CRF's
CityWorks Curriculm Scores High in Two-Year Evaluation
- Since
I’m in this [CityWorks] classroom, if I think something’s wrong in my
neighborhood, I know where to go. If I wasn’t in
this class, I wouldn’t have known what to do. –CityWorks student
- Half
the kids don’t listen when you’re reading out of textbooks. But when
you have to get involved, it’s a different story. --CityWorks student
CityWorks Evaluation Summary (Microsoft Word document)
In 1996, the Surdna Foundation launched a national initiative
to determine whether service learning could be an effective
method for improving citizenship knowledge and skills. In response, CRF
was awarded a grant from Surdna to develop and test CityWorks, a
curriculum model that uses service learning to teach local government
and citizenship at the high school level.
CRF designed CityWorks to parallel the content of the most often-used
government texts. CityWorks is highly interactive, featuring
simulations, role plays, and service
projects, and can be integrated into an existing government course.
After two years of field testing, CityWorks was evaluated as part of
the Surdna Foundation grant. The evaluators found that:
- The
CityWorks curriculum promoted greater commitments to Participatory
Citizenship, Justice Oriented Citizenship and Interest in Service than
non-CityWorks classes. We can say with 90 percent confidence that the
CityWorks curriculum promoted greater commitments to Personal
Responsibility, Knowledge of
Social Networks, Leadership Efficacy and Civic Efficacy than
non-CityWorks
classes.
- Cityworks
fostered greater gains in knowledge than traditional classrooms as
measured by the content assessment.
- Participating
in simulations, service learning, and exposure to role models all
increased students’ sense of their capacities and commitments. Of
these,
simulations and exposure to role-models had the broadest impact.
- Opportunities
to “learn about aspects of society that need changing” and
opportunities to “work on issues that matter to students” had broad
positive impact
on students’ sense of their capacities and commitments.
The evaluation
data also revealed that students who participated in CityWorks classes
appeared to become interested in participating in civic life.
CityWorks Evaluation Summary (Microsoft Word document)
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