Decades of scholarship on teaching and learning affirm the benefits of public service internships on student learning outcomes. Studies emphasize how hands-on fieldwork can increase students' substantive knowledge, political efficacy, trust in government, and civic participation, among other factors. However, most articles treat internships…

Praises the efforts to develop a national standards for civics and government. However, discovers serious shortcomings in the current product. Claims that the current standards blur important distinctions and contain a number of factual errors. Recommends reducing the conceptual outlines and increasing illustrative cases and texts. (MJP)

Provides a historical overview of the activities designed to standardize and/or improve civics education. Briefly reviews reform movements, guidelines, and educational studies contributed by private institutions or the government. Lists the eight objectives for political science developed by the Committee on Pre-Collegiate Education in 1971. (MJP)