Developing Civic Education in the United States: A Case Study of Olathe, Kansas' Youth Congress Program
Issue Date
2010-04-23Author
Crawford, Angela
Publisher
University of Kansas
Format
116 pages
Type
Thesis
Degree Level
M.A.
Discipline
Communication Studies
Rights
This item is protected by copyright and unless otherwise specified the copyright of this thesis/dissertation is held by the author.
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
An informed and active citizenry is essential for a well-functioning democracy, and how we teach children citizenship has the potential to invigorate citizen engagement and responsibility. This research looks at a program that seeks to do just that: the Student Development Department's (SDD) Youth Congress program in Olathe, Kansas. Current and past Youth Congress participants were surveyed as well as non-participants at the high school and college levels to evaluate the effectiveness of Youth Congress as a civic education program. Results found that current and past participants of Youth Congress scored higher on measures of political and civic engagement than non-participants. Furthermore, Youth Congress is a significant predictor of political and civic action. Finally, the study assessed how effective the SDD is at recruitment and how they can increase access to their programs. These results provide direction for schools wanting to provide more effective civic education for their students.
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- Communication Studies Dissertations and Theses [275]
- Theses [3901]
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