Teaching Citizenship in Elementary Schools Program

Project Description

Teaching Citizenship in Elementary School Program (TCESP) is a plug-in to the Social Studies K-5 curriculum. We believe the Program is vital because:

·         Americans need a broader view of citizenship,

·         The lack of citizen involvement in our nation is a quiet epidemic, and

·         Our country needs an organization that studies and supports effective citizenship so that it can be taught in school     and at home.

Below, we consider each of these reasons more closely.

Americans need a broader view of citizenship

Our view of citizenship has become skewed. We look more at our rights than our responsibilities. When individuals or special interest groups want something, they claim it is their right. And, we expect the government to take on what should be our responsibilities.

The Declaration of Independence promises “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. We have become more interested in our “pursuit of happiness” than keeping our country safe (“life”) and free (“liberty”). We have forgotten that if we do not fulfill our responsibilities, we will have no rights.

Most Americans see citizenship as voting, jury duty and occasional community service. Keeping democracy strong demands much more. We as citizens must be vigilant and involved. We must each make small sacrifices every day by doing simple, yet powerful citizen actions.

 “Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but rather the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.”
– Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.

The lack of citizen involvement in our nation is a quiet epidemic

Increasingly, we are not living up to our responsibilities as citizens.

·         Voting is one of our most important and visible responsibilities as citizens. Yet, fewer than 45% of registered voters and 35% of eligible voters usually vote.

·         Most Americans try to get out of jury duty.

·         Community service is often seen as a once or twice a year activity

Our lack of involvement is widespread. Everyday we hear of government, media, school, judicial, or business actions (or inactions) that cause us concern. But we do nothing about them. Special interest groups now run the show — our silence is turning us into a SIGocracy.

Each nation faces economic, social, security, environmental, educational, legal, and health challenges. But solutions to these challenges are more effective if a greater number of citizens become effectively involved.

Too many good people do nothing.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.”  – Edmund Burke

Our country lacks an organization dedicated exclusively to studying, supporting and promoting citizenship

We do not know of any organizations, books, or other resources about the responsibilities of citizenship. And, we have been looking for fifteen years!

The most effective way to get Americans to become good citizens is to teach them how as children.  We must teach our children:

·         The importance of being involved citizens

·         The positive impact of small citizen actions.

·         That specific citizen actions will keep our country strong.

Both parents and school systems confuse good character and being a good person with being a good citizen. They aren’t the same. Elementary schools teach children about patriotic topics and figures, like Native Americans, voting, the Constitution, Martin Luther King Jr. and Presidents Day. Parents teach their children about character and how to be responsible individuals. But neither teaches children how to be effective citizens. Most people have never learned how.

There is no more important lesson that parents and our schools should be teaching our children.

The future of our country ultimately depends on our involvement as citizens.

Staff Profiles

We believe that small groups like ours can get big things done. We are passionate about the need for Americans to be more involved citizens and we have the requisite expertise in education, curriculum development and materials distribution to convert this dream to reality.

Nick Homer, Good Citizen’s Executive Director, will lead this effort. Using our successful web book Who Will Love America? as a platform, we will work with the Social Studies Coordinator for the [XYZ] Unified School District to identify teachers from grades K-2 to pilot the initial phase of the curriculum. We will also partner with readability, education and web traffic and e-publishing experts to make sure our curriculum is easy to use, read and access.

Nick Homer holds a Math degree from Duke and a Master’s degree and PhD course work completion in Computer and Information Science from the University of Pennsylvania. 33 years of experience as a management consultant, including Arthur Andersen, partner with Price Waterhouse and co-founder of The Information Technology Group. Consultant to non-profit and higher education organizations.  Tutor of Spanish and math to children and young adults and teacher of technology and business classes at the University of California, Irvine and the University of Phoenix.  Author of the web book Who Will Love America?

Maria Mindlin holds a graduate degree from the University of California, Davis in Education, with an emphasis in Language Acquisition and expertise in Reading Theory. She is the CEO of Transcend, a California-based language services company that assists the public sector, schools and non-profits in developing highly readable and usable materials.

Rosalinda Quintanar is a professor of Bilingual Education at San Jose State University and visiting scholar at Stanford University. She holds a doctoral degree from Stanford from the Education Department in Language, Literacy and Culture and is a consultant to the California Department of Education and school districts throughout the state.

Pixelloom is a California-based web design and development firm with expertise in working with non-profits and designing user-centric, multi-media web sites.


Tasks & Schedule for Phase 1 of TCESP

1

Determine grade-specific content for TCESP instruction and seamless integration into the Social Studies curriculum

 

Outline grade-appropriate goals for a K-5 high-level citizenship curriculum that considers current instruction and state content standards. This will be done in two meetings.

Deliverable: A paper entitled “Strategy For Teaching Citizenship in Elementary School” posted to our website [www.goodcitizen.org].

Timeline: Within one month of securing funding.

2

Establish TCESP instructional goals that support state content standards and identify best teaching strategies for grades K–2
 

Review state Social Studies content standards and the pilot teachers’ practices to identify what citizenship-related information is currently taught in grades K–2. Identify supplemental concepts and background information, establish the sequence in which they should be taught and at which grade level. Identify grade-appropriate citizen actions and identify best instructional methodologies through which students will experience the impact and value of those actions. Prepare draft lesson plans and identify needed materials.

Deliverable: A K–2 TCESP draft curriculum posted to www.goodcitizen.org

Timeline: Within 3 months of securing funding.

3
Finalize lesson plans and support materials for the K-2 TCESP curriculum
 

Work with K–2 teachers in XYZ District to finalize grade-specific content goals, lesson plans and materials needed to teach citizenship and perform certain citizen actions.  Materials will be presented at grade-appropriate reading levels and all content will be accessible and easy to use. Our team will review the proposed curriculum and materials and request feedback from school district personnel. Revise as needed..

Deliverable: A K–2 TCESP finalized curriculum and supporting materials posted to www.goodcitizen.org

Timeline: Within 6 months of securing funding.

4

Pilot the K–2 portion of the TCESP curriculum
 

Working with targeted teachers and district administrators, we will establish timelines, and monitoring and evaluation procedures for the implementation of the TCESP materials into the Social Studies curriculum. Our testing mechanisms will provide quantitative and qualitative analysis of the effectiveness of the TCESP curriculum. We will evaluate a non-TCESP class as a control. Our data-driven evaluation will serve as the basis for adjustments to later curricula.

Deliverable: A summary report of project launching, monitoring, testing and school feedback posted to www.goodcitizen.org.

Timeline: Within 1 year of securing funding.

Program Budget and Narrative

Expense Item

Narrative

Estimated Cost (rounded)

Salaries & Fees

Nick Homer

Full-time on TCESP and will donate 80% of his time

$8,000
 

Other Good Citizen Directors

16 hours  each – all time donated

0

Fringe Benefits

  

0

Consultants

School District Social Studies Coordinator

32 hours @ $40

$1,300
 

3 participating grades K–2

56 hours each @ $35 (non school time only)

$5,900
 

3 participating grades 3–5 teachers

24 hours each @ $35 (non school time only)

$2,500
 

Rosalina Quintanar – CA Education Expert

16 hours $60/hr

$1,000
 

Marie Mindlin – Readability Expert

80 hours @ $60/hr

$4,800
 

Pixelloom – Web Technologies

120 hours @ $70

$8,400

Total Salaries, Fringe Benefits and Consultant Fees

$31,900

Printing & Publications

Citizenship booklet with materials for grades K, 1 and 2

75 students, 3 teachers, 15 administrative @ $8 per booklet

$800

Media Costs

  

0

Telephone

12 months @ $40/month

$500

Supplies

Computer supplies including cartridges, paper

Web development and multi-media software needed to include curriculum materials on www.goodcitizen.org

$800

Postage

Misc. FedEx

$100

Other

Travel expenses to present curriculum and results to other school districts, Coca Cola Foundation, etc.

$1,200

Contingency

5% of Salary & Other Expenses

$1,800

Total Other Expenses

 $5,200

Total Expenses

$37,100

Revenue

Grant Request from The Coca Cola Foundation

$37,000
 

Other Foundations

0
 

Public Agencies

0
 

Corporations – McKinsey & Co Matching Funds

100
 

Individuals

100
 

Operating Income Contributed by Applicant to the Program

Nick Homer will donate 80% of his time. The other Directors of Good Citizen will donate all time spent on this effort.

0

Total Income

$37,200