Federal Civics Test Shows Little Progress

NEW YORK -- Can you name the three branches of the American government, their powers, and how other branches limit their powers? If so, you have a leg up on many U.S. eighth graders.

Only 7 percent of eighth graders could correctly identify the three branches of government on the civics portion of the 2010 National Assessment of Education Progress test to satisfy the grading standard of "complete." A further 10 percent of the sample group -- 9,600 eighth graders from 470 schools -- received a score of “acceptable” on the question, which asked students to fill out the chart describing the three branches' relationship to one another.

The 2010 NAEP results, released Wednesday, showed overall stagnation and low proficiency rates in civics.

“That’s pathetic,” former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor told The Huffington Post upon hearing the result of the branches of government question.

O’Connor has been active in promoting civics education, overseeing the creation of an educational website to address students’ lack of civic knowledge.

The NAEP report provides a snapshot of civics education in public and nonpublic schools in the fourth, eighth and 12th grades. The 2010 test assessed 26,600 students in a sample designed to be representative of the entire U.S. student population by race, socioeconomic status, education of parents, language barriers and disabilities.

NAEP tests are administered in several subjects -- including math, science, history and reading -- at different intervals. Students sat for the civics test in 1998, 2006 and 2010. According to Wednesday’s release, fourth grade scores increased slightly in 2010 from the previous years; eighth grade scores remained the same; and 12th grade scores dipped. Just one quarter of high-school seniors were deemed “proficient.”

“The statistics in this latest study confirm that we have a terrible problem on our hands,” O’Connor said. “It motivates me to work a lot harder."

Ted McConnell, Executive Director of the Campaign for the Civic Mission of School, said he saw the scores as a wake-up call. “We’re failing to educate the next generation in civic knowledge, civic skills and the disposition to participate,” he said.

McConnell added that he wasn’t surprised by the overall lack of improvement. “No Child Left Behind emphasizes a few subjects over all others,” he said, referring to the 2001 legislation that has resulted in an increase in testing in reading and math.

“Kids are being drilled to death in math and reading and, in some places, science,” he said. “It’s not leaving time to cover other topics as they should be covered.”

National Assessment Governing Board spokesman Stephaan Harris said funding for NAEP is determined by Congress’s budget allocations. NCLB has no influence over NAEP administration, Harris said, except in one area: “If a school system wants to receive Title I funds, they have to allow NAEP to come into their schools for reading and math.”

NAEP tests are used to track academic trends on a national level. The grades for science, math and reading tests are broken down by city or state, allowing district-by-district comparison. But the National Center for Education Statistics, which administers the NAEP, does not dis-aggregate the data for social studies exams, including the civics test.

According to NCES associate research scientist Grady Wilburn, that's because NAEP civics funding enables testing only among a small sample size -- one too limited to determine geographical trends.

But McConnell suggested that a spread of NAEP civics data across cities could encourage districts to promote lessons about the U.S. government. He said his group is lobbying for this data spread, and for a “competitive grant program to find the best civics teaching strategies and get them replicated.”

The test results should not be seen as dire in and of themselves, cautioned Peter Levine, director of Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement at Tufts University. He sat on the board that designed the NAEP civics exam. “It’s not a perfect test. It’s a test of academic skills related to civics,” he said, adding that it would be difficult for many adults to succeed on the test.

Concern about youth engagement in civics and voting, Levine said, should extend beyond low test scores. “America has always relied on active citizens to solve our most serious problems,” he said. “If the next generation of kids can’t rise to that challenge, we’ll be in trouble.”

Here are some other trends in the report:

• The achievement gap in civics in the eighth and 12th grades is narrowing among Latino learners.
• Fourth grade female students scored higher than their male counterparts: the gap between female and male students increased from two points to seven points.
• Only 2 percent of fourth graders, 1 percent of eighth graders and 4 percent of 12th graders were determined to be “advanced” in civics.
• As The New York Times noted, only half of eighth graders tested could explain the purpose of the Bill of Rights.

Harris said results for US history and geography tests will be released during the summer.

Comments

[Ayla87]

08:07 PM on 05/07/2011

Lol these comments are a riot. You all want kids to be educated? Start at home with your own kid. Drag the brat away from the tv and make him read a book. That simple.

[Corinne Ouellette]

07:14 PM on 05/07/2011

The three branches of government are legislative, judicial and executive. Right? It's been a long time but years ago when I boarded with an elderly lady from Canada then she wanted to become a U.S. citizen so I helped her study for the test. She passed and became Naturalized.

[Sam Salinitis]

10:12 AM on 05/07/2011

Not much becuase the liberals and republicans are fixated on corporations and globalist policies at the expense of our children. It is wrong to be American to these Liberals- amazing.

[El Chingaso]

02:09 AM on 05/07/2011

Of course, understanding the basic structure of the U.S. government is, by no means, rocket science for 8th graders. If the data in this article is even remotely accurate, what in the world is going on in the overly-priced public school classrooms? Apparently, not much...other than creating a significant workforce of fast food establishment workers.

[Mari Harmon]

10:03 AM on 05/06/2011

If the educational system is lacking in one area, it is the responsibility of the parent to correct that lack. I routinely drill my older niece on topics about government so later on she'll understand how she's being lied to. No slack-jawed yokels in my house.
Blame is absolutely worthless, especially blaming an educational system that is fundamentally flawed and is run by a government that is fundamentally corrupt. If something doesn't work, just fix it. Roll up your sleeves, get away from the t.v., and do the job yourself. Don't trust employees to do the important work in this particular area, and damned sure don't trust the state to do it well. They don't do anything else well, so why would this be different?
You don't get to complain about a problem that you're doing nothing to address. If you're willing to spend more per year in money, time, and attention on McDonalds, the newest phones, and gaming systems for them than you are on educating them, you're going to get exactly what you put in: Junk and stupidity. Just crack open a book if you don't remember civics yourself. Brush up on it and engage your kid in conversation, whether they like it or not! :D

[JazzArtLove]

09:09 AM on 05/06/2011

Wait, isn't it good that education sucks? It makes it easier to control who wins elections.

[deatrix]

08:51 AM on 05/06/2011

There’s a reason that education sucks, and it’s the same reason it will never ever ever be fixed. It’s never going to get any better, don’t look for it. Be happy with what you’ve got. Because the owners of this country don’t want that. I’m talking about the real owners now, the big, wealthy, business interests that control all things and make the big decisions.

Forget the politicians, they’re irrelevant.

Politicians are put there to give you that idea that you have freedom of choice. You don’t. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land, they own and control the corporations, and they’ve long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the State Houses, and the City Halls. They’ve got the judges in their back pockets. And they own all the big media companies so they control just about all the news and information you get to hear.George Carlin

[SangZe]

08:34 AM on 05/06/2011

Civics (or government) is no longer taught in the USA? What in hell is going on here! No wonder the USA is in such a mess.

[phinneyridgekid1]

03:09 AM on 05/06/2011

Several of my friends and acquaintances who live and/or come from outside the U.S. have admitted to me that the U.S. in general is seen as the world's ignoramus. Probably there's a reason. If young people now are as clueless as bricks, perhaps it's because they were raised by our generation, which is not exactly their fault.

[philoTruth]

01:28 AM on 05/06/2011

Ideologists of every stripe have an axe to grind and they all want us to sharpen their axe for them so they can cut inconvenient truths - like democracy. The more passionate they are ---the more corrupt they get. Here's a link to a good example. It's a prolonged attack on the very nature and beginnings of our government. Why isn't David Barton in jail for fraud? Why throw bankers in jail for fraud if he is allowed to do it with such success? It's documented in a free lengthy e-book. http://richarddawkins.net/videos/623636-david-barton-s-revistionist-history-liars-for-jesus

[Bushman68]

01:08 AM on 05/06/2011

“Kids are being drilled to death in math and reading and, in some places, science,” he said. “It’s not leaving time to cover other topics as they should be covered.”

Yes, that pesky math, reading and science often gets in the way. Um...what?

I have an idea. Let's throw a bunch of money at the problem. Yeah, that's it!

[David Stallworth]

11:55 PM on 05/05/2011

It's frankly not all that surprising. The U.S.'s educational, beneath university, system has been failing for decades. We are in the midst of raising a nation of illiterates which is rather sad considering the U.S.'s contemporaries in other countries seem to know more about the U.S.'s governmental system than a good portion of its' citizenry and their children. Proper education begins at home and is solidified in either the public or private school system. This is simply representative of America's love/hate relationship with education and so-called elites. We do ourselves no good by being this way. This isn't the early 20th century nor any century prior. This is the 21st and we just have to accept it as we move forward. Otherwise our country shall be torn asunder.

[Taymullah]

12:30 AM on 05/06/2011

It is frustrating indeed. I spend a good amount of my time reading on certain aspects within politics, I have a general interest and passion for a different America that it was only through individual pursuit was my knowledge expanded. Evening within college were things not taught at a level i thought I deserved.

An example of this was one of my former World Civ classes. We were talking about the downfall of Rome and its start. Our teacher had asked for opinion and I'm sure she only expected some short one liners.

I hit her with Trajan and how his restructuring and appointment of Hadrian as his successor was in my eyes where major turning points started to occur in Rome. I went into the wars Hardrian was involved in along with his exploits and travels. Then I was done. - Apparently, I went too far back according to her and she did not know enough about these two Emperors to comment on much of what I said. It bothered me some, but i did achieve an A with little effort... that is the problem though, it is easy to succeed in school with little effort.

[BlueStateDave]

10:58 PM on 05/05/2011

Before everyone gets their skivvies in a bunch, I wonder how well you all could answer civics questions in the 8th grade. It's been a very long time since I was that young, but I don't remember an emphasis on civics in junior high school. Get a frigging grip.

[David Stallworth]

12:01 AM on 05/06/2011

Actually Dave, I was roughly eight when I could answer that question. They used to play it on Saturday morning cartoon musical segue ways between the main programming. It's not all that difficult; there's the judicial, executive, and legislative. I still even remember the School House Rock one on how a Bill is created not to mention what a conjunction happens to be. No muss, no fuss, no worries...

[Leadsled]

12:17 AM on 05/06/2011

I could have answered them all and my school taught very little in the way of civics.

[gshumway]

10:54 PM on 05/05/2011

Many kids don't care what the three branches of government are and thus grow up to be parents who don't care and so on. Our system of schooling is not broken. There are just too many kids who don't care with parents who don't care because that's their culture. Take heart since there is always bribery. You could threaten a child who doesn't care with disciplinary action to memorize some data and get nowhere. Alternatively you could wave tickets to a Lady Gaga concert at her and hear her recite the Bill of Rights. After all, bribery is what powers our legislative, judicial and executive system. Just try to get your congressman or state rep. to do something without first offering up some incentive. Alternatively you could threaten him with Lady Gaga tickets.

[cwdavis46]

10:19 PM on 05/05/2011

Does it actually surprise anyone that today's students are stupid?? Our whole entire society is on an ANTI-SCIENCE kick. Creationism is IN! Carbon dating is OUT! The American fundamentalist religious extremist terrorists have won the war!

[flossophy]

11:10 PM on 05/05/2011

You're worried about the wrong boogieman. Creationism is the least of our problems. It's the decade's long dea.thgrip strangIehold that the big government machine has had on the education industry. Public schools have churned out an enormous undereducated underclass, who are not prepared for this rapidly changing world. Besides, the Left have been rejecting economic science for the better part of a century... this is much worse than rejecting evolution.

[Leadsled]

12:18 AM on 05/06/2011

That is hilarious. Nice joke my friend. The problem is too much government...Really funny stuff.

[Azuki]

12:33 AM on 05/06/2011

The problem is a small group of people convincing a larger group of people that education is not important, that things like rejecting evolution are not that bad.