Project Citizen

What is Project Citizen?

Program

In the words of Abraham Lincoln, we have inhereted a government that is "of the people, by the people, for the people." Our right to participate in governing ourselves in order to protect our rights and promote our common welfare carries certain responsibilities. Among these responsibilities are the need to develop the knowledge and skills to participate intelligently and the willingness to promote liberty and justice for all people.

We believe this program will add to students' knowledge, enhance their skills, and deepen their understanding of how we can all work together to make our communities better.

--Charles N. Quigley, Founder of the Center for Civic Education

Learn More

Professional Development

The Project Citizen Research Program, a research grant from the U.S. Department of Education, has given the Center for Civic Education and its partners the opportunity to offer free professional development for middle and high school teachers new to the Project Citizen curriculum

Curriculum

The curriculum enhances instruction by providing tips from Project Citizen teachers and emphasizes the fundamentals of the public policymaking process. The teacher’s guide features detailed instruction and sample worksheets for conducting a simulated public hearing on students’ project portfolios, the curriculum’s culminating activity.

"They're learning by doing. This is giving them a perspective on government that they would never get from a book."
—Teacher June Natola, The Daily Item, Lynn, MA, 6/8/02, Fecteau-Leary Middle School

Showcases

Entire classes of students or members of youth or adult organizations work cooperatively to identify a public policy problem in their community. Using the curriculum, they research the problem, evaluate alternative solutions, develop their own solution in the form of public policy, and create a political action plan. Participants develop a portfolio of their work and present their project in a public hearing showcase before a panel of civic-minded community members.