Youth Civic Engagement and Academic Outcomes: Evaluating the Impact of Generation Citizen

• In Event: 2-186 - Supporting the Whole Student: Multiple Pathways to Academic Achievement

Integrative Statement

Introduction: Some evidence suggests that young people who are civically engaged also have better academic outcomes (Davila & Mora, 2007; Nolin et al., 1997), but whether or not this relationship is causal is unclear. We conducted a quasi-experimental analysis of the impact of Generation Citizen (GC), an action civics program implemented in core classes in middle and high schools around the U.S., on academic outcomes. In action civics, students learn civics through taking collective action on an issue in their communities (Pope, Stolte, & Cohen, 2011); the sessions are highly participatory and promote a democratic classroom climate (Stolte, Isenbarger, & Cohen, 2014).

Hypotheses: We hypothesize that given that action civics education can increase civic participation (Ballard, Cohen, & Littenberg-Tobias, 2016), action civics could plausibly also increase classroom and school participation. We also hypothesize that since Generation Citizen’s core model includes college student volunteers as near-peer mentors for the middle and high school participants, this could make more students aspire to attend college.
Study population: We surveyed GC student participants in the winter of four recent academic years. In our quasi-experimental design, some students had just completed their participation in GC (if they had participated in the fall semester) (treatment group), whereas others were about to begin their participation in Generation Citizen (if they were to participate in the spring semester) (control group). It was quasi-random whether classes participated in GC in the spring or the fall, and the choice to participate in GC at all was made by teachers or school or district administrators, rather than students. Students (N = 500) were in middle or high school in four metropolitan areas across the U.S.

Methods: We used a multilevel multivariable regression approach to account for clustering at the classroom level and to adjust for demographic variables (metropolitan area, high school or middle school, race/ethnicity, gender). Our exposure of interest was participation in Generation Citizen. Our outcomes of interest were self-reported: frequency of participation in other classes (measured as an ordered categorical variable), number of unexcused absences in the last semester (measured as a continuous variable), and college aspirations (measured as a binary variable- yes/no).

Results: Exposure to Generation Citizen was associated with increased participation in other classes (ordered odds ratio=3.78; p<0.0005). There was no statistically significant association between exposure to GC and number of unexcused absences (beta coefficient: -0.23; p=0.22). There was no statistically significant association between exposure to GC and aspiring to be a college graduate (odds ratio: 2.17; p=0.81), but this may be explained in part by lower statistical power (this analysis only had a sample size of 332) and a ceiling effect (93% of all study participants aspired to graduate college). In conclusion, it appears that Generation Citizen has benefits for some academic outcomes but not others. Future research should further explore whether engaging youth in their communities can be a pathway to academic engagement and achievement.

Authors

• Alison K. Cohen, Department of Public and Nonprofit Administration, School of Management, University of San Francisco
  Presenting Author

• Parissa J Ballard, Wake Forest School of Medicine
  Non-Presenting Author