The Civics Report Card

Book excerpt: This report summarizes findings from two national surveys of U.S. civics achievement conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Part 1 reports on a trend assessment of approximately 56,000 students at ages 13 and 17, carried out during the 1975-76, 1981-82, and 1987-88 school years. Chapter 1 summarizes national trends, trends for demographic subpopulations, trends in students' ability to define democracy, and trends in students' ability to identify the value of multiple newspaper publishers. Part 2 reports on patterns of achievement of fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade students in 1988. Chapter 2 summarizes the levels of civics proficiency across the grades. Chapter 3 compares civics proficiency across subpopulations defined by gender, race/ethnicity, region, and other characteristics. Chapter 4 explores students' performance in specific content areas such as: democratic principles and the purpose of government; political processes; and rights, responsibilities, and the law. Chapter 5 describes the amount of instruction students reported receiving in civics, while chapter 6 discusses the topics studied and the instructional approaches used in these classes. Appendices contain procedural information and tables of statistical data that supplement the information in the text. (JB)