By Jennifer Morales and Terry Pickeral
8/3/04 - American public schools were established to create the next generation of democratic citizens. Today, however, our schools focus more on their academic mission than their civic mission.
Our democracy depends on the members of each generation embracing their role as active, principled citizens. Public schools have an obligation to engage students in classroom and community activities to help them understand citizenship.
Citizenship education encompasses a wide range of skills and abilities. To be sure, it includes the acquisition of civic knowledge regarding the history and workings of government, the Constitution, and the rights and responsibilities of citizens.
But citizenship education also must help students learn such key skills as problem solving, debating, and writing about controversial issues.
And it must help students develop the attitudes or dispositions necessary for productive citizenship, including a belief in liberty, equality, personal responsibility, honesty, and a sense that one's actions can make a difference in society.
Are the next generation of students leaving school with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they need to maintain a healthy democracy? Recent studies point to some disturbing trends. With regard to civic knowledge and skills, nationwide assessments show only one-quarter of high school seniors score high enough to reach proficiency.
There are equally ominous signs with regard to the acquisition of civic attitudes or dispositions. Voting, for instance, is typically viewed as one of the ultimate acts of participatory citizenship. Yet studies have identified a "downward generational spiral" in electoral participation. Declining numbers of younger people believe voting is a necessary quality of a good citizen.
Policymakers and education leaders face an array of challenges in any attempt to improve how schools prepare students to be active citizens.
Not the least of these challenges is the increasing pressure schools are facing to raise scores on high-stakes tests. The requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act are forcing schools to focus already limited resources on improving student performance in reading, math, and science.
Under such pressure, citizenship education is too often pushed aside. But schools can still provide such an education through the integration of citizenship skills and concepts into the classroom and through youth participation in decision-making.
According to Every Student a Citizen, published by the Education Commission of the States in 2000, "acquiring such civic skills is not a matter of teaching techniques or routines or of creating an education program that will deliver civic knowledge and skills as one would teach a chemistry student the procedures for conducting an experiment safely."
Young people must participate in citizenship education activities that take them out of the isolation of the classroom and into the community.
To keep their interest and prepare them for involvement in important community decisions, students should have opportunities to engage in issues that matter to them and that have real consequences for their community.
For example, students can be given the opportunity to be involved in the work of your school board through advisory committees or student representation on the board.
A recent report, The Civic Mission of Schools, by a distinguished group of more than 50 scholars and practitioners, summarizes the evidence in favor of civic education in K-12 schools. According to the report, research supports the following recommendations:
• Encourage a wide range of subjects as part of the civics curriculum - Students perform better on tests of civic skills and knowledge if they have studied a range of relevant subjects, such as the Constitution, U.S. history, the structure of government, elections, and the legal system.
• Use interactive lessons - Studies show that students who participate in active debates that make connections to current issues have a greater interest in politics, have better critical thinking and communication skills, and are more likely to say they will vote and volunteer as adults.
• Integrate and sustain service learning as a teaching and learning strategy - Students should be provided with the opportunity to apply what they learn by performing community service that is linked to the formal curriculum and classroom instruction.
Research shows that "service learning" can be more effective at instilling civic skills and values among students than volunteering that is unconnected to the school's curriculum.
• Encourage student participation in the governance of schools - This is a meaningful way to develop citizenship skills and values in youths, because they will be able to observe first-hand the effects of their participation in decision-making.
With the right support, students can be effective participants in school-level governance councils or in the deliberations of the school board.
• Recognize the value of extracurricular activities - Long-term studies show that, even over several decades, Americans who participated in high school extracurricular activities remain more engaged as citizens than those who do not participate.
• Employ simulations - Empirical evidence indicates that simulations of voting, trials, legislative deliberations, and diplomacy enable students to become more interested in politics and government.
The report recommends that policymakers use the above recommendations to identify, showcase, and reward schools that have exemplary citizenship education programs.
It also challenges policymakers to re-examine their existing social studies and civic education standards to ensure they reflect what research now shows are the most promising citizenship education strategies.
School board members have an inherent, if often unarticulated, interest in effective civics education: For our nation's public schools to continue their vital role in our democracy, we need to develop our students' commitment to and understanding of that role.
These young citizens will eventually elect our replacements on school boards, as well as make critical decisions regarding the funding and purposes of public schools. Citizenship education is an investment in the future of our communities and our public schools.
Jennifer Morales is a member of the Milwaukee school board, and Terry Pickeral is executive director of the National Center for Learning and Citizenship at the Education Commission of the States.