Project Citizen

The Role of a Citizen: Right and Responsibilities

Project Citizen is a national civic education program for middle school students that promotes competent and responsible participation in state and local government. It actively engages students in learning how to monitor and influence public policy and encourages civic participation among students, their parents, and members of the community.

Program Overview

The program helps elementary, middle and high school students 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. Independent studies of the effects of the Project Citizen program reveal that it has a significant impact on the civic knowledge of young people, their civic skills and their propensity to participate in civic and political life, as well as an appreciation for the difficulty in creating laws that are constitutionally correct.

Teaching ApplicationS

As a class project, students work together to identify and study a public policy issue, eventually developing an action plan for implementing their policy. The final product is a portfolio displaying each group’s work. Entire classes of students or members of youth 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 hearing showcase before a panel of civic-minded community members. Classes may also be able to enter their portfolios in a local competition with other classes. Local winners submit their portfolios for a statewide competition, and state winners go on to be evaluated in the Project Citizen national finals.

Trainings & curriculum Materials

The SC Bar (LRE) Law Related Education Division provides We the People: Project Citizen training for teachers and other school representatives. Attendees receive a teacher's guide and 30 copies of the student text at no charge. There is no registration fee for trainings.

The curriculum, which is correlated to South Carolina standards, takes students through a six step process that is displayed in a class portfolio as a final project and includes information on:

• identifying a public policy problem in the community;
• gathering and evaluating information on the problem;
• examining and evaluating solutions;
• developing a proposed public policy; creating an action plan; and reflection of the project.

Recognitions

Certificates of recognition are provided for students who participate in the program. The state winner receives a plaque and special recognition at its Awards Day.  Teachers implementing Project Citizen are encouraged to apply for the LRE Teacher of the Year Award, which comes with a $500 recognition award.