The rise of state-mandated standards in public education have allowed legislators to answer the question of what constitutes a proper civic education, a debate that has existed in the United States since the turn of the twentieth century. Through the content they employ in their standards, states may indirectly influence the type of citizenship…

The nation's recent preoccupation with reshaping academics and raising academic performance has all but overpowered a task of vital importance--educating our young people to become engaged citizens of their communities. Traditionally, students are taught citizenship skills in either a civics education class or through citizenship courses in the…

In recent years, as schools have shifted more attention to English language arts and mathematics, several groups have made a plea for renewed attention to civic education for all students. One such group is the Spencer Foundation, which promotes research to improve students' civics knowledge and skills and their dispositions for responsible…

This book offers a groundbreaking examination of citizenship education programs that serve contemporary youth in schools and communities across the United States. These programs include social studies classes and curricula, school governance, and community-based education efforts. The book takes an interdisciplinary approach to exploring the…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 1998 Civics Assessment measured students' knowledge, their intellectual and participatory skills, and their civic dispositions at the 12th-grade level. This publication describes 12th graders performance on 38 questions from the 12th-grade assessment. Thirty-one of the thirty-eight questions…

As a means of investigating the current status of citizenship education in the schools, this exploratory study was designed to study graduating high school seniors' perceptions of their citizenship experiences. A questionnaire was distributed to four schools in Texas, Minnesota, California, and Arkansas and data were analyzed using Boos's…

Recommended procedures and essential facts for a planned student registration campaign in New York City Schools, as well as suggested teaching strategies and instructional aids supporting a broad-based senior year preparation for the 18-year-old franchise comprise this document. The suggested teaching strategies involve large and small group…

Viewed as a first step in the development of a consensus framework for the 1998 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in civic education, this paper focuses on the major questions that should be considered in designing a civics assessment. The paper aims to bring major questions of designing a civic education assessment tool to the…

This book takes a look at what U.S. high school seniors know about government and politics and how they learn about it. Secondary school civics courses enhance students' civic knowledge. The book is based on the 1988 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the most extensive assessment to date of civic knowledge among youth. The depth…

Twelfth grade students have the opportunity to explore the governing process in a one semester elective course presented in this preliminary draft. The objective of the course is to prepare students for full citizenship responsibilities by giving them a realistic understanding of the processes of governing in the United States. Focus is upon…

Presents results of survey of high school seniors taken in 1968 (N=825), 1972 (N=119), and 1984 (N=200). The survey consisted of 13 widely accepted attitudinal items and 16 demographic variables designed to measure degree of political cynicism and attitudes toward democracy. Concludes that 1984 results show a loss of innocence, increasing…

Presents results of a survey of high school seniors exploring what instructional activities they preferred as a means of learning citizenship education. Explains that the eight citizenship education activities used were derived from eight citizenship teaching approaches. Reports that students preferred activities based on current events,…

A major aim of education in the state of New York is to prepare its students for a productive and meaningful life as citizens in local, state, national, and international settings. The "Participation in Government" core curriculum is designed to be a culminating course of study that focuses on Social Studies Learning Standard 5--Civics,…

Twenty-five years ago "history and civics" was the term generally applied to the efforts of the schools to explain man in society. The amount of civics in the combination is indicated by the fact that the committee of seven of the American Historical Association, reporting in 1898 on the study of history in the schools, recommended that…

This resource file contains information for Utah secondary school teachers to help their students at level 10-12 to meet the state's instructional objectives in the social studies. This particular student level emphasizes U.S. studies. The following disciplines are covered in the resource file: psychology, anthropology, sociology, geography,…