Portraits of Early Success: Using a Citizenship Rubric for Developing Democratic Young Citizens in Society

• In Event: 65.080 - Roundtable Session 24
  In Roundtable Session: 65.080-17 - Democratic Citizenship in Education SIG Roundtable Session #1

Abstract

There is a growing body of research indicating that having citizenship competence is necessary for promoting a democratic society and subsequent school readiness. School readiness, a measure addressing both social-emotional development and academic learning, is intrinsically connected (Diamond, Hong, & Baroody, 2008). Since young children within our schools will be citizens of the future, promoting citizenship social skills is crucial. The way in which children are instructed, and by the way that they are instructed to interact with peers, will dictate in part our culture and democratic society. To address this critical dilemma, educators need the development of an assessment tool to support, and promote children’s performance toward citizenship involving the social area of development to facilitate citizenship social skills.

Author

• Kathleen I. Harris, Seton Hill University