Teaching the rights and responsibilities of citizenship in a special education setting: A case study

Franklin Patterson wrote, "...make democratic citizenship education not a discrete subject matter, but an explicit and effective function of the school" (1960, page 15). It is difficult to imagine, in these days of testing for proficiency in reading, math, and science, that schools are willing and able to follow Patterson's advice. And if schools are not making citizenship the center of education for students in general education, how are they faring in the teaching of citizenship to students in special education classes? This study examined the citizenship education of students in one high school special education government class.; The purpose of this study was to discover how, from whom, where, and with what materials students enrolled in one self-contained with integration (SCI) class learn civic knowledge, skills, and values. Three activities were completed. First, the SCI government class was observed to determine what civic knowledge, skills, and values were being taught in the special education classroom. Second, the teacher was asked about her educational background, her perception of the importance of civic education for her students, the curricular materials used in the classroom, the instructional methods most often employed, and her assessment of the students' civic knowledge. Finally, classroom activities, assessment tools, and local and national standards and benchmarks for civics and government were placed on grids representing Bloom's Taxonomy (Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001).; The conclusion reached is that the special education students are receiving education in citizenship. They are gaining civic knowledge. Civic skills and values were more difficult to measure and observe. While the teacher modeled civic values in the classroom and spoke in our discussion about the teaching of civic skills, there was not evidence of instructional attention being paid to civic skills or civic values. Included are descriptions of the nature of the planned experience, the civic knowledge being taught, instructional strategies, assessment of student learning, and belief in the value of citizenship education for the special education population from national, state, and local perspectives. Others have wondered whether American society can continue to maintain a democracy with less and less informed participation by its citizenry. Any examination of the place of the public schools in teaching citizenship to American youth is important. This study examines the teaching of citizenship knowledge, skills, and values to a population that has largely been ignored in the social studies literature. Yet, mildly disabled students will graduate from high school with all the rights and responsibilities of other citizens.