategy to increase group size and prevent the overestimation of variance components. However, researchers should be cautious about the degree to which they use such clustering techniques due to the introduction of artificial within-group heterogeneity.
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.
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.
The influences of high school community service participation, extracurricular involvement, and civic knowledge on voting and volunteering in early adulthood were examined using the National Educational Longitudinal Study. The major finding in this study is that both voluntary and school-required community service in high school were strong predictors of adult voting and volunteering. In addition, involvement in high school extracurricular activities was predictive of voting and volunteering. Civic knowledge was related only to voting. The authors consider the findings for their policy relevance and their contributions to theoretical debates.
Youth–adult partnerships (Y-APs) for organizational and community change represent an innovative practice in the United States. Innovations are typically a challenge to implement, so it is not surprising that youth organizations are seeking guidance on how to adopt and sustain Y-APs. This article brings contemporary scholarship to bear on the issue. Through a synthesis of theory, research, and field-based data, it identifies six managerial guidelines for adopting and beginning to implement the innovative practice of Y-APs: (1) gain clarity and consensus on the purpose of Y-AP, (2) mobilize and coordinate a diverse range of stakeholders, (3) create favorable narratives about Y-AP, (4) construct theories and stories of organizational change, (5) affirmatively address issues of power, and (6) institutionalize new roles for youth. These guidelines depend on stakeholders having adequate time for shared organizational learning. Time for reflective dialogue, however, is a precious commodity in youth organizations, one that is rarely financed by public agencies or private foundations. A major challenge for the future, in terms of the wide-scale adoption and implementation of innovation, specifically Y-AP, may therefore lie in the creation of incentives and support for organizational reflection. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 33: 121–135, 2005.
This article serves as an introduction to the special issue and to the emerging topic of intergenerational relationships and partnerships in community programs. Our aim is to offer a frame in which to consider theory and practice on the topic. Toward that end, we focus on the multiple purposes of intergenerational relationships, adult strategies for creating strong relationships, and the organizational supports necessary to support relationships and partnerships. This analysis highlights program examples from the 10 articles included in this volume. We conclude by identifying key issues that researchers may explore to further enhance our understainging of youth–adult relationships and partnerships. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 33: 1–10, 2005.
After decades of neglect, civic education is back on the agenda of po-litical 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 knowl-edge 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 tra-ditional classroom-based civic education can significantly raise political knowledge. Service learning—a combination of community-based civic experience and system-atic 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.
Citizenship and the Civic Empowerment Gap De Facto Segregated Minority Schools What We Can Do
The relationship of voluntary work, school climates, and family values to public interest as a life goal of adolescents is presented for a sample of 5,579 12–18 year olds in three stable and four transitional democracies. In five of the seven countries, females were more likely than males to be engaged in voluntary work, and in all seven countries girls were more likely than boys to report that their families encouraged an ethic of social responsibility. Regardless of gender or country, adolescents were more likely to consider public interest an important life goal when their families emphasized an ethic of social responsibility. In addition, engagement in volunteer work and a sense of student solidarity at school were formative components of public interest as a life goal for youth in some but not all countries.
This article examines the unfolding of experiences in youth programs that differed in the degree of youth and adult influence over program activities. In-depth qualitative data were obtained over a three- to four-month cycle of activities in two “youth-driven” and two “adult-driven” programs for high-school–aged youth. All had been identified as high quality, and in all of the programs, the adults were sensitive and respectful to the youth. Rather than finding that one approach was categorically better than the other, our analyses suggested that each provided distinct developmental experiences, and that each presented somewhat different day-to-day challenges to the adults. In the youth-driven programs, the youth experienced a high degree of ownership and empowerment, and they reported development of leadership and planning skills. In the adult-driven programs, the adults crafted student-centered learning experiences that facilitated youth's development of specific talents. Across both approaches, youth also gained self-confidence and benefited from the adults' experience in other ways. The article highlights balancing techniques that adults in both programs used for keeping youth's work in the program on track while keeping youth invested. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 33: 57–74, 2005.