Corrected: An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect publication date for David Feith鈥檚 book. It was published last month.
College-ready, career-ready 鈥� and citizenship-ready? released by the American Enterprise Institute last week make the case that civics education is as critical as literacy and mathematics. They also explore what civics education should look like, how teachers can be prepared to create educated citizens, and future challenges and opportunities in the field.
Frederick M. Hess, the director of education policy studies at the Washington-based AEI, said the research discusses 鈥渉ow to make teaching and learning and schooling serve the needs of America and the needs of our children today.鈥�
The research comes from scholars of various disciplines, according to David Campbell, an associate professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame and a coordinator of the research, which was released at a conference last week. 鈥淲e want to build a community of scholars working on this issue,鈥� he said.
One theme of the research is that civics skills and dispositions, like those of reading and math, can be evaluated, and that there are lessons to be learned from places that teach them well.
Data have shown that some private and charter schools imbue civic values with greater success than regular public schools, Mr. Campbell writes in one paper. Even though the data have come to light several times, he said, there has been little attempt to learn from those schools鈥� strengths, such as a schoolwide ethos of civic responsibility, to improve public schools.
Peter Levine, the research director of Tufts University鈥檚 Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, points to other models of strong civics education in another paper.
鈥淚f you ask the average person what they think is going on with civics education,鈥� he says, 鈥渢hey鈥檒l say, 鈥楾hey don鈥檛 teach this anymore the way they did when I was a kid.鈥� 鈥� They鈥檙e right, Mr. Levine said in an interview, but the major difference is not a lack of knowledge about such facts as the branches of government, but the decline of applied skills, such as 鈥渂eing able to understand the news and form one鈥檚 own opinions about the news, and being able to affect one鈥檚 community in a productive way.鈥�
In his research, Keith C. Barton, an education professor at Indiana University, argues that preservice teachers need to expand their understanding of their roles as teachers. He writes that teachers must model and teach civic engagement, and that while teacher-preparation programs can help inculcate those values and skills, most don鈥檛.
Diana Hess and John Zola expand on that theme in another work, giving case studies of teachers provided with excellent professional development to promote civic education and a checklist for effective professional development.
But it鈥檚 not only teachers who need to recalibrate expectations about civics education, said Meira Levinson, an associate professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a coordinator of the research. Teachers often worry that treating contentious issues in class might make them vulnerable to criticism from the community, she said.
Digital Divide
While students may not be satisfactorily engaged in civics, they are quite engaged in digital media, and that engagement provides an opportunity for educators, researchers Joseph Kahne, Jacqueline Ullman, and Ellen Middaugh write in a paper on digital opportunities.
鈥淔requently, we think of digital media as a distraction and a risk, but it is a potential bridge between what students find engaging and what they need to know,鈥� Mr. Kahne said in an interview. Several organizations, such as the Chicago-based and retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O鈥機onnor鈥檚 , are already taking advantage of that bridge.
That trio of researchers also described a civics achievement gap, pointing to a dramatic digital divide between advantaged and disadvantaged students. The discrepancy in scores between advantaged and disadvantaged students on such tests as the National Assessment of Educational Progress in civics is also large鈥攍arger than the gap in reading or math scores, said Seth Andrew, the executive director of , a charter school network.
David Feith, the editor of , which was published last month, said the gap is particularly worrisome for students who already feel disenfranchised: 鈥淚f you say that something so basic to citizenship [as civics education] is a luxury, you鈥檙e already starting at a point of low expectations.鈥�
The AEI鈥檚 Mr. Hess, who also writes an for Education Week, said the collection of papers wasn鈥檛 designed to solve every problem, but to present ideas and 鈥渘udge public attention鈥� toward a critical issue.
The papers are slated for publication by the Harvard Education Press next year.
