Education Next – Robert Pondiscio and Kate Stringer
“Today is Constitution Day, when all schools receiving federal funds are expected to provide lessons or other programming on our most important founding document…The public-spirited mission of preparing children for self-government in a democracy was a founding ideal of America’s education system…The National Assessment of Educational Progress lists five dispositions it says are “critical to the responsibilities of citizenship in America’s constitutional democracy.” These are active, not passive roles: respecting human worth, responsible participation, promoting a healthy democracy. If these aren’t priorities of a school district, are they priorities of their students? The data says no. Of the eighth graders who took the NAEP’s civics exam in 2014, only 23 percent scored proficient marks…when only one-quarter of eighth graders score “proficient” on the most recent NAEP civics exam, it’s also a reminder of how rarely civics and citizenship take center stage in America’s public schools.”(more)