We lead students to make change
in their communities by partnering
trained college volunteers (Mentors)
with secondary school teachers to
implement an “action civics” curriculum”
Over the course of the twice-weekly semester-long in-class program (approximately 20-25 classes), students learn to map their community’s assets and challenges, develop a focused, strategic plan to address an issue they care about, and then take real action on it. Students lobby elected officials, write opinion pieces for newspapers, and make documentaries to advance solutions to important community issues. Through direct engagement in real-world advocacy, guided by near-peer college Mentors and teachers, students gain the civic knowledge, skills, and motivation necessary to effect change in their communities. Generation Citizen closes the Civic Engagement Gap by teaching students how to harness the power of our democratic system to make a difference in their own lives.
By operating within school hours, Generation Citizen ensures that all students learn about their role in the democratic process, not merely those who self-select to take part in extracurricular activities. All students thus gain not only civic knowledge and skills, but also an empowering experience of leading actual change in their communities.
Each semester culminates in Civics Day, in which student representatives from classes in each city present their work to other students, community members, and public officials, celebrating their work and gaining feedback to further their efforts. Civics Day is therefore a chance for students to explore ways to continue their civic engagement after the end of the program.
Because Generation Citizen focuses on closing the Civic Engagement Gap, we only work in low-income schools, in which at least 50% of students receive free or reduced price lunch, that also lack a pedagogically effective civics education program.
Generation Citizen’s innovative action civics approach contains several key elements:
Action-Focused: Research strongly supports the effectiveness of action-based approaches to civics instruction. Through actual participation, previously disengaged students come to understand how the political process really works – and how they can utilize it to better their lives, gaining a sense of agency that increases learning and motivation.
College Mentors Co-Teach Classes: Generation Citizen trains and pairs college volunteers (Mentors) with secondary school teachers to co-teach our classes. Mentors promote students’ civic engagement in two ways:
- Peer-to-near-peer mentoring works; high school students can better relate to college role models and emulate their civic leadership. Also, students may often be more comfortable broaching difficult issues, such as teen pregnancy, with Mentors who are closer in age.
- Mentors add vital capacity for teachers, helping with the lesson planning and research that enable the successful implementation of GC’s student-centered, project-based curriculum.
Doubly Supported: Generation Citizen provides unparalleled opportunities for college students of all majors to gain firsthand experience in issues of education, politics, and human services – experience invaluable as Mentors select their majors and career paths. Yet those opportunities come with correspondingly great responsibilities. Generation Citizen provides two layers of support for Mentors:
- GC program staff provide Mentors with training at the beginning of each semester and conduct at least two classroom observations to provide Mentors with concrete, actionable feedback to improve student outcomes. GC also provides online resources, including sample lessons, through its internal website.
- Trained college coordinators (CC’s), veteran Mentors who lead college chapters, recruit, place, and support Mentors throughout the semester. Through weekly meetings and one-on-one check-ins structured around GC’s Civic Leadership Curriculum, Mentors gain the pedagogical and advocacy skills they need to successfully co-teach their classes.
Teacher Professional Development: Classroom teachers are critical to Generation Citizen’s theory of change. Generation Citizen program staff provide professional development to participating teachers, conducting workshops, meeting one-on-one to walk through the program, and following up throughout the semester. Teachers become well-versed in the action civics pedagogy and are equipped to work effectively with Mentors to deliver a truly empowering experience to their students.
Forming a Pipeline: Our action civics program provides a needed baseline level of civic knowledge, skills, and motivation for students to be actively involved in the democratic process. However, many students who have completed our program have expressed the desire for more advanced advocacy skills and experiences to prepare them to lead change in their communities. Generation Citizen is therefore piloting a Community Leadership program to create just such a leadership pipeline, in which students will gain a deep understanding of key democratic and community institutions. Generation Citizen will partner with community organizations place students in internships in local nonprofits and on election campaigns in 2012.