We were pleased to showcase the following research initiatives and ideas at this year’s Civic Learning Week National Forum: 

• AI Literacy for Responsible Use and Civic Engagement (MIT Media Lab/MIT RAISE)
• Civic Profile (Hoover Institution and the Center for Revitalizing American Institutions)
• Reimagining Assessment to Promote Civic Learning and Engagement (National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment)
• Shifting Civics Learning Opportunities in U.S. Public Schools (RAND)
• Two-Generation Civic Learning: Evidence and Promise (NYU Metro Center)

Thank you to our colleagues for sharing important and thought-provoking work with the civic learning community!

Forty-seven percent of young voters (ages 18–29) cast ballots in 2024, down three points from 2020, but eclipsing 2016 turnout (39%). This is the top takeaway from our partners at the Center for Information Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) based on their 2025 analyses of the 2024 Presidential Election and 2025 contests in New Jersey, Virginia, and New York City.

Other key findings include:

• Persistent gender and racial/ethnic gaps in youth voting, with 58% of White women voting in 2024 compared to 25% of Black men. Young voters of color say they disproportionately lack information about the voting process.
• Huge swings in youth turnout by state, from a high of 62% in Minnesota to the low of 33% in Arkansas. Turnout tends to correlate with the state’s political competitiveness.
•  A mere 16% of young voters believe democracy is working for them, a figure that, if left unaddressed, can drive even more potential voters to the sidelines.

This fall’s midterm elections present another teachable moment for the civic learning movement. CIRCLE found that fewer than half of youth surveyed (48%) felt a sense of belonging—a critical factor in students’ civic development—in school. However, two-thirds of those who vote in every national election reported a sense of belonging, as did 58% who vote in local elections or participate in local government.

Let’s commit to teaching students about voting processes and the candidates and issues on the ballot this fall, but also attend to their whole being, supporting schools in practicing the tenets of our constitutional democracy daily.

Young Americans have decidedly negative views of news media and journalism, according to a national survey published in November 2025 by the News Literacy Project (NLP). Biased, Boring, and Bad follows up on NLP’s 2024 Survey of Teen Information Attitudes, Habits, and Skills.

Among the key findings:

• The vast majority of teens (84%; ages 13-18) surveyed expressed negative views of contemporary media.
• Teens believed that journalists engage in deceptive practices (81%) and don’t do anything well (66%). This includes giving advertisers special treatment; making up details, such as quotations; paying or doing favors for sources; and taking photos or videos out of context.
• Young people’s top recommendations to journalists are to be honest, factual, minimize bias, and improve balance.

As was evident in last year’s survey, teens with higher trust in news media had more positive views of professional journalists and news organizations. For example, high-trust teens were more than twice as likely to say that journalists correct errors when they happen, and are half as likely to believe that news organizations give advertisers special treatment.

NLP concludes the survey with three recommendations:

1. Encourage young people to distinguish between standards-based journalism and other forms of information;
2. Teach students verification skills and how standards-based newsrooms operate; and
3. Foster accurate perceptions of journalism by challenging sweeping generalizations about modern media and exposing students to high-quality journalism.

Last month, our partners at the Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) at the Hoover Institution published a landscape analysis of The American Civic Education System. Based on an extensive literature review, individual interviews and focus groups, and a survey of educators and students, RAI documented three broad trends all too familiar to the civic learning field:

1. The marginalization of civic learning is generational in nature;
2. Civic learning is vital to the strength and sustenance of our constitutional democracy and transcends ideological divides; and
3. While the civic learning field has rallied to meet the challenge of the moment, our efforts often lack coherence and we struggle to scale them across our P-20 system.

The report proceeds to make more specific observations, several of which bear repeating:

• While tensions between liberty and democracy are inherent to our system, toxic political polarization is not and must be mitigated;
• Civic learning must be taught as a stand-alone subject across grade bands, but also integrated across subject areas to ensure greater emphasis;
• There is no shortage of civics curricula and resources, but there are a dearth of materials focused on international relations, military, and national security;
• Civic learning is excessively siloed within K–12, higher education, and civil society; and
• Educators want greater access to in person professional development opportunities where they engage with subject matter experts and learn from one another in community.

The authors conclude by recognizing the role for bridge-building leaders and institutions given the aforementioned challenges, one that the CivxNow coalition aspires to play with its 400-plus, pluralistic members in partnership with RAI. This report is an important contribution to our collective work to strengthen our P-20 civic education system.