Public Achievement: An Evaluation
Last year I posted a guest blog by Dennis Donovan about Public Achievement. I recently was given an Evaluation Brief, which summarizes the nature of Public Achievement as follows:
Public Achievement is a youth civic organization initiative intended to help students learn the habits, skills, and commitments of citizenship necessary to be lifelong contributors to their communities. Sponsored by the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, the specific goals of Public Achievement are to help youth develop the desire, insights, and talents to address society's problems and improve the world. Students learn basic methods for taking public action and develop a conceptual framework for learning by doing. During the 2005-2006 school year, Public Achievement programs served 800 K-12 students at 40 sites throughout the United States.
The evaluation found the following positive impacts of Public Achievement:
- Participation in Public Achievement gave students wider perspectives on the world and better skills in working with others.
- Elementary school students who had sustained participation in Public Achievement were more likely than their peers to acquire civic skills and to believe that young people can make a difference in the world.
- Public Achievement students in Grades 4 and 5 gained valuable teamwork skills.
- Middle school students who participated in Public Achievement gained multiple civic skills and were more likely to take responsibility for helping their schools become positive learning environments.
- High school students who reported a high level of interest in their Public Achievement projects acquired multiple communication skills, including oral persuasion, and listening skills.
- Public Achievement coaches indicated that students at all grade levels benefited from the program.
- School administrators had positive perceptions of Public Achievement.
In other words, the active citizenship approach espoused by Public Achievement and the Center for Democracy and Citizenship benefits both the students and their schools, as well as planting the seeds of future citizenship. Given concerns about whether schools are adequately preparing students for productive lives, the Public Achievement approach seems well worth expanding.