Citizenship education in American schools and its role in developing civic engagement: a review of the research

Abstract

Few studies provide an overview of citizenship education from the primary to secondary grade levels in American schools. Citizenship education consists of specific teaching practices designed to encourage students to become more involved in their communities. This review critically evaluates three kinds of programmes related to citizenship education: (1) character education programmes, (2) political simulations and, (3) service-learning programmes. Students in the primary grades are mainly exposed to character education programmes, which emphasise the importance of developing ethical values. Political simulations are more common in high school civic courses, where students learn the importance of community-level civic engagement (e.g. volunteering). Service-learning programmes can help students in the secondary grades develop a broader range of civic engagement outcomes that pertain to the school and community-level context. This study reaffirms the importance of increasing students’ exposure to citizenship education, while emphasising that certain instructional practices can be more effective in helping students develop civic engagement.

Keywords:

• civic engagement
• citizenship education
• political socialisation
• character education
• political simulations

Notes

1. Primary or elementary education in the United States typically refers to the first six years of formal education. The first year of primary education is generally referred to as kindergarten (age five), with subsequent years referred to as first grade, second grade, and so forth. Students graduating in the last year of primary education (sixth grade) are normally 12 years old (Sen, Partelow, and Miller 2005).

2. Secondary education in the United States refers to the last six or seven years of formal education (middle and high school). Secondary education typically starts in middle school with students starting in sixth or seventh grade (age 11 or 12). High school begins with students in ninth grade (age 14) and progressing to twelfth grade (ending around age 18) (Sen, Partelow, and Miller 2005).