Assigning homework

Over half of the citizens academies in North Carolina assign some type of homework to their participants, though none of the homework is excessive. A few communities use the extra work to distinguish superior effort at graduation. For example, in some communities, all successful graduates earn a "bachelor's degree," but those who attend extra meetings earn a "master's degree" and those who attend extra meetings and complete a scavenger hunt in the community earn a "doctorate."

The most typical assignment is for the citizen to attend a meeting of the elected board and report his or her observations, sometimes as part of opening remarks at the next session and sometimes as a written page of comments. Others ask citizens to attend at least one other official meeting as well, such as a meeting of the Planning and Zoning Board, Parks and Recreation Board, or Appearance Commission.

A few communities ask participants to work in groups on a budgeting or planning issue, and have participants do some of the preliminary reading at home; participants are usually given time in class to work with their group to complete the project.

Another community takes the novel approach of providing participants a single-use camera and assigns them the task of photographing sights they do and do not like in the community. These photos then form the basis of the planning and inspections presentation later in the academy.

An overview of each academy's homework expectations appears in the comparison table in the row labeled "Additional requirements of participants."