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The seminar represents an effort on the part of the Center for Civic Education to create a forum in which teachers would become emotionally engaged with the artifacts, sites and experiences of those that lived through the Civil Rights Movement. The central hypothesis thereby being that such an engagement would transform the ability and willingness of participants to engage their own students with the material they present in their classrooms. This hypothesis is premised on a core constructivist principle and includes elements of holistic learning strategies coming out of the field of cognitive psychology and neurobiology. A secondary, but equally important, aspect of the program was the establishment of a partnership between teachers from across the country, both to build an element of mutual cooperation between participants and to encourage the possibility of a series of domestic teacher exchanges after the seminar. (Contains 21 endnotes.)

"We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution," is an educational program developed by the Center for Civic Education. The program instructs students on the history and principles of American constitutional democracy with the primary goal of promoting civic competence and responsibility among the nation's elementary, middle, and secondary students. Additionally, the instructional program is intended to enhance students' understanding of the institutions of American constitutional democracy and to reinforce the contemporary relevance of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The program utilizes highly acclaimed curricular materials developed by the Center. In the spring of 2004, a survey was given to students participating in the national finals competition of the "We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution" (We the People) Program to assess its impact on student knowledge of and support for democratic institutions and processes. The survey instrument, designed by the Center, incorporated questions previously administered to high school seniors, college freshman, and/or adults in various national surveys. This report compares the scores and responses of "We the People" national finalists to the relevant national sample. [The survey instrument is an attachement to this document.]

The "We the People... The Citizen and the Constitution" program is an instructional program on the history and principles of U.S. constitutional democracy for elementary, middle, and high school students. The program is based on curricular materials developed by the Center for Civic Education. At the high school level, classes may choose to enter a formal competition structured as simulated congressional hearings, which are excellent for testing students' knowledge of U.S. democracy, with the brightest classes advancing from congressional, district, and state competitions to the national finals. Twenty-one of the 51 classes that competed at the 2001 national finals in Washington, DC, were randomly selected to participate in the survey (n=345). Findings reveal that, compared with various representative national samples, students participating in the "We the People" program national finals competition possess more knowledge of U.S. democratic institutions and processes. This paper reports on the survey results and is divided into the following parts: (1) "Introduction and Summary of Findings"; (2) "Sampling and Methodology"; (3) "'We the People...' Participant Political Knowledge"; (4) "'We the People...' Participant Political Attitudes"; (5) "Student Feedback on the 'We the People...' Program"; (6) "Conclusion"; (7) "References"; and (8) "Attachment A (Survey Instrument)." (BT)

In February 2001 the Center for Civic Education conducted the first survey of alumni from the "We the People... The Citizen and the Constitution" program. Three Hundred forty-one alumni, who were eligible to vote in November 2000, participated. Voting and other forms of political engagement formed the core of the study. Since respondents were self selected, findings should be considered suggestive rather than generalizable to all alumni. Alumni were compared with a national probability study from the 2000 National Election Studies (NES) of young people in the same age group of 18- to 30-year-olds and also with over 260,000 college freshmen. This report documents the survey results, which indicate that the alumni surveyed are better informed and participate at higher rates than their peers. Additionally, data suggest that effective civic education may increase voter turnout among youth. (Survey is appended.) (BT)

Most data support the thesis of declining civic engagement among Generations X and Y. If levels of civic engagement remain depressed across the life cycles of Generations X and Y, U.S. democracy may be threatened, for there will be fewer engaged people to fulfill the obligations of democratic citizens. The hope is that youths' indifference to politics will change as they mature. This paper presents a portrait of these generations based on available cross-sectional data. The paper explores Generations X and Y's political knowledge and political participation and their political attitudes and values. Research suggests that, in contrast to previous U.S. generations, young people today have fewer opportunities to practice politics in high school student government (Highton and Wolfinger, 2001). The data provide some basis for the charge that youth bear responsibility in part for the decline in U.S. social capital. There are some significant differences between Generations X and Y and previous generations. For example, Generations X and Y possess less information about public affairs and are less interested in politics. Data presented here capture Generations X and Y at the low point of their projected life cycle of political engagement. The paper calls for more studies, especially longitudinal, to determine which factors will motivate Generations X and Y to engage in politics. Contains 9 tables and 20 references. (BT)

The "We the People...The Citizen and the Constitution" program is an instructional program on the history and principles of U.S. constitutional democracy for elementary, middle school, and high school students. At the high school level, classes may choose to enter a formal competition, advancing from congressional district and state competitions to national finals. The competition is structured as a simulated congressional hearing which tests students' knowledge of the United States Constitution. In spring 2000, to assess the impact of the program on student knowledge of and support for democratic institutions and processes, a survey was given to students (n=345) participating in the national finals competition. The survey instrument, consisting of 43 open- and close-ended questions, incorporated questions previously administered to high school seniors, college freshmen, and/or adults in various national surveys. The responses of the competition's students were compared to respondents' answers on the national surveys. Findings revealed that, as compared with various representative national samples, students participating in the national finals competition of the "We the People..." program possess more knowledge of U.S. democratic institutions and processes. Compared to a representative national sample of high school students surveyed by the 1998 National Assessment of Educational Progress civics assessment, "We the People..." students as a group are more knowledgeable about every category of civic education delineated in the survey. (BT)

This study asks, To what degree has the Civitas: An International Civic Education Exchange Program in Bosnia and Herzegovina been effective in creating or promoting attitudes and values that serve to strengthen support for democratic institutions and processes among Bosnia and Herzegovina school children? To answer this question, an empirical study was conducted with nearly two thousand upper elementary and secondary students in Bosnia and Herzegovina in May 1999. This report provides evidence of the effectiveness of the program based on a comparison of those who participated in Project Citizen and those who did not. The results indicate that civic education favorably affects students' political knowledge and participatory skills, as well as attitudes and core values. (Author/BB)