Civic Education Study

 "A survey fielded to a nationally representative sample of U.S. public school teachers of all subjects in November 2021 was used to assess how civic and citizenship education is being provided in U.S. public schools, what U.S. public school teachers believe to be the most important aims of this education, and whether those aims match the ones identified by teachers several years ago in other countries.

Researchers found that elementary teachers were more likely than secondary (middle and high school) teachers to indicate civic and citizenship education is integrated into all subjects taught at school. Teachers most commonly chose the development of students' critical thinking and their skills in conflict resolution as the most important aims of civics and citizenship education, although teachers' beliefs about top aims depended somewhat on their school grade level and their gender. U.S. teachers did agree with their international peers on many of the top aims of civic and citizenship education, although the comparison was limited by a five-year gap between surveys.

This report is part of the Countering Truth Decay initiative, which is focused on restoring the role of facts, data, and analysis in U.S. political and civil discourse and the policymaking process."

Diliberti, M., & Kaufman, J. (2022). How are U.S. public school teachers approaching civid and citizenship education? Rand. 

https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA112-23.html?utm_source=AdaptiveMailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=7014N000000XKUjQAO&utm_term=00v4N00000ihBIIQA2&org=1674&lvl=100&ite=268963&lea=1530820&ctr=0&par=1&trk=a0w4N00000A11MwQAJ

Youth Judgments of Statement Accuracy

This study investigates youth judgments of the accuracy of truth claims tied to controversial public issues. Consistent with research on motivated reasoning, results showed that youth assessments depended on (a) the alignment of the claim with one’s prior policy position and to a lesser extent on (b) whether the post included an inaccurate statement. To consider ways educators might improve judgments of accuracy, the researchers investigated the influence of political knowledge and exposure to media literacy education. They found that political knowledge did not improve judgments of accuracy but that media literacy education did. Given this information, educators can work to shape their approach to presenting information to studnts in order to better support avenues to academic success.

Kahne, J., & Bowyer, B. (2017). Educating for democracy in a partisan age: Confronting the challenges of motivated reasoning and misinformation. American Educational Research Journal, 54(1), 3-34. https://dx.doi.org/10.3102/0002831216679817