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Section Two: Member Development Strategies

Now that you have reviewed the Corporation Guidelines for AmeriCorps, and have a good understanding of the goals for citizenship development, you'll want to roll up your sleeves and build some member development objectives. This section provides guidance on the process for incorporating citizenship into your member development objectives. For purposes of illustration, the existing Corporation-developed curriculum A Guide to Effective Citizenship through AmeriCorps was used. Please be aware that you may use any lessons or materials you find that adequately convey civic knowledge, skills and attitudes.

Sample pre/post survey for citizenship lesson (PDF)
This link connects to a very basic set of questions designed to be used—at your discretion—to support data collection for your program's citizenship goals and objectives. These are not mandated or required and may be used as is, or as a springboard to create your own evaluation tool.

NOTE: This section provides two typical AmeriCorps program design scenarios followed by member development objective statements for citizenship, and relevant logic model examples. You should consider these as examples of what you could prepare as they highlight ways to integrate citizenship into your member development plan. Obviously you will include a variety of learning opportunities in your overall member development plan, of which citizenship is one part. These scenarios are adapted from actual AmeriCorps programs.

Scenario 1

AmeriCorps State School-Based Service Area: Education
TUTORING PROJECT

Program Description
Our ten-month program has 30 full-time AmeriCorps members who are placed at six elementary schools in our city. They implement tutoring programs for the students and serve at their sites from Monday through Thursday.

Overall Member Development Strategy
Our members meet once per week, every Friday, from 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m for training and meetings. We spend the morning, from 8:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m., in a four-hour member development workshop session. The content of the morning session varies each Friday. For example, members receive training in their service-related area (education, tutoring) to support their service efforts, and/or in Corporation-recommended content areas, like citizenship. In the afternoon, from 1:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m., members meet in teams to reflect on the service, the challenges and the lessons learned from the past week and to plan tutoring strategies for the week ahead.

How We Incorporate Citizenship Training into Our Member Development Plan
We utilize the existing Corporation civic education curriculum, A Guide to Effective Citizenship through AmeriCorps. Our program kicks off in September, but we do not begin to introduce the curriculum until December. At that point, our program manager facilitates two, two-hour modules every week for 5 weeks—there are ten, two-hour modules in the Guide. The Guide contains a very good service project-planning component that our members use in planning a citywide service-learning project for National Youth Service Day in April 2003.

Citizenship Member Development Goals—Tutoring Program

1. Eighty percent of our members will increase their civic knowledge, skills, and attitudes as demonstrated by an increase in scores from pre- to post-tests.
2. Eighty percent of our members will be able to use at least five out of ten effective citizenship strategies to plan and implement a service-learning project, thereby demonstrating their civic knowledge, skills, and attitudes.

Steps toward Achieving Member Development Goals—Tutoring Program

1. Provide structured opportunities for thirty full-time AmeriCorps members to learn (or learn more) about citizenship and service, and
2. Provide structured opportunities for thirty full-time AmeriCorps members to experience citizenship as it relates to service by applying effective citizenship strategies to plan and implement a service-learning project.

Citizenship Performance Measure Logic Model Example—Tutoring Program

Activity
Training sessions with members for four hours each week over a five-week period that include planning and implementation of a service project.
(Source: Training agendas and member attendance sign-in sheets.)

Output
The number of members completing the five-week training course, including a service project.

Target: 28 out of 30 members will complete the course and service project.
(Source: Training completion certification.)

Intermediate Outcomes
1. Percentage of members demonstrating increased knowledge, skills, and attitudes of effective citizenship.

Target: 80 percent
(Source: Pre- and post-tests addressing knowledge of citizenship, including specific questions assessing: knowledge of the history and principles of democracy, understanding of the American tradition of service and its benefits, and attitudes about civic and political efficacy, that is, belief in the capacity of individuals to make a difference.)

2. Percentage of members demonstrating understanding of effective citizenship in the implementation of a service-learning project.

Target: 80 percent
(Source: Individual project skills summaries.)

End Outcome
Percentage of members demonstrating increased behaviors associated with effective citizenship (for example, this can include a range of indicators including voting, involvement in volunteer service, membership in organizations and associations, reading newspapers or other media to stay aware of current events and issues affecting communities and the nation, supporting a cause or organization, contacting public officials or the media to discuss public problems, and so on).

Target: 80 percent
(Source: Pre- and post-tests and follow-up assessments addressing changes in behaviors associated with effective citizenship while in the AmeriCorps program, and possibly in the future.)

Scenario 2

AmeriCorps National Direct Multi-Site Service Area: Environment
GROUNDWATER STEWARDS PROJECT

Program Description
Twenty members serve as groundwater stewards providing services to 40 counties in our state. Members serve on county teams of groundwater stewards to educate children and adults about effective practices to maintain quality groundwater in their community. Members serve to provide education and technical assistance and administer cost-sharing techniques to fertilizer and pesticide users.

Overall Member Development Strategy
Our members are based at sites throughout the state. Because our project encompasses such a wide geographic area, we meet every quarter for three days instead of every week for one day. During these meetings, we provide training in an abundance of program-specific technical areas that are vital to the service our members provide.

How We Incorporate Citizenship Training into Our Member Development Plan
We utilize the existing Corporation civic education curriculum, A Guide to Effective Citizenship through AmeriCorps. However, we have adapted the Guide’s ten two-hour citizenship training modules into two, five-hour training sessions. The first five-hour session is conducted during our second quarterly meeting and the second five-hour session is conducted as part of our reflection activity at our last quarterly meeting.

Citizenship Member Development Goal—Groundwater Stewards Project
Our goal is to have at least 80% of our members increase their civic knowledge, skills, and attitudes as demonstrated by an increase in scores from pre- to post-tests.

Citizenship Member Development Objective—Groundwater Stewards Project
Our objective is to train all twenty AmeriCorps members in the ten strategies of effective citizenship using A Guide to Effective Citizenship through AmeriCorps.

Citizenship Performance Measure Logic Model Example—Groundwater Stewards Project

Activity
Training sessions with members for five hours at each of two quarterly meetings.
(Source: Training agendas and member attendance sign-in sheets.)

Output
Number of members completing the training course.

Target: 18 out of 20 members will complete the course.
(Source: Training completion certification.)

Intermediate Outcome
Percentage of members demonstrating increased knowledge, skills, and attitudes of effective citizenship.

Target: 80 percent

(Source: Pre- to post-tests addressing knowledge of citizenship, including specific questions assessing: Knowledge of the history and principles of democracy, understanding of the American tradition of service and its benefits, and attitudes about civic and political efficacy—that is, belief in the capacity of individuals to make a difference.)

End Outcome
Percentage of members demonstrating increased behaviors associated with effective citizenship (for example, this can include a range of indicators including voting, involvement in volunteer service, membership in organizations and associations, reading newspapers or other media to stay aware of current events and issues affecting communities and the nation, supporting a cause or organization, contacting public officials or the media to discuss public problems, and so on).

Target: 80 percent
(Source: Pre- and post-tests and follow-up assessments addressing changes in behaviors associated with effective citizenship while in the AmeriCorps program, and possibly in the future.)