Creating Academically Proficient and Civically Engaged Students Through the No Child Left Behind Act (Part 1)

Through the Lens of Researchers — Implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB): What Role for Civic Development?

A Forum — January 23, 2004

Background

As states implement the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, many education leaders fear that the role of schools in student civic development [*] will become marginalized. NCLB is breaking new ground in attempts to prepare students to attain higher levels of academic achievement, but how will it support the development of the knowledge and skills needed to prepare an active, informed, principled and engaged citizenry?

Public schools need to balance the emphasis on high academic achievement with opportunities to apply that knowledge in a meaningful, civically engaged way-within the classroom, the school, and the community. Can establishing connections between civic development and academic achievement through methods such as service-learning, purpose-centered learning, contextual learning, experiential learning, and project-based learning foster this balance? Will such connections provide knowledge and skills that will prepare youth for college, the workforce, and responsible citizenship?

The challenge of the AYPF forum series, "Implementation of NCLB: What Role for Civic Development?" is to seek common ground between academic achievement and civic development. The widespread establishment of this kind of integrated reform can break through barriers and create significant opportunities to educate students in a truly comprehensive way. This kind of reform already exists in a few districts and states.

Shelley H. Billig, Vice President, RMC Research, presented the results of several studies that showed a connection between service-learning and improved academic achievement. Students engaged in service-learning at several sites showed a significant improvement in test scores. Quality of the program is a key predictor of success; the service-learning program must be directly tied to the curriculum. What mechanisms are at work to promote success? Rather than promoting academic success directly, service-learning promotes the "precursors" to academic success. Specifically, students are more engaged in learning, better connected to their schools, and have the opportunity to develop leadership traits and project planning competency.

Andy Furco, Director, Service-Learning Research and Development Center, University of California-Berkeley discussed research on the benefits of service-learning on achievement. When done well, service-learning can improve standardized test scores, enhance students' content knowledge and skills, raise school attendance, and bolster participants' grade-point averages. Researchers are only beginning to develop a sense of what it means to do service learning "well." There is evidence that a high quality service-learning program is one that provides for reflection so that students understand the importance of their activities, has close ties to the curriculum, incorporates meaningful and relevant service activities rather than simply "busy-work," and allows students a voice in planning and implementation. Furco noted that evaluation of service-learning programs is hampered by the small number of participants, the idiosyncratic nature of individual programs, and the difficulty in isolating the effect of participation in the context of all of the other "treatments" to which students are exposed.

William Galston, Director, Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, University of Maryland and CIRCLE (The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement) discussed issues raised in the report, The Civic Mission of Schools. Since the late 1960s, civic education at the secondary level has declined substantially. High school students now enroll typically in only one year of government and civics classes instead of three. NCLB does not emphasize civics proficiency, which further erodes the value of civics education at the high school level. To rectify this situation, national assessments in civics should be administered more frequently, and state officials should incorporate civics into their standards.

Elliott Medrich, Director, Policy Analysis and Development, MPR Associates, provided research highlights on contextual learning, problem-based, project-based, experiential learning, applied learning. The civic development field needs qualified teachers, strong curricula, and well-designed tests. Qualified teachers must have a strong grounding in their subject area, have instructional strategies to support learning and engage students, and know how to respond flexibly and opportunistically to student needs. The challenge of civic development instruction is that it is not well disposed to traditional classroom techniques, but rather is better suited for contextual teaching and learning methods. Medrich warned against overstating the role of civic development instruction in contributing to traditional academic outcomes; civic development instruction should be valued for itself. Several challenges and questions surround the role of civic development instruction in the context of NCLB. First, more rigorous measures of learning are needed. Second, NCLB requirements crowd out civic development instruction. Next, NCLB requires teachers to be highly qualified, but what does that mean in the field of civic development? Finally, how do we ensure that teachers get the materials, skills, and support that they need to succeed in the classroom?

Judith Torney-Purta, Professor, University of Maryland discussed findings from the IEA Civic Education Study and from a forthcoming Educational Commission of the States (ECS) National Center for Learning and Citizenship (NCLC) paper on competencies in civic education in relation to the goals of NCLB. The paper will report on a major national study of young people's citizenship competency, entailing surveys of students and a series of in-depth case studies. Torney-Purta identified several intersections of civic development and NCLB. These include the importance of listening to young people, motivating engagement by gaining knowledge and incorporating reading instruction into civic education and service-learning. She also described evidence that civic knowledge is related to the child's background characteristics. Specifically, children whose parents themselves have more education and who expect to go to college have higher levels of civic knowledge.

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* The term "civic development" is intended to transcend the conventional concept of civics education to incorporate the broader objectives of citizenship and youth development. It is a holistic effort undertaken by schools and potentially other members of the community to ensure that students gain a basic understanding of the workings of government, as well as the skills that they need to be able to participate effectively, and the inclination (or disposition) to do so meaningfully. It starts with curriculum decisions and development of standards, but flourishes when tied to broader changes in the school and community to promote meaningful student participation in the decision-making that affects them.

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