Required civics courses, civics exams, and voter turnout

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Abstract

Despite attempts at using civic education to increase the civic engagement of young people, education policy is slow to adopt the recommendations of research and great variation exists within the United States in how schools deliver civics instruction. We hypothesize that when states make civics requirements more uniform and demanding, statewide civic participation among young people increases. Using state-level data about civic education requirements and voter registration and turnout from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), we find no evidence that a mandated civics course increases registration or turnout, but we do find a positive relationship between having a state-mandated civics exam and both registration and turnout among young people. We conclude that accountability policies could make a difference in the delivery of civic education at the state level.

Keywords:

• Civic education
• Voting
• School accountability
• High-stakes tests

Notes

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

1 IEA is the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, an international organization that has been tracking civic education in multiple countries for more than two decades through the Civic Education Study (CivEd) in 1999 and the International Civic and Citizenship Study (ICCS) in 2009 and 2016.

2 To view an interactive map of state civics education polices or download data used in this this and many other studies on civic education, visit the CIRCLE website at http://civicyouth.org/new-interactive-map-explores-civic-education-state-by-state/?cat_id=383.