The U.S. education field rightfully prioritizes preparing students for college, their career, and the future of work, but it’s also important for students to be prepared to participate in their democracy.1 Active and engaged citizens have multiple things in common, including, but not limited to, civic knowledge and literacy as well as civic engagement through activities such as volunteerism, social-emotional learning, and voter participation.2 Civics education in K-12 schools provides a critical opportunity to introduce these activities to and build knowledge for students. To adequately prepare students to participate in their democracy, this civics education needs to, at minimum, robustly cultivate civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions.3
Unfortunately, civics education across the country has not always increased students’ civic knowledge and engagement, as federal and state funding for civics education has decreased over time.4 Although most states offer civics courses in middle school and high school—and some even mandate civics projects—since 1998, overall test scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) civics exam have persistently shown that less than 25 percent of students are proficient in the subject.5 What’s more, gaps persist between the scores of Black and Hispanic students and those of their white peers as well as by English language learner, income, and disability status.6 These NAEP scores may be explained in part by white students’ disproportionate access and exposure to civics education and engagement opportunities compared with African American and Latinx students; higher incomes also lead to more opportunities for engagement.7 It’s important to address this disproportionality, as improved civics education can lead to greater civic engagement, including the increased likelihood of voting.8 Subsequently, once a person votes, they are likely to become habitual voters.9
Civic engagement is defined as “working to make a difference in the civic life of one’s community and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference.” 10 This can include, but is not limited to, political activism, community and national service, volunteering, and service-learning.11 Specific opportunity gaps in civic engagement are similar to the disparities in NAEP civics scores between Black and Latinx students and white students as well as between students from lower- and higher-income families.12 For example, white youth are twice as likely as African American youth and three times as likely as Latinx youth to contact a public official.13 Additionally, students from families with low-incomes are “30% less likely to report having experiences with debates or panel discussions in their social studies classes.”14 This is not to say that communities of color or low-income communities are less interested in civic engagement but rather to acknowledge that disproportionate exclusion from civics education15—combined with other structural barriers such as voter suppression, voter disenfranchisement,16 and an understandable distrust of government17—can lead to decreased civic participation.18