Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T02:18:40.241Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Testing Civics: State-Level Civic Education Requirements and Political Knowledge

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 November 2016

DAVID E. CAMPBELL  and
RICHARD G. NIEMI
DAVID E. CAMPBELL*
Affiliation:
University of Notre Dame
RICHARD G. NIEMI*
Affiliation:
University of Rochester
*
David E. Campbell is Packey J. Dee Professor of American Democracy, Department of Political Science, 217 O'Shaughnessy Hall, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556 ([email protected]).
Richard G. Niemi is Don Alonzo Watson Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Department of Political Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627 ([email protected]).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Do state-level exams in civics have a positive impact on young people's civic knowledge? We hypothesize that civics exams have the biggest effect in states where they are a requirement for high school graduation—the incentive hypothesis. We further hypothesize that civics requirements have the biggest effect on young people with less exposure to information about the U.S. political system at home, specifically Latinos and, especially, immigrants—the compensation hypothesis. We test these hypotheses with the 2006 and 2010 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) civics test administered to high school students, and with a large national survey of 18–24 year-olds. Across the two datasets, we find modest support for the incentive hypothesis and strong support for the compensation hypothesis.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 110 , Issue 3 , August 2016 , pp. 495 - 511
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Achen, Christopher H. 1975. “Mass Political Attitudes and the Survey Response.” American Political Science Review 69 (4): 1218–31.Google Scholar
Berinsky, Adam J., and Lenz, Gabriel. 2011. “Education and Political Participation: Exploring the Causal Link.” Political Behavior 33: 357–73.Google Scholar
Callahan, Rebecca M., and Muller, Chandra. 2013. Coming of Political Age: American Schools and the Civic Development of Immigrant Youth. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools. 2015. Civic Learning Fact Sheet. Accessed September 7. http://www.civicmissionofschools.org/the-campaign/civic-learning-fact-sheet.Google Scholar
Campbell, David E. 2006. Why We Vote: How Schools and Communities Shape Our Civic Life. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. http://site.ebrary.com/id/10443117.Google Scholar
Campbell, David E. 2008. “Voice in the Classroom: How an Open Classrooom Climate Fosters Political Engagement Among Adolescents.” Political Behavior 30 (4): 437–54.Google Scholar
Campbell, David E. 2009. “Civic Engagement and Education: An Empirical Test of the Sorting Model.” American Journal of Political Science 53 (4): 771–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, David E., Levinson, Meira, and Hess, Frederick M., ed. 2012. Making Civics Count: Citizenship Education for a New Generation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.Google Scholar
Carlson, Deven. 2012. “Out of the Classroom and Into the Voting Booth? Analyzing the Effects of Education on Political Partiicipation.” Ph.D. dissertation, Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin.Google Scholar
Carlson, Deven, Borman, Geoffrey D., and Robinson, Michelle. 2011. “A Multistate District-Level Cluster Randomized Trial of the Impact of Data-Driven Reform on Reading and Mathematics Achievement.” Education Evaluation and Policy Analysis 33 (3): 378–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carnoy, Martin, and Loeb, Susanna. 2002. “Does External Accountability Affect Student Outcomes? A Cross-State Analysis.” Education Evaluation and Policy Analysis 24: 305–31.Google Scholar
Carnoy, Martin, Loeb, Susanna, and Smith, Tiffany. 2003. “The Impact of Accountability Policies in Texas High Schools.” In The New Accountability: High Schools and High-Stakes Testing, edited by Carnoy, Martin, Elmore, Richard, and Siskin, Leslie Santee, 147–73. New York: RoutledgeFalmer.Google Scholar
Ceaser, James W. 2013. The Role of Political Science and Political Scientists in Civic Education. AEI Prorgram on American Citizenship. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute. https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/-the-role-of-political-science-and-political-scientists-in-civic-education_102917311507.pdf.Google Scholar
Converse, Philip E. 1964. “The Nature of Belief Systems in Mass Publics.” In Ideology and Discontent, ed. Apter, David. New York: Free Press, 206–61. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08913810608443650.Google Scholar
Dassonneville, Ruth, Quintelier, Ellen, Hooghe, Marc, and Claes, Ellen. 2012. “The Relation Between Civic Education and Political Attitudes and Behavior: A Two-Year Panel Study Among Belgian Late Adolescents.” Applied Developmental Science 16 (3): 140–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dee, Thomas S., and Jacob, Brian A.. 2011. “The Impact of No Child Left Behind on Student Achievement.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 30 (3): 418–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delli Carpini, Michael X., and Keeter, Scott. 1996. What Americans Know About Politics and Why It Matters. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Diamond, John B. 2012. “Accountability Policy, School Organization, and Classroom Practice: Partial Recoupling and Educational Opportunity.” Education and Urban Society 44 (2): 151–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Facing History and Ourselves. 2010. Facing History and Ourselves National Evaluation Study: Outcomes and Implications. https://www.facinghistory.org/for-educators/school-and-district/outcomes/evaluation-results.Google Scholar
File, Thom. 2013. The Diversifying Electorate—Voting Rates by Race and Hispanic Origin in 2012 (and Other Recent Elections)P20–568. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p20-568.pdf.Google Scholar
Gaddis, S. Michael, and Lauen, Douglas Lee. 2014. “School Accountability and the Black-White Test Score Gap.” Social Science Research 44: 15–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Galston, William A. 2001. “Political Knowledge, Political Engagement, and Civic Education.” Annual Review of Political Science 4: 217–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García, John A. 2011. Latino Politics in America: Community, Culture, and Interests. 2nd ed. The Spectrum Series: Race and Ethnicity in National and Global Politics. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publisher.Google Scholar
Godsay, Surbhi, Henderson, Whitney, Levine, Peter, and Littenberg-Tobias, Josh. 2012. State Civic Education Requirements. CIRCLE Fact Sheet. Medford, MA: Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. http://www.civicyouth.org/new-circle-fact-sheet-describes-state-laws-standards-and-requirements-for-k-12-civics/.Google Scholar
Green, Donald P., Aronow, Peter M., Bergan, Daniel E., Greene, Pamela, Paris, Celia, and Weinberger, Beth I.. 2011. “Does Knowledge of Constitutional Principles Increase Support for Civil Liberties? Results from a Randomized Field Experiment.” Journal of Politics 73 (2) (April): 463–76.Google Scholar
Gutmann, Amy. 1999. Democratic Education. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hanmer, Michael J. 2009. Discount Voting: Voter Registration Reforms and Their Effects. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hanushek, Eric A., and Raymond, Margaret E.. 2005. “Does School Accountability Lead to Improved Student Performance?” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 24 (2): 297–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardin, Russell. 2006. “Ignorant Democracy.” Critical Review 18 (1–3) (January): 179–95.Google Scholar
Henderson, John, and Chatfield, Sara. 2011. “Who Matches? Propensity Scores and Bias in the Causal Effects of Education on Participation.” Journal of Politics 73 (3): 646–58.Google Scholar
Hess, Diana E. 2009. Controversy in the Classroom: The Democratic Power of Discussion. The Critical Social Thought Series. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hess, Diana E., and McAvoy, Paula. 2015. The Political Classroom: Evidence and Ethics in Democratic Education. Critical Social Thought. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hibbing, John R., and Theiss-Morse, Elizabeth. 2002. Stealth Democracy: Americans’ Beliefs about How Government Should Work. Cambridge Studies in Political Psychology and Public Opinion. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hochschild, Jennifer L., and Scovronick, Nathan B.. 2003. The American Dream and the Public Schools. New York: Oxford University Press. http://site.ebrary.com/id/10085454.Google Scholar
Hooghe, Marc, and Dassonneville, Ruth. 2011. “The Effects of Civic Education on Political Knowledge. A Two Year Panel Survey Among Belgian Adolescents.” Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability 23: 321–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hursh, David. 2005. “The Growth of High-Stakes Testing in the USA: Accountability, Markets and the Decline of Educational Equality.” British Educational Research Journal 31 (5): 605–22.Google Scholar
Jamieson, Kathleen Hall. 2013. “The Challenges Facing Civic Education.” Daedalus 142 (Spring): 65–83.Google Scholar
Kahne, Joseph. E., and Sporte, Susan. E.. 2008. “Developing Citizens: The Impact of Civic Learning Opportunities on Students’ Commitment to Civic Participation.” American Educational Research Journal 45 (3): 738–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kam, Cindy D., and Palmer, Carl L.. 2008. “Reconsidering the Effects of Education on Political Participation.” Journal of Politics 70 (3): 612–31.Google Scholar
Kawashimi-Ginsberg, Kei. 2012. Summary of Findings from the Evaluationof iCivics’ Drafting Board Intervention. CIRCLE Working Paper #76. Tufts University, Medford, MA: Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.Google Scholar
Kawashimi-Ginsberg, Kei, and Levine, Peter. 2014a. “Diversity in Classrooms: The Relationship Between Deliberative and Associative Opportunities in School and Later Electoral Engagement.” Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy 14 (1): 394–414.Google Scholar
Kawashimi-Ginsberg, Kei, and Levine, Peter. 2014b. “Policy Effects on Informed Political Engagement.” American Behavioral Scientist 58 (5): 665–88.Google Scholar
Langton, Kenneth P., and Jennings, M. Kent. 1968. “Political Socialization and the High School Civics Curriculum in the United States.” American Political Science Review 62 (3): 852–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levine, Peter. 2012. “The Commission on Youth Voting and Civic Knowledge Youth Post-Election Survey.” ICPSR35012-v2. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2016-03-24. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR35012.v2.Google Scholar
Lopez, Mark Hugo, Levine, Peter, Dautrich, Kenneth, and Yalof, David. 2009. “Schools, Education Policy, and the Future of the First Amendment.” Political Communication 26 (1): 84–101.Google Scholar
Lupia, Arthur. 1994. “Shortcuts Versus Encyclopedias: Information and Voting Behavior in California Insurance Reform Elections.” American Political Science Review 88 (1): 63–76.Google Scholar
Macedo, Stephen. 2005. Democracy at Risk: How Political Choices Undermine Citizen Participation, and What We Can Do about It. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution. http://public.eblib.com/EBLPublic/PublicView.do?ptiID=267613.Google Scholar
Martens, Allison M., and Gainous, Jason. 2012. “Civic Education and Democratic Capacity: How Do Teachers Teach and What Works.” Social Science Quarterly 94 (4): 956–76.Google Scholar
Masuoka, Natalie, and Junn, Jane. 2013. The Politics of Belonging: Race, Public Opinion, and Immigration. Chicago Studies in American Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Mayer, Alexander K. 2011. “Does Education Increase Political Participation?” Journal of Politics 73 (3): 633–45.Google Scholar
McCartney, Alison Rios Millett, Bennion, Elizabeth A., and Simpson, Dick W., eds. 2013. Teaching Civic Engagement: From Student to Active Citizen. Washington, DC: American Political Science Association.Google Scholar
McDevitt, Michael, and Kiousis, Spiro. 2004. Education for Deliberative Democracy: The Long-Term Inflluence of Kids Voting USA. CIRCLE Working Paper #22. Tufts University; Medford, MA: Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.Google Scholar
McIntosh, Hugh, Hart, Daniel, and Youniss, James. 2007. “The Influence of Family Political Discussion on Youth Civic Development: Which Parent Qualities Matter?” PS: Political Science and Politics 40 (3): 495–9.Google Scholar
Mutz, Diana Carole. 2006. Hearing the Other Side: Deliberative Versus Participatory Democracy. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
National Center for Education Statistics. 2011. Civics 2010: National Assessment of Educational Progress at Grades 4,8, and 12. The Nation's Report Card. Washington, DC: Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.Google Scholar
Neundorf, Anja, Niemi, Richard G., and Smets, Kaat. 2016. “The Compensation Effect of Civic Education on Political Engagement: How Civics Classes Make Up for Missing Parental Socialization.” Political Behavior. doi 10.1007/s11109-016-9341-0 Google Scholar
Nichols, Sharon L., Glass, Gene V., and Berliner, David C.. 2006. “High-Stakes Testing and Student Achievement: Does Accountability Pressure Increase Student Learning?” Education Policy Analysis Archives 14 (1): 1–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nie, Norman H., Junn, Jane, and Stehlik-Barry, Kenneth. 1996. Education and Democratic Citizenship in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Niemi, Richard G., and Junn, Jane. 1998. Civic Education: What Makes Students Learn. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Niemi, Richard G. 2012. “What Students Know About Civics and Government.” In Making Civics Count: Citizenship Education for a New Generation, edited by Campbell, David E., Levinson, Meira, and Hess, Frederick M.. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press, 15–36.Google Scholar
Niemi, Richard G., and Smith, Julia. 2001. “Enrollments in High School Government Classes: Are We Short-Changing Both Citizenship and Political Science Training?” PS: Political Science and Politics 34: 281–7.Google Scholar
Page, Benjamin I., and Shapiro, Robert Y.. 1992. The Rational Public: Fifty Years of Trends in Americans’ Policy Preferences. American Politics and Political Economy Series. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Persson, Mikael. 2011. “An Empirical Test of the Relative Education Model in Sweden.” Political Behavior 33 (3): 455–78.Google Scholar
Popkin, Samuel L. 1994. The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Putnam, Robert D. 2001. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Rouse, Cecilia Elena, Hannaway, Jane, Goldhaber, Dan, and Figlio, David. 2013. “Feeling the Florida Heat? How Low-Performing Schools Respond to Voucher and Accountability Pressure.” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 5 (2): 251–81.Google Scholar
Sims, David P. 2013. “Can Failure Succeed? Using Racial Subgroup Rules to Analyze the Effect of School Accountability Failure on Student Performance.” Economics of Education Review 32: 262–74.Google Scholar
Sparks, Sarah D. 2013. “Board Cuts Back on Several NAEP Tests in Response to Budget Cuts.” Education Week, August 2. http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2013/08/board_nixes_naep_trend_test_ad.html.Google Scholar
Supovitz, Jonathan. 2009. “Can High Stakes Testing Leverage Educational Improvement? Prospects from the Last Decade of Testing and Accountability Reform.” Journal of Educational Change 10: 211–27.Google Scholar
Teixeira, Ruy A. 1992. The Disappearing American Voter. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Torney-Purta, Judith. 2002. “The School's Role in Developing Civic Engagement: A Study of Adolescents in Twenty-Eight Countries.” Applied Developmental Science 6 (4): 203–12.Google Scholar
Torney-Purta, Judith, Barber, Carolyn H., and Wilkenfeld, Britt. 2007. “Latino Adolescents’ Civic Development in the United States: Research Results from the IEA Civic Education Study.” Journal of Youth and Adolescence 36 (2): 111–25.Google Scholar
Valenzuela, Angela, ed. 2005. Leaving Children Behind: How Texas-Style Accountability Fails Latino Youth. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Vara, Vauhini. 2015. “What's the Right Way to Teach Civics?” New Yorker.com, August 4. http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/whats-the-right-way-to-teach-civics.Google Scholar
Wattenberg, Martin P. 2012. Is Voting for Young People? 3rd ed. Great Questions in Politics Series. Boston: Pearson.Google Scholar
Wicks, Robert S., Wicks, Jan LeBlanc, Morimoto, Shauna, Maxwell, Angie, and Ricker Schulte, Stephanie. 2013. “Correlates of Political and Civic Engagement among Youth During the 2012 Presidential Campaign.” American Behavioral Scientist 58 (5): 622–44.Google Scholar
Winke, Paula. 2013. “Investigating the Reliability of the Civics Component of the U.S. Naturalization Test.” Language Assessment Quarterly 8 (4): 317–41.Google Scholar
Zaller, John. 1992. The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zukin, Cliff, Keeter, Scott, Andolina, Molly, Jenkins, Krista, and Carpini, Michael X Delli. 2006. A New Engagement?: Political Participation, Civic Life, and the Changing American Citizen. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Campbell and Niemi supplementary material

Appendix

Download Campbell and Niemi supplementary material(File)
File 162.3 KB
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.