Project Citizen Research Program: 2024 Report

The Project Citizen Research Program (PCRP) was a three-year research initiative that evaluated the effectiveness of the Center's Project Citizen teacher professional development (PD) program and curriculum intervention for middle and high school students. The program took place over three academic years that were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Teachers attended a summer institute and follow-up professional development sessions throughout the academic year and instructed the Project Citizen curriculum. Middle and high school students worked as a class to research and develop proposals for solving a policy problem in their school or community which they present to stakeholders. The PCRP explored the impact of the PD program on teachers' civic content knowledge, instructional objectives, use of active learning pedagogies, self-efficacy, and integration of STEM into the curriculum. The teacher study found statistically significant gains in these outcomes. Student academic learning outcomes after participating in PC related to acquisition of civic knowledge, dispositions, and skills, the development of civics-related SEL competencies, and the use of STEM in their classes were assessed. The study found increases in civic knowledge among the students who participated in the PCRP that were significantly larger than for the control group. Significant positive outcomes also were achieved for civic dispositions, skills, SEL competencies, and the use of STEM in the context of public policy research. The PCRP research was conducted by the Civic Education Research Lab (CERL) at Georgetown University. The PCPR was funded by a grant from the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. [This report was published by the Civic Education Research Lab (CERL) at Georgetown University.]