Healthy Democracies Need to Invest in Civic Education. Here’s How States Can Help

A cross-ideological coalition is working to expand and improve civic learning across states

By Carnegie Corporation of New York March 13, 2024

Students in Maine collect votes from their fourth-grade classmates where children voted in a lesson that included mathematics as well as civics. (Credit: Doug Jones/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)

Funding for civic learning, both from philanthropy and government, is woefully inadequate. The United States invests just 5 cents in civic education for every 50 dollars that goes to education in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects.

Current data on civic knowledge is just as alarming. The 2023 Annenberg Civics Knowledge Survey found that about one in six Americans could not name any of the three branches of the U.S. government, and most Americans could not name all of the rights protected under the First Amendment. Eighth graders’ scores in civics registered their first decline since testing began in 1998, according to data from the 2023 National Assessment of Educational Progress.

How Are We Working to Advance Civic Education?

In an increasingly polarized country beset by misinformation and distrust, the need for accurate instruction on history and government has never been greater. And voters across parties agree. Fifty-nine percent of likely Republican voters and 74 percent of likely Democratic voters support more funding for civic education, according to a 2022 poll by iCivics and More Perfect.

Driven by the foundational belief that educated citizens are critical to a healthy democracy, Carnegie Corporation of New York has invested $16.3 million in civic education over nearly three decades. In January 2024, the Corporation gave a $1.5 million grant to support iCivics’ CivXNow Coalition, which involves more than 320 cross-ideological partners throughout the country working to advance civic education policies at state and federal levels. Thanks to the strong advocacy of CivXNow Coalition members, states across the political spectrum have bolstered civic learning in recent legislative sessions, including in Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Utah.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to civic learning, and conservative, progressive, urban, rural, and otherwise diverse states have taken varied policy approaches to increase it. The Connecting Civic Education and a Healthy Democracy report highlights the need for state policies and investments that will ensure high-quality civic education for all students in the United States.

What States Have Recently Passed Civic Learning Legislation?

Thanks to the strong advocacy of CivXNow Coalition members, states with elected officials across the political spectrum have bolstered civic learning in recent legislative sessions. Recent highlights include:

Massachusetts, which led the way in 2018 with bipartisan legislation mandating an eighth-grade civics class, recently increased its annual public investment in civics from $2 million to $2.5 million.
Indiana and New Jersey adopted middle school civics course requirements, and Oregon and Rhode Island adopted new high school requirements.
Utah passed legislation to fund experiential civic learning pilots at the district level, while Georgia and Indiana passed bills creating permanent civic education commissions.

In addition to tracking the civic education policies currently in place in states, CivXNow is tracking 65 active bills across 24 states that align with its state policy goals and is working with and supporting a network of state coalitions working for change in 41 U.S. states, from Arizona and Ohio to Texas.

“We are seeking to rally as many people and communities as possible to make the case for investing in civics in the nation’s K–12 schools, and the states are where that is going to happen,” said Louise Dubé, chief executive officer of iCivics. “We need a movement strategy where educators and families are calling on states and districts to adopt policies and make investments that will capacitate young people with the knowledge, skills, and disposition to uphold American democracy.”

To learn more about the civic education policies in your state, explore CivXNow's interactive map.

What Actions Can Be Taken to Expand and Improve Civic Learning?

To strengthen the quality of K–12 civic education, the CivXNow Coalition is urging state and local education policymakers to focus on the following state policy goals.

Universal Access
States should work to strengthen course requirements in civic education to ensure all students have access to high-quality learning opportunities.

State Standards
States should update standards for social studies in alignment with the Roadmap to Educating for American Democracy — a framework for what, why, and how to teach history and civics — while ensuring a uniform approach to media literacy instruction.

Teaching Requirements
States should strengthen pre-service requirements for civics teachers by requiring undergraduate courses in U.S. government and U.S. history.

Educator Professional Development
States should provide adequate resources for ongoing professional development for civics teachers, so they can strengthen their civic and historical content knowledge and their understanding of instructional strategies, including media literacy.

Assessment and Accountability
States should provide student credentialing benchmarks at appropriate grade levels, including civics graduation seals or certificates, with district-level implementation, while requiring (and aggregating) civic learning plans from local education agencies to assess progress.

Youth Participation
States should ensure that youth voice and participation are included in education and community decision-making by ensuring meaningful student representation on local boards, commissions, and other governmental bodies.

Equity in Civics
States should actively recruit and work to retain social studies teachers of color, and disaggregate civics assessment and accountability data to ensure equitable access and to address disparate outcomes.

Implementation
States should establish or empower an in-state entity to help schools and districts implement new policies equitably, while creating designated funds to attract public and private investment in civic education policy.

To learn more, read the full report: Connecting Civic Education and a Healthy Democracy.