Interactions within classrooms contribute to adolescents' democratic civic development by providing resources fostering students' political understanding. Many teachers participate in social or political groups in their communities and more broadly. These out-of-school experiences inform their classroom practices and are contextualized by national…

Civic learning is increasingly recognized as important by the higher education and workforce communities. The development of high-quality assessments that can be used to evaluate students' civic learning during the college years has become a priority. This paper presents a comprehensive review of existing frameworks, definitions, and assessments…

The purpose of this study was to examine two aspects of context for peer aggression: national individualism and distributions of socioeconomic status in the school. School administrators for each school reported on their perceptions of the frequency of bullying and violence in their school. The sample comprised 990 school principals/headmasters…

Discusses results of international study to determine what 14-year-olds in the United States and several other countries know and understand about citizenship, government, and the law. Reveals gaps in U.S. students' civic knowledge and participation. Calls for greater emphasis on civic education in schools. (PKP)

This report evaluates a project undertaken in the Czech Republic to create lesson scenarios to revise the existing social studies curricular framework for the third form of secondary school (ages 17-18) with special reference to the overarching objectives for civic education reform started in 1989. These objectives included the elimination of…

Ways of enhancing knowledge of political institutions, processes and positions are the focus of many prescriptions for improving civic education and civic engagement among young people. A recent data source including a rigorously developed test of knowledge, provides an opportunity to empirically compare the performance of students in the United…

Reports the findings from Phase 1 of the Civic Education Study conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement. Explains that the study examined civic education in more than 30 countries worldwide. Focuses on civic education in the United States comparing the findings to those in other countries. (CMK)

Representatives at the school, district and state levels, as well as scholars and researchers, have been working with the Education Commission of the States' National Center for Learning and Citizenship (ECS/NCLC) to define citizenship education expressed in terms of three strands forming a "braid" of civic competencies. This updated version of…

Efforts to improve civic education face a conundrum. On the one hand, students report that they are more likely to learn about democracy and citizenship through reading textbooks than through any other activity and according to the National Education Association, reading is the gateway to learning in all content areas. However, reviews of textbook…

Four books, published 1997-99, draw on diverse disciplines in 18 countries to examine the meaning of civic identity and the contributions of formal and informal institutions to it during late childhood and adolescence. The books move beyond a narrow view of outcomes and inputs of political socialization to encompass activist social movements and…

Attempts to enrich civic learning should consider recent psychological studies. Changes must begin with teacher education and should be focused on: (1) changing classroom climate, where teachers' attitudes toward use of democratic or authoritarian processes can exert great influences; and (2) understanding students and teachers as developing…

Many studies have reported gaps between Latino and non-Latino adolescents in academic and political outcomes. The current study presents possible explanations for such gaps, both at the individual and school level. Hierarchical linear modeling is employed to examine data from 2,811 American ninth graders (approximately 14 years of age) who had…

This analysis aims to explore within one country (United States) whether there are differences in preparation for citizenship between students who are immigrant and those who are native-born and between students who come from Hispanic background and those who do not. This is a first step toward shaping further analysis of the civic education of…

This volume reports the results of the first phase of the Civic Education Study conducted by International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). During 1996 and 1997, researchers in 24 countries collected documentary evidence on the circumstances, contents, and processes of civic education in response to a common set of…

The purpose of this paper is to examine different facets of trust in the political system or civic realm and how they are correlated to the expected civic or political engagement of young people. The nature and effects of trust in social and political institutions have been studied in adults, distinguishing between various types of trust (in…