Civic Engagement Education and Assessment

The SCHEV policy on quality and assessment of undergraduate education (adopted in July 2017) includes civic engagement as a core competency that institutions will be expected to assess. On Friday, June 9, 2017, SCHEV and the College of William & Mary teamed up to host a meeting about how institutions can respond to this new expectation. We hoped participants would leave with a clearer understanding of what the policy entails, and learn about various approaches to defining, teaching, and assessing civic engagement.

Materials and presentations from the meeting are below, along with a list of resources related to civic engagement education and assessment. For more information, contact Jodi Fisler, SCHEV's Associate for Assessment Policy and Analysis.

Meeting Presentations

• Recording of livestream. - external link (morning sessions only)
• SCHEV Expects Us to Do What? [PDF] (Jodi Fisler)
• Why Civic Engagement May Be The Most Essential Skill for the 21st Century and How We Can Own It [PDF] (Ashley Finley)
• Assessing Civic Engagement [PDF] (Keston Fulcher)
• Civic Engagement Strategies for a Two-year Institution [PDF] (Jolene Hamm & Connie Jorgensen)
  • 2016 Civic Outcomes Survey [PDF]
  • Civic Outcomes Assessment Narrative [PDF]
  • Community College Impact Report [PDF]
  • Presenters Contact Information
• Different Tools for Different Tasks [PDF] (Lynn Pelco)
• Civic Engagement on Campus: The Journey at Radford University [PDF] (Sandra Baker, Samantha Blevins & Euna Lee)
• Improving Student Learning Outcomes from Civic Engagement [PDF] (Emilie Stander)
• Teagle Essay Questions - Spring 2016 [PDF]
• 2015-16 Teagle Rubric [PDF]

Civic Engagement Resources

Organizations & Initiatives

Virginia institutions:

• Civic engagement contacts and activities  - external link at participating VA Engage institutions
• Civic Leadership Conference  - external link (Piedmont Virginia CC)
• VA Engage Network  - external link - a collection of Virginia higher education institutions dedicated to serving their surrounding communities through community partnerships
• Campus Compact Virginia
• VCU Center for Community Engagement & Impact

Others:

• AAC&U's civic learning hub  - external link
• Bringing Theory to Practice  - external link
• Campus Vote Project  - external link
• The Democracy Commitment  - external link - a national organization dedicated to advancing democracy in America's community colleges
• Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER)  - external link - a national project focused on empowering faculty and improving STEM teaching and learning by making connections to civic issues

Rubrics & Tools

• Civic-Minded Graduate rubric (IUPUI)
• Rubrics for Civic Knowledge and Civic Values  - external link
  • Civic Knowledge (Google doc)  - external link or Civic Knowledge (PDF)
  • Civic Values (Google doc)  - external link or Civic Values (PDF)
• Competence for Civic Action scale  - external link (Flanagan et al., 2007)
• Debate for Civic Learning - Bodnar-Deren, et al (2019). Using debate pedagogy to promote civic learning across the disciplines. Panel presentation at the Teaching and Learning Excellence Symposium, Virginia Commonwealth University: Richmond, Virginia.
• National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement (NSLVE)  - external link
• Personal and Social Responsibility Inventory  - external link
• VALUE rubric: Civic Engagement  - external link
• VALUE rubric: Ethical Reasoning  - external link
• VALUE rubric: Intercultural Knowledge and Competence  - external link

Articles & Reports

• Civic Prompts: Making Civic Learning Routine Across the Disciplines.  - external link by Caryn McTighe Musil (AAC&U, 2015)
• A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy's Future  - external link by the National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement (AAC&U, 2012)
• Elevate Your Impact: Assessing Civic Competency and Engagement in Higher Education [PDF] by Judith Torney-Purta, Julio C. Cabrera, Katrina Crotts Roohr, Ou Lydia Liu and Joseph A. Rios (ETS, 2015)
• Informed and Active: Political Engagement Begins on Campus [PDF] by Adam Gismondi. Leadership Exchange, Summer 2017
• Student and Institutional Engagement in Political Life  - external link The full Fall 2015 issue of AAC&U's Diversity & Democracy, produced in partnership with the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education.
• Don't Retreat. Teach Citizenship.  - external link By Michael Smith, Rebecca Nowacek, and Jeffrey Bernstein. Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required), January 19, 2017
• How Colleges Can Teach Students to Be Good Citizens.  - external link By Shannon Najmabadi. Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required), January 13, 2017
• Election Imperatives  - external link A 2018 report from the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education with ten recommendations to increase college student voting and improve political learning and engagement in democracy.

Courses & Syllabi

• Political & Civic Engagement (UVA) - Course description [PDF] | Syllabus [PDF]
• Introduction to Community Engagement (VCU)