IEA Civic Education Study, 1999: [United States]

Résumé 0

The IEA Civic Education Study is an international assessment of the civic knowledge and skills of 14-year-olds in 28 countries. It was conducted under the auspices of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA): the IEA's International Steering Committee guided the research, the International Coordinating Center (ICC) coordinated the day-to-day operations, and a data processing center processed the data. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) sponsored the 1999 IEA Civic Education Study in the United States. The assessment was administered to 2,811 students across 124 public and private schools nationwide at the beginning of ninth grade, the grade in which most 14-year-olds were enrolled at the time of the assessment (October 1999). Civic achievement in this study was measured by a total civic knowledge scale composed of two subscales: civic content and civic skills. Civic content refers to knowledge of content, such as characteristics of democracies, and civic skills refer to the interpretative skills needed to understand civic-related information (e.g., the skills needed to make sense of a newspaper article). In addition, survey items measured students' concepts of democracy, citizenship, and government, attitudes toward civic issues, and expected political participation. Students also answered questions on their background characteristics and on classroom climate. Questionnaires also solicited background information on school principals and teachers, and demographic information about the school and school programs related to civics education.