Vermont Project Citizen

The Project Citizen Curriculum correlates with and supports (pdf) Vermont's Framework of Standards and Learning Opportunities which recommend opportunities for students to apply knowledge to real needs, opportunities for learning experiences with personal, community or global relevance, and opportunities to participate in democratic processes in the school and community.

Project Citizen focuses on the role of local and state governments in the U.S. federal system. The curriculum involves an entire class of middle grade students or members of a youth organization, in a series of structured, cooperative learning activities that are guided by teachers, organization leaders, and adult volunteers. Many experienced PC teachers have found that organizing several speakers forums leading up to the group work does have a profound effect upon the students in helping them to define public policy issues and to understand how people work through those issues. (Sample: Former VT Rep. Donny Osman speaking to an 8th grade PC class...jpg)

Working in collaborative teams, the students learn to interact with their government through a five-step process that includes:

identifying a problem in their community that requires a public policy solution
gathering and evaluating information on the problem
examining and evaluating alternative solutions
developing a proposed public policy to address the problem
developing an action plan to get their policy adpoted by government.
reflecting on the learning experience, personally and as a team (sample forms in Word)
Students’ work is displayed in a class portfolio containing a display section (jpg) and a documentation section.
Portfolio rubric for written materials (pdf)
Portfolio rubric for orals (pdf), oral presentations (jpg)
Portfolio Checklist for State and National Eligibility (pdf)

A student's view of the portfolio process: This paper was written by an 8th grader as a Vermont Writing Portfolio piece for explaining a process. (pdf)

Civics or Citizenship Education Standards and Curriculum Frameworks - This report highlights each of the 50 state's civics or citizenship education standards and/or curriculum frameworks.

The Vermont Portfolio Showcase Day will be on Monday, May 16, 2005 at the Capitol in Montpelier. Read the schedule for the day.

Body Piercing and Tattooing Bill - This is the Bill that will be used for the legislative hearing on May 16.