Save the Date for the Civic Learning Week National Forum — March 12, 2024
First Ladies Help Launch Civics Initiative for Young Learners
Federal Civics and History Education Grant Recipients Announced
Member Spotlight: Indiana Bar Foundation
Celebrating Our Members
Successive Surveys Show Low Civic Knowledge and the Impact of Civic Learning and Engagement
In the American Bar Association's 2023 "Survey of Civic Literacy," 70% of respondents consider public understanding of how government works to be “not very informed” (53%) or “not at all informed” (17%). Periodic measures of public civic knowledge confirm this sentiment. For example, the Annenberg Public Policy Center’s annualConstitution Day Civics Survey released last month shows that while 66% of respondents could name the three branches of government, 17% could not name any.
A deeper dive into the Annenberg survey reveals a scant 5% of respondents able to name all five freedoms of the First Amendment, with only speech identified by a majority (77%). Religion (40%), assembly (33%), press (28%), and petition (9%) followed. Twenty-two percent inaccurately associated the Second Amendment’s right to keep and bear arms to the First, and 20% of those surveyed were unable to name any of the five freedoms.
Respondents also struggled to apply the First Amendment’s freedom of speech. Fifty-three percent inaccurately claimed that Facebook, a private company, “…must permit all Americans to freely express themselves on (its) pages.” The upside is that the 59% of respondents who reported taking a high school civics class focused on the Constitution were more likely to answer survey questions correctly.
The consequences of low levels of civic knowledge among the citizenry were clarified in the Institute for Citizens & Scholars’ (ICS) September 2023 survey of “The Civic Outlook of Young Adults in America.” The national survey of more than 4,000 18–24-year-olds found a strong relationship between civic knowledge and civic engagement. Respondents answered a series of questions about the constitutional design of American institutions, the Bill of Rights, and current events. Each correct answer was associated with a statistically significant increase in political engagement, including voting, volunteering, and digital content creation and sharing.
Moreover, civically engaged respondents expressed greater satisfaction with U.S. democracy, with each community engagement activity increasing satisfaction. In turn, those with high satisfaction were more likely to find conversations with those they disagree “interesting” and/or “informative.” High civic engagement also translates into increased levels of trust in government institutions.
In sum, civic knowledge yields increased civic engagement, and civic engagement activities correlate with higher levels of satisfaction with our constitutional democracy, not to mention interesting and informative conversations across political differences. However, ICS points to a curious relationship between civic knowledge and satisfaction with democracy: those with higher retrospective levels of civic education were more satisfied, but those with higher civic knowledge less satisfied.
Our take is that higher levels of civic knowledge alone will not help strengthen and sustain this grand experiment in democratic governance. Civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions undergird youth civic development. A comprehensive civic education, as articulated in CivXNow’s State Policy Menu and our federal priorities, includes direct instruction in civics paired with practices of constitutional democracy like viewpoint-diverse classroom discussions, project-based learning, and simulations of democratic processes. These successive surveys from our partners at the ABA, Annenberg, and ICS further illuminate the importance of prioritizing high-quality civic learning opportunities throughout students’ PK–20 trajectory.
Save the Date for the Civic Learning Week National Forum — March 12, 2024
Mark your calendars to attend the Civic Learning Week National Forum on Tuesday, March 12, 2024 in Washington, D.C. The forum will be held at George Washington University, in partnership with coalition member Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service. The event will feature discussions about this year’s theme, Civic Learning as a Unifying Force Beyond 2024, with key leaders, researchers, journalists, and distinguished guests to be announced in the coming months.
The forum will be held from 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m. and will be followed by a reception and closing discussion at the National Archives, hosted by coalition partner National Archives Foundation. We hope you will join us in-person or virtually for the event. Stay tuned for more announcements about the programs and resources to be featured during Civic Learning Week 2024.
First Ladies Help Launch Civics Initiative for Young Learners
Last Friday, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and Former First Lady Laura Bush addressed the importance of civic education as part of a private launch event for a new animated musical short-form video series that teaches kids about democracy and the U.S. Bill of Rights. The series, Well Versed, includes 12 pop music videos created by Nickelodeon and ATTN:, along with educational resources provided by iCivics.
"Learn everything you can about the things you love, the things that make you curious, but also take time to learn your rights as a citizen," First Lady Dr. Biden, who attended the event in person, told a crowd of students in Philadelphia. "One way to do this is through a topic called civics, and sometimes civics can be a little complicated to explain."
First Lady Bush added via recorded video: "We believe that we need to inspire public trust, promote service, encourage civility, tolerance, and compassion among Americans. But it’s especially important that we teach our children how to be engaged citizens." The videos will be available starting tomorrow, November 1, on Nickelodeon platforms, Paramount+ and Noggin, but you can see an example here and a local story featured on the event here.
Federal Civics and History Education Grant Recipients Announced
We are pleased to share that the Department of Education recently announced the FY2023 grant recipients for the American History and Civics National Activities and Civics Academies programs. Due in large part to the tireless advocacy of our Coalition and the tripling of federal funds for history and civics education last December, the number of grantees for each program quadrupled since the previous award year. We are thrilled to see so many CivXNow partners represented on these lists — well deserved! This growth illustrates just how much our advocacy is paying off, and we are continuing to fight to maintain and grow these funding streams for our field for FY24 and into the new year.
Member Spotlight: Indiana Bar Foundation
The Indiana Bar Foundation launched the Indiana Civics Coalition in April 2023 during the state’s inaugural Indiana Civics Summit. The leader of the coalition, Indiana Bar Foundation President and CEO Chuck Dunlap, plans to use their summit as a yearly marker to promote advocacy and thought leadership, celebrate victories, and recalibrate their strategy.
The launch of the new coalition led to the creation of three new committees: civic education to provide course curricula and materials, civic health measures, and advocacy. Under the leadership of the Indiana Bar Foundation, the coalition is strengthening the use of the summit, committees, and publications through deepened relations with business partners like Cummins, Salesforce, Elonco, and other notable companies.
The Indiana Civics Coalition has various educational resources, both created internally and leveraged by partner organizations, that other states can adapt for their own purposes. These include We the People, Mock Trial, and 6th Grade Civics resources. The Coalition can also share planning strategies and documents they used to execute their successful Indiana Civics Summit. The Bar Foundation also encourages civic education curriculum providers interested in adapting their work for Hoosier students to connect and collaborate with the coalition.
Suggestions can be channeled to the Indiana Bar Foundation's Director of Civic Education, Tim Kalgreen.
Celebrating Our Members
The CivXNow Coalition continues to grow, now officially standing at more than 315 member organizations!
The Coalition remains deeply appreciative of member efforts and all that we accomplish together. Our goal is to aggregate and activate large networks of support to expand and re-imagine civic education as a force for civic strength. To our Coalition members, thank you for your partnership.
If your organization is interested in joining the CivXNow Coalition or in learning more, please contact us at CivXNow@icivics.org.
Our Mission
CivXNow is a coalition of partners from diverse viewpoints working to create a culture shift that elevates civic education and engagement as a national priority in order to protect and strengthen America’s constitutional democracy. This includes building a shared commitment to ensure that all young people are prepared to assume their rights and responsibilities to participate in civic life and address the issues facing students, their families, and communities in our increasingly dynamic, polarized, and digital society.
To achieve this goal, CivXNow advocates for bipartisan federal and state legislation that supports implementation of state and local policies that reimagine and deliver relevant, inclusive, and engaging K–12 civic learning, both in- and out-of-school.
A Team Effort
The CivXNow team produces this newsletter each month.
We are grateful for the energy, time, and guidance of the CivXNow Advisory Council and to many, many others who support individual projects.
