In January 2000, principals will receive a kit containing posters, reminder notices and a letter to parents translated into appropriate languages. In late March 2000 about the same time as the Census 2000 questionnaires are being mailed participating teachers will receive a package of take-home activities for students to complete with their parents. The take-home letters will explain the importance of an accurate census. Several teachers already have commented on the usefulness of the materials. This would be a great community project.
Students know very little about collecting or using census data.
The materials can be used independently or easily connected to other curriculum areas. The U.S. Census Bureau, pre-eminent collector and disseminator of timely, relevant and quality data about the people and the economy of the United States, conducts a population and housing census every 10 years, an economic census every five years and more than 100 demographic and economic surveys every year, all of them evolving from the first census in 1790.