Civic engagement aims to empower students to become co-creators in their communities. Yet capturing its effectiveness at achieving this goal has been elusive for many community college faculty. This presentation shares an attitudinal approach to measuring the effectiveness of civic work in community college students. With a pre and post-test design, the growth in political interest and likelihood of future participation is measured among students taking an American politics course with a civic engagement project and the same course without the project. A statistical analysis comparing the two groups demonstrates the impact of civic engagement experiences when comparing this pedagogical approach to mere civic literacy. Participants will leave this session with an assessment method to implement at their respective institutions.

 

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