SSCE Criteria & EGUSD Guidelines

EGUSD Guidelines: 

Student should be on track to graduate based on each student’s unique graduation plan (in alignment with state and local graduation requirements).

EGUSD Guidelines:

Passing grades in US History and American Government or other Interdisciplinary Coursework or other demonstration:

• Equivalent AP/IB course

• Interdisciplinary coursework may also include civic aspects of government, law, history, culture, international governments, economics, and current events

• Other coursework as approved by admin for students out of state/country

OR

• Online course/credit recovery on relevant content

EGUSD Guidelines

• Students need to take action on a problem/issue that is meaningful to them

• Student action needs to at least build awareness of an issue/problem with the intent of making a positive difference in their immediate community (such as with one’s peers, class, school, neighborhood, city, etc.) or larger society 

• Project/student needs to engage with decision-makers or systems of power (such as your school decision-makers, school board, local community and civic leaders, etc.) in some way to understand power dynamics or governance (to apply civic knowledge)

PROJECT OPTIONS

Coursework Project(s):

Participate in at least ONE project over the course of the high school career that addresses real-world problems and requires students to identify and inquire into civic needs or problems that are meaningful to them, consider and discuss varied responses based on research, take informed action, and reflect on their efforts

OR

Extra-Curricular Options:

Create or lead new initiatives or projects; alternatively, participate in activities that improve upon a pre-existing opportunity on campus or in the community independent of teacher oversight. Examples include active participation or leadership in an organization or activity (e.g., a club, community group, nonprofit, etc.) with the goal of addressing student/school/community problems/needs. Activities should enable students to respond to the self-reflection prompts for Criteria #4.

EGUSD Guidelines:

Students will complete a self-reflection that will articulate and describe the following:

1) INQUIRY: What problem(s)/issue(s) are you trying to address through the civic engagement project(s)/activities? Why is this meaningful to you? How do/did you intend to make a positive difference in your immediate community (such as with one’s peers, class, school, neighborhood, city, etc.) or for a democratic idea (such as for equity and justice)?

2) INVESTIGATION: What actions/activities did you take on? How did you investigate the root causes of the problem(s) using different lenses? What new insights did you gain?

3) DISCOURSE: How did you engage with others to understand multiple perspectives? What were your conclusions? What additional insights did you gain?

4) INFORMED ACTION: What informed action did you take on to build awareness of the issue(s) and/or your conclusion(s)? How did you engage with your community, institutional decision-makers, and/or governing entities (including other avenues to influence for change, such as protests, consumer boycotting, etc.)? 

5) REFLECTION: What did you learn about yourself, the community, and how power dynamics in our society work? What civic knowledge/skills did you apply and/or master? Which ones will you continue to work on? (See student self-assessments of civic competencies for ideas.) How did your efforts impact the community or the common good (or not)? What else could you (or someone else) have done, or could continue to do, to create deeper or more lasting change? How did you personally grow through the project/activity (sample framing: “I used to think …, now I think…”)? 

Adult testimony of student civic engagement activities that reflect civic-mindedness and a commitment to positively impact the classroom, school, community, and/or society. Testimony/recommendations may allude to civic competencies and rubric for Criterion #4.

Or 

Participation in an activity, club or organization that demonstrates civic-mindedness

This is just a list of some groups in which you might build the skills of citizenship and membership.  Feel free to consider others, too.

• Character Trait Award

• Leadership Team

• Student Council

• Scouts

• HS Leadership Team

• Community service clubs (Interact, Key Club)

• Mock Trial

• Model United Nations

• School Clubs - BSU, API, LatinX

• Served on LCAP or another district committee/board