Giving Compass' Take:

• Despite the NAEP results showing little to no gains for eighth-grade students, there is one report that examined the impact of education at Democracy Prep, a public charter school network, on civic participation and the results were very positive. 

• How else is civics education important? Why should we especially value young people's voice in civil society? 

• Read about why civics education is paramount to participation outside of the school system. 

NAEP showed that fourth- and eighth-graders have made little to no gains in reading or math since 2015. Indeed, the stalled NAEP scores, along with a widening gap between the highest- and lowest-performing students, are cause for concern, but schools have more to teach than the three Rs.

Our schools also play an important role in developing engaged and informed citizens. Especially in an increasingly toxic political climate, we continue to hope that our schools are preparing students and future voters to engage in more reasoned discourse. Unfortunately, along the civics dimension — just as in reading and math — progress is lacking. For instance, NAEP’s most recent social studies assessment, administered in 2014, reported that just 23% of US eighth graders scored at or above proficiency in civics, and showed precious little improvement since 1998.

But a new report shows some progress in civics education worthy of celebration. The Mathematica Policy Research report, released last Thursday, examines the impact Democracy Prep, a public charter school network, had on students’ civic participation during the 2016 election.

Amid Millennials’ disappointingly low voter-turnout rates nationwide, we can take heart in a school system that is displaying civic progress.

Now, as its name might suggest, Democracy Prep isn’t your average charter school when it comes to civics education. Avoiding a civics of abstract ideals, the network of schools explicitly defines the dimensions of citizenship that it seeks to cultivate. Its curriculum and assessment involve three areas of focus: civic knowledge, applied civic skills, and lifelong civic disposition.

Of course, it’s never wise to seize on one study’s result and suggest we have found one best solution to scale up. There is still a civics crisis nationwide, but Democracy Prep’s work is one example of how schools can do something about it.

Read the full article about civics education by Nat Malkus and Brendan Bell at AEI