Civic Education Works
Research confirms that students who receive a comprehensive and high-quality civic education are more likely to be informed and actively engaged citizens and voters.
Independent research confirms our resources produce clear and tangible benefits to students—even after controlling for gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Even more promising: more than half the students that play our games in school play them again at home on their own time.
iCivics materials improve students’ civic knowledge, civic attitudes, and core literacy skills. Students are challenged to learn and engage with the material, and have fun in the process. New evidence is pointing to the power of matching iCivics games with authentic civic engagement experiences.
Key Findings
In the 51st annual Phi Delta Kappa poll of public attitudes on education (2019):
- 97% of Americans said civics should be taught;
- 81% of teachers say students should be required to take a civics class
- Parents (78%), all adults (79%), and teachers (85%) say schools should teach values as well as factual information
- 87–97% of all adults say public school classes on values should cover honesty, civility, respect for authority, and acceptance of people of different religions
- 81% say patriotism should be included
These findings mirror those of The Democracy Project report (2018) that found the most popular (89% support) initiative tested as a way to bolster democracy was to ensure that schools make civic education a bigger part of curriculum. This high level of support remained true across all age, gender, racial, political, socioeconomic, and geographic demographics.
Research Roundup
Prior Months’ Research Roundups:
Patriotism is in the air as the United States prepares for the 250th anniversary of its Declaration of Independence in July. Yet the true meaning of patriotism and how to cultivate it among citizens is a matter of fierce debate. Steven Smith attempts to bridge current ideological chasms and offer a unifying brand of American patriotism in his 2021 book Reclaiming Patriotism in an Age of Extremes (Yale University Press).
The United States, from its inception, was a “creedal nation,” meaning that being an American meant adherence to a set of core beliefs: equality, individual rights, liberty, and limited government, among them. This is juxtaposed with an ascendant nationalism on the political right, and a cosmopolitan, or “citizens of the world” concept, prevalent on the left. Smith attempts to reclaim patriotism from these poles in this fraught political moment.
The author defines patriotism as “a form of loyalty to…one’s constitution or political regime.” American patriotism is aspirational: “To be an American is to be continually engaged in asking what it means to be an American.”
Moreover, patriotism, Smith writes, is a “learned disposition” as opposed to indoctrination. Instead, it is a “component of an educated mind.” In this sense, one of the strongest acts of patriotism we can all engage in for A250 is simply the learning and the seeking of knowledge and understanding of history and civics.
Smith compares the Declaration of Independence and Constitution with core religious texts: the former emphasizes individual rights, while the latter establishes self-government through federalism. These seminal documents breed a form of “civic faith,” what Lincoln called the “political religion of the nation.”
We are therefore a textual people, participants in ongoing debates over the true meaning of our creed. These debates are core to American patriotism and its enlightened form that Smith elevates as the root of what makes America exceptional.
In this year of the semiquincentennial, may the teaching of American virtues, namely civility, rule of law, mutual respect, responsibility, and leadership, among others, flourish in our K–12 classrooms and cultural institutions as we pass along this precious birthright to our posterity.
Interview conducted by the Philanthropy Roundtable in conjunction with the CivXNow Policy Summit (2021)
Interview conducted in conjunction with the CivXNow Policy Summit (2021)
What states can learn from the passage of an act to promote and enhance civic engagement (2020)
Interview with Michael A. Rebell regarding civic readiness in New York (2020)
Multiple developments in Florida promise to continue the state’s leadership in providing K-12 civic learning (2020)
Video from Democracy at a Crossroads Summit (2019)
CivxNow documentary showing Chicago’s George Washington High School’s transformation driven by the civic investment of teachers, students, parents, and community members (2019)
Report by the California Task Force on K-12 Civic Learning (2014)
