Briefly reviews the research literature on political socialization across several nations and presents the results of a study concerning the level of political knowledge for 453 10- to 22-year-old British youth. Results showed greater knowledge of local and national political leaders than of parlimentary and political party affairs. (JDH)

Discusses a study which measured the effects of mass media-related instruction about political topics in elementary and secondary schools on students' political knowledge. Findings indicated that mass media, particularly television, does influence student political knowledge and that, consequently, educators should have an input into television…

The purpose of this paper is to use data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress to describe changes in performance within the subject area of social studies and citizenship education. The items from the citizenship and social studies national assessments illustrate that trends over time are not uniform within these subject areas. The…

Criticizes K-12 civics and government education for focusing on the various components of government and creating a sanitized vision of how democracy works. Argues that conflict and compromise are parts of the democratic process rather than aberrations. Recommends a shift in focus on both the secondary and postsecondary levels. (MJP)

The Assessment of Law-Related Competencies includes tests for three different levels: primary, covering grades K-4; intermediate, covering grades 5-8; and secondary, covering grades 9-12. Most of the items in the three multiple choice tests are intended to measure cognitive knowledge of various law-related concepts, including: nature and types of…