Improving Civics Education and Eradicating the Civic Empowerment Gap

Introduction:

            As our nation grapples with the rise of authoritarianism, our school children remain woefully unprepared to demonstrate the qualities of capable citizenship and uphold the sanctity of our democratic institutions. Just 23% of 8^th graders scored at proficient or above on the 2014 NAEP civics examination, a dismal score reflective of the declining importance placed on civics within the national consciousness over the past half century.[i] The crisis has been further exacerbated in the standards and accountability era; with the onset of No Child Left Behind in 2001, schools were compelled to place heightened importance on Math and ELA to the detriment of instructional time devoted to history, civics, economics, and the arts.[ii] Students of color and students living in poverty experience what has been described as a “Civic Empowerment Gap”, demonstrating reduced achievement on civics and history examinations, voting and participating in the political process in reduced numbers, and displaying a justifiable level of mistrust and cynicism towards our systemically racist government and its institutions.[iii] Therefore, it is imperative that the education departments of each state convene the best and brightest educators, policy experts, researchers, and advocates to reimagine civics standards, properly fund civics education, and devise pedagogical strategies that promote civic efficacy and active, justice-oriented civic participation.

            This memo begins by providing background context on the decline of civics education during the 20^th century and the current state of the Civic Empowerment Gap. Furthermore, this memo contends that, in order to ameliorate the Civic Empowerment Gap and produce active, justice-oriented, and efficacious young citizens, the education departments of each state must re-establish a commitment to civic education by mandating that all students take, at minimum, 3 courses in Civics, Government, and Participatory Democracy as requisite for high school graduation. Additionally, each state must ensure that all children, and especially lower income students and students of color have access to high-quality service-learning opportunities that take them out of the classroom and into the community, and government and political simulations that expose students to the mechanisms of direct civic action.

Background:

            Although appearing nearly unfathomable in our current era, there was a time when preparing children for capable, active citizenship was our public-school system’s utmost priority. Beginning in the middle of the 19^th century, systems of public “common schools” emerged with the intention of inculcating all children with shared, non-sectarian civic values.[iv] At the turn of the 20^th century, the progressive educator John Dewey pushed a vision of “child-centered” education that valued the intrinsic benefit of knowledge for the maintenance of strong communities and a democratic society.[v] However, as has been the case throughout history, the business community managed to successfully co-opt and undermine democratic reform efforts in favor of pedagogical and organizational practices that prioritized workforce readiness and the needs of the capitalist class over the maintenance of civic values.[vi] This tension between the interests of capitalism and democracy has extended into the modern era; a 2007 study found that 75 percent of schools designated as “needing improvement” under NCLB dramatically increased instructional time for Math and ELA, to the detriment of instructional time for civics and other subjects categorized as superfluous for workforce preparation.[vii] While Civics achievement and efficacy remains poor as a whole, a Civic Empowerment Gap continues to fester for low-income students and students of color. On the 2014 NAEP Civics Examination, 32% of white eighth-graders achieved proficiency compared to 9 percent of their black peers.[viii] Additional research has revealed that African American and Latinx students receive, on average, fewer civics oriented classes, opportunities for substantive classroom discussion and debate, and opportunities to engage in service-learning and political simulations than their white peers.[ix]

Recommendations:

Mandate that all students take, at minimum, three civics courses as requisite for high school graduation, and convene practitioners and policymakers to rework curricular standards

Unlike the rigid and overtly punitive nature of No Child Left Behind, ESSA allows states some flexibility in designing their accountability systems and measures of school quality.[x] States should utilize this newfound autonomy by restoring their commitment to civics education through a revamping of civics curricula and an expanded number of core course requirements for graduation. Currently, only 23 out of 50 US states (plus Washington DC) require at least three civics oriented classes for graduation, and a few states have no set requirements at all.[xi] Up until the 1960s, three separate courses in democracy, civics, and government was the norm.[xii] As the emphasis placed on civics education has declined, so too has voter participation and levels of involvement in community organizations. The United States now ranks 139^th in voter participation rate out of 172 qualifying democracies.[xiii] Civic efficacy and participation is heavily stratified by both race and socioeconomic status, with better educated, more affluent, and white citizens participating more robustly than their lower-income, less-educated peers.[xiv]

States should not only mandate more instructional time be devoted to civics instruction, but also convene teachers, policymakers, researchers, and activists to devise curricular standards and pedagogical practices that will heighten civic efficacy for the most marginalized student populations. Many students of color view traditional American political institutions with cynicism and skepticism; they correctly believe that these institutions have not historically worked in their best interest. Meira Levinson, who documented the Civic Empowerment Gap in great detail, contends that civic educators must implement a culturally responsive curriculum that highlights non-dominant cultural perspectives and encourages active and justice-oriented forms of protest and participation.[xv] Reforms that attempt to alter pedagogy and classroom instructional practice will fail without adequate teacher buy-in, so educators must be at the forefront of any alterations made to standards and curriculum.[xvi] Pedagogical reforms often fail to permeate more than a small fraction of schools and classrooms when they are undertaken solely by the most engaged teachers, so efforts must be made to ensure teachers are being held to strong external normative structures through the development of vibrant, outward-facing professional communities where best practices can be shared.[xvii]

Expand service-learning opportunities for all students

 Frequent service-learning opportunities must become a core component of state civics standards. Students must receive the opportunity to volunteer within their communities, partner with a local government agency or non-profit to develop solutions to address pertinent community issues, and apply classroom knowledge to personally relevant projects with real-world application and impact. The 2003 non-partisan Guardians of Democracy report detailed the very tangible benefits of service-learning; studies have shown that service-learning increases students’ sense of civic efficacy, is associated with improved academic performance and test score outcomes, and leads to heightened post-secondary and vocational aspirations.[xviii] More specifically, a study of 1,650 middle and high school students in Ohio who were exposed to service-learning opportunities demonstrated significantly higher gains than their nonparticipating peers on measures of school engagement, career aspirations, critical thinking, and collaboration.[xix] Service-learning has proven especially beneficial for students of color and those from high-poverty communities. Studies from Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Texas highlight how high-quality service-learning contributes to test-score gains and can dramatically reduce the test score gap between high- and low-income children.[xx]

Despite the body of literature highlighting the efficacy of service-learning as a tool to boost both general academic achievement and civic engagement, states have been hesitant to include service-learning within their curricular frameworks. According to a 2018 Brookings Institution report, only 11 out of 50 states include service-learning explicitly within their civics standards.[xxi] Perhaps even more disheartening, 53% of 12^th graders surveyed within the same study reported never going on civics or history specific field trips or engaging with outside speakers.[xxii] State and local level government agencies must expand their capacity to deliver service-learning opportunities for all children, and state governments are compelled to forge partnerships with non-profit actors to maximize the quantity and diversity of service opportunities available to students.

Expand access to government and political simulations for all students

Government and political simulations, including but not limited to: mini model congress, Model UN, and mock trials and congressional hearings should be a core component of civics curricula and be made available to all children both as part of classroom and extracurricular instruction. Research has highlighted that in times of fiscal crisis, schools serving lower-income children and children of color are forced to cut civics related after-school immersion programming. The Center for Educational Equity reported that in the wake of the 2008 recession, 33 high need schools in New York City were forced to suspend their student government, school newspapers, Model UN and Mock Trial programs.[xxiii] Interactive civics simulations are entirely absent in a majority of American public high schools; 56% of 12^th graders surveyed reported never participating in role-playing, mock trials, or dramas as part of classroom or extracurricular instruction.[xxiv]

While efforts should be made to address budgetary shortfalls and properly fund extracurricular civics programs at all primary and secondary schools, at minimum, state departments of education should be compelled to incorporate political simulations into classroom curricular standards. Schools and practitioners should also leverage existing technology and incorporate virtual political simulations into their instructional practices. Research has demonstrated that simulations of democratic processes heighten civic interest through participation in the mechanisms of direct civic action, and build public speaking, teamwork, and analytical thinking skills.[xxv]

Conclusion:

            The importance of civic knowledge and efficacy has declined in both our classrooms and the general public consciousness. State departments of education must lead the charge by re-establishing the importance of civics instruction in schools through a reimagining of civics curriculum and pedagogy that is culturally responsive and encourages active and justice-oriented participation, promotes service-learning opportunities, and allows all children to engage in authentic role-playing and political simulations. While schools cannot be expected to ameliorate the Civic Empowerment Gap on their own, they can and must play a larger role in improving the inclusivity of our democratic institutions.[xxvi]

Endnotes:

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[i] See U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2014 U.S. History Assessments

[ii] See Ravitch, Diane. The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education. New York: Basic Books (2010), p. 107.

[iii] See Levinson, Meira. No Citizen Left Behind. Harvard University Press (2012)

[iv] See Tyack, David. (1993) School Governance in the United States: Historical Puzzles and Anomalies, p. 7.

[v] See Rebell, Michael. Flunking Democracy: Schools, Courts, and Civic Participation. University of Chicago Press (2018), p. 17.

[vi] See Cuban, Larry. Reforming again, again, again. Educational Researcher, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Jan-Feb.,1990), p. 4.  Also see Carnoy, Martin and Henry Levin. Schooling and Work in the Democratic State. Stanford University Press (1985).

[vii] See David, Jane L. Research Says…/High-Stakes Testing Narrows the Curriculum. Educational Leadership: March 2011, Vol 68, No 6, p. 78-80.

[viii] Rebell, 2018, p. 21.

[ix] Rebell, 2018, p. 21

[x] See Hansen, Michael, Elizabeth Levesque, Jon Valant, and Diana Quintero. The 2018 Brown Center Report on American Education: How Well are American Students Learning? The Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institute (June 2018), p. 12.

[xi] Hansen, 2018, p. 20.

[xii] Rebell, 2018, p. 32.

[xiii] Rebell, 2018, p. 40.

[xiv]Levinson, 2012, p. 35.

[xv] Levinson, 2012, p. 44.

[xvi] Tyack, 1993, p. 25.

[xvii] See Elmore, Richard F. Getting to Scale with Good Educational Practice. Harvard Educational Review (April-June 1996), p. 19.

[xviii] See Jonathan, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Peter Levine, Ted McConnell, and David B. Smith, eds. Guardian of Democracy: The Civic Mission of Schools. Rep. Philadelphia: Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of, 2011. p. 29.

[xix] Jonathan, 2011, p. 30.

[xx] Jonathan, 2011, p. 31.

[xxi] Hansen, 2018, p. 21.

[xxii] Hansen, 2018, p. 23.

[xxiii] Rebell, 2018, p. 114.

[xxiv] Hansen, 2018, p. 22.

[xxv] Jonathan, 2011, p. 34.

[xxvi] See Kantor, Harvey and Robert Lowe, Educationalizing the Welfare State and Privatizing Education, in Chapter 3 of Closing the Opportunity Gap (Carter, P and Welner, K eds, 2013) and also Levinson, 2012, p. 51.