Using the "We the People...The Citizen and the Constitution" curriculum to improve middle school minority student knowledge and understanding of the United States Constitution and perception of their rights and responsibilities in American society

The focus of this study was to determine whether the We the People...The Citizen and the Constitution curriculum improved knowledge and understanding of the U.S. Constitution of middle school minority students. A second focus of this study was to determine if the same curriculum improved student perception of their rights and responsibilities in American society. The Test on the History and Principles of the United States Constitution Level II was used to determine whether there existed a difference between middle school minority students participating in the We the People...The Citizen and the Constitution curriculum and middle school minority students enrolled in the traditional textbook-driven civics education program. The second instrument, Student Perception Questionnaire, measured perception of the rights and responsibilities of middle school minority students who participated in the We the People...The Citizen and the Constitution curriculum and students enrolled in the traditional textbook-driven civics education curriculum. The instruments were administered to a total of 247 8th grade middle school students. The inquiry found significant differences in knowledge and understanding between 8th grade students who used the We the People...The Citizen and the Constitution curriculum and students who used the traditional textbook-driven civics education curriculum. Independent sample t tests revealed mean pretest values to be nearly identical but posttest values to be higher among students using the We the People...The Citizen and the Constitution curriculum. The results demonstrated that the We the People...The Citizen and the Constitution curriculum had a greater impact on the knowledge and understanding of the U.S. Constitution of middle school minority students participating in the We the People...The Citizen and the Constitution curriculum compared to students enrolled in the traditional textbook-driven civics education program. The study also found that there was only a marginally improved student perception between those students who participated in the We the People...The Citizen and the Constitution curriculum and students enrolled in the traditional textbook-driven curriculum. Independent sample tests revealed that the change was insignificant. Research on effective citizenship education programs in American schools can play a significant role in the continuous efforts of social studies educators in promoting political participation among minority populations.