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"After spending the morning with some very engaging 8th graders
at Twinfield Union School, my belief is reinforced that Project Citizen
offers kids more than a course in civics education. It gives them a
real-life opportunity to develop and sharpen their decision-making
abilities. I hope, for our country's sake, that some of these Project
Citizen students opt for a career in public service"
Senator James M. Jeffords,
speaking to the Twinfield (VT)
Union School's 8th grade
Project Citizen class
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Project Citizen
We the People: Project Citizen is a curricular program for middle, secondary, and post-secondary students, youth organizations, and adult groups that promotes competent and responsible participation in local and state government. The program helps participants learn how to monitor and influence public policy. In the process, they develop support for democratic values and principles, tolerance, and feelings of political efficacy
Entire classes of students or members of youth or adult organizations work cooperatively to identify a public policy problem in their community. They then research the problem, evaluate alternative solutions, develop their own solution in the form of a public policy, and create a political action plan to enlist local or state authorities to adopt their proposed policy. Participants develop a portfolio of their work and present their project in a public hearing showcase before a panel of civic-minded community members. |
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Participation
The curriculum was first used in the 1995-96 school year as a pilot in 12 states. Since then the domestic program has expanded to include schools in every state as well as American Samoa, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico. As of September 29, 2008, approximately 32,200 teachers have taught Project Citizen to over 1,955,000 students.
The formula for tracking student participation is based on two different surveys. The first was conducted in November 1997 by researchers at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin, in preparing An Assessment of We the People Project Citizen: Promoting Citizenship in Classrooms and Communities. The second was conducted by the Center for Civic Education in February 1999.
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Evaluation
A recent study, conducted by the independent firm RMC Research Corporation, found that Project Citizen students gained significantly more in their knowledge of public policy than comparison students. Project Citizen students also demonstrated superior writing ability in articulating, researching, and advocating policy solutions in essays addressing public policy problems. |
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International
Project Citizen is used in classrooms around the world. And has been translated into more than 40 languages. Countries using the curriculum include: Albania, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Germany, Ghana, Honduras, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea (south), Kosova, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Senegal, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovak Republic, Slovakia, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, Ukraine, West Bank and Gaza. For more information, visit the Civitas International Programs section of our website. |
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Center for Civic Education 
