Policy Proposal

To: William R. Hite, Jr., Ed.D.

Office Held: Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia
Issue: Civic Engagement in Philadelphia Secondary Schools
From: Joe Picozzi

Problem Statement:

The Center for the Study of Social Policy reports that youth civic engagement leads to "reduced
risky behavior, increased success in school and greater civic participation later in life."1 A further
quantitative study conducted by Opportunity Nation and sponsored by the Citi Foundation
examining the relationship between civic engagement and economic opportunity in the United
States found that "volunteerism during secondary school ... can build social capital for youth,
promote upward mobility and contribute to a range of positive outcomes that benefit both the
individual and the community."2

Despite these benefits, youth are far less likely to be informed and engaged in civic events than
previous generations.3 As Tony Wagner, co-director of the Change Leadership Group at the
Harvard Graduate School of Education, has said, “The return on the hundreds of billions of
dollars invested in education each year must be measured not just in terms of individual success
in ... the job market or even national economic growth. It also must be gauged by how well the
next generation of Americans is prepared to solve collective problems creatively and
collaboratively.”4 Many young people feel that their voice will not be heard and that participation
in the civic process will make no difference in the outcomes of the system. This perception does
not align with the reality of local government, where individuals have greater opportunities to
have their voice heard through hearings and open forums. Thus local governments have an
opportunity to engage citizens in the process which could then directly combat civic
disengagement on a larger scale. Echoing these thoughts, the School District of Philadelphia
must emphasize civic education in order to build a more engaged and politically accountable
city.

Proposed Solution:

In order to build lifelong engaged citizens, youth engagement policy must have components both
in and outside of the classroom. I propose that the School District of Philadelphia push individual
school administrators to require social science teachers to provide extra credit, the weight of
which will be determined at their individual discretion, to students performing verified civic
engagement activities outside of the classroom. These opportunities will include but will not be
limited to volunteering on a campaign, attending a City Council or other municipal board
hearing, working with an activist group or volunteering for a charitable organization. Students
pursuing this extra credit would complete a standardized form verified by the organization
served as well as a short report - written, oral or otherwise - as determined by the educator.
Educators should be encouraged to use this requirement as an opportunity to teach students about
the values of civic involvement. This type of experience directly aligns with the District's Social
Science student competency goals, notably that in order to demonstrate proficiency students will
"analyze the local government of the City of Philadelphia" as well as "analyze how participation
in civic and political life leads to the attainment of individual and public goals."5 Educators and
school administrators would partner with the Mayor's Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteer
Service to use their existing SERVE Philadelphia database (servephiladelphia.com) to identify
service opportunities for students. All in all, this proposal can only raise the grades of motivated
students and will take advantage of existing resources within Philadelphia municipal government
to better accomplish the established competency goals of the District's Social Sciences education
program.

Major Obstacles/Implementation Challenges:

One clear obstacle would be that some students may not have as much access to these
opportunities to serve, for example due to lack of transportation. This obstacle could lead to
students with greater means having an additional academic advantage over their peers.
Unfortunately, while this proposal cannot entirely redress the challenging issue of economic
inequality as a barrier to civic engagement, measures such as the partnership with the Office of
Civic Engagement which ensures that all students will at least have the chance to be informed
about these opportunities will help begin to combat this gap. An additional obstacle in
implementation would be that students may be embarrassed to participate in types of community
engagement for fear of ridicule from their peers. Educators are best positioned to confront this
type of implementation obstacle and thus this proposal has afforded them significant flexibility
to address these issues on a case by case basis.

References, Footnotes, and Exhibits:

1. "Methodological and Measurement Issues in Studying Youth Civic Engagement."

Handbook of Research on Civic Engagement in Youth Sherrod/Handbook (2010): 495-
96. Web.

2. "Connecting Youth and Strengthening Communities: The Data Behind Civic Engagement
and Economic Opportunity." Opportunity Nation (2014): n. pag. Web. Flanagan, C., and
Levine, P (2010).

3. Civic Engagement and the Transition to Adulthood. The Future of Children. National
Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement

4. Association of American Colleges and Universities; A Crucible Moment: College

Learning and Democracy’s Future (Washington, DC: 2012).