According to a new paper by Judith Torney-Purta and Britt S.Wilkenfeld, “Civic education, especially when it is interactive and involves discussion of current issues, is an important way to develop the skills that young Americans need to succeed in the 21st Century workforce. Students who experience interactive discussion-based civic education (either by itself or in combination with lecture-based civic education) score the highest on “21st Century Competencies,” including working with others (especially in diverse groups) and knowledge of economic and political processes. Students who experience neither interactive nor lecture-based civic education have the lowest scores on all of the 21st Century competencies examined. This group, which comprises about one-quarter of all American students, shows not only low levels of knowledge but also a relatively low level of willingness to obey the law.”

The report, entitled “Paths to 21st Century Competencies through Civic Education Classrooms,” was commissioned by the American Bar Association Division for Public Education and the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools with some involvement by CIRCLE.

• Download the executive summary (PDF) or
• Download the full report (PDF)

Suggested citation: Torney-Purta, Judith and Wilkenfeld, Britt S. (2009). “Paths to 21st Century Competencies Through Civic Education Classrooms: An Analysis of Survey Results from Ninth-Graders.” Washington, DC: Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools and American Bar Association Division for Public Education. Accessed from CIRCLE via http://www.civicyouth.org/?p=360.

Vanderbilt University Press has published Engaging Young People in Civic Life, edited by James Youniss and by Peter Levine, with a forward by former United States Representative Lee Hamilton.

This book originated in a meeting organized by CIRCLE and funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York. Many of the chapters are informed by CIRCLE-funded research projects. This is CIRCLE’s press release.

In the forward, Hamilton writes, “I can think of no task more important for the future of American democracy than teaching young people about our system of government and encouraging them to get involved in politics and community service. … Engaging Young People in Civic Life is tough-minded, data-driven, and unsentimental. It is full of concrete policy proposals for schools, municipalities, service programs, and political parties. It offers all the appropriate scholarly caveats and qualifications. But at its heart, it is a plea to revive American democracy by offering all our young people the civic opportunities they want and so richly deserve.”

Table of Contents

Foreword - Lee Hamilton

Introduction. Policy for Youth Civic Engagement - Peter Levine and James Youniss

Part I. Youth and Schools

Chapter 1. A “Younger Americans Act”: An Old Idea for a New Era - James Youniss and Peter Levine

Chapter 2. Democracy for Some: The Civic Opportunity Gap in High School - Joseph Kahne and Ellen Middaugh

Chapter 3. Principles That Promote Discussion of Controversial Political Issues - Diana Hess

Part II. Political Environments: Neighborhoods and Cities

Chapter 4. Policies for Civic Engagement Beyond the Schoolyard - James G. Gimpel and Shanna Pearson-Merkowitz

Chapter 5. Civic Participation and Development in Urban Adolescents - Daniel Hart and Ben Kirshner

Chapter 6. City Government As Enabler of Youth Civic Engagement: Policy Design and Implications - Carmen Sirianni and Diana Marginean Schor

Chapter 7. Local Political Parties and Young Voters: Context, Resources, and Policy Innovation - Daniel M. Shea

Part III. Policy Models from Other Nations

Chapter 8. Youth Electoral Participation in Canada and Scandinavia - Henry Milner

Chapter 9. Civic Education in Europe: Perspectives from the Netherlands, Belgium, and France - Marc Hooghe and Ellen Claes

Chapter 10. Strengthening Education for Citizenship and Democracy in the UK - David Kerr and Elizabeth Cleaver

Conclusion. The Way Forward - Peter Levine and James Youniss

April 2009

This slideshow summarizes CIRCLE’s research to date on non-college youth. (Scroll over to reveal navigation buttons, or use right arrow to advance.)

January 2009

The Winter edition of CIRCLE’s quarterly newsletter, Around the CIRCLE, can be downloaded from here.  The newsletter includes a variety of articles including:

-  Has “No Child Left Behind” Narrowed School Curricula?
-  CIRCLE Designs and Analyzes the 2008 Civic Health Index
-  A Closer Look at the 2008 Youth Vote

If you would like to receive a hard copy of CIRCLE’s quarterly newsletter, please send an email to Emily Hoban Kirby at Emily.Kirby@Tufts.edu with your address.

Young voters favor Obama over McCain by 66% to 32%

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For Immediate Release
November 3, 2008

Contact: David Roscow, 703-276-2772 x21 or Sarah Shugars, 617-627-2029

Media Alert/2008 Youth Voter Data
Exit Polls to Show Only Youth Share of Voters
CIRCLE to estimate Youth Turnout Early Wednesday, Nov. 5

Conference Call-in Press Briefing to Discuss 2008 Youth Vote, 2 PM ET, Nov. 5
To RSVP please call David Roscow at 703-276-2772 x21 or email dave@tricomassociates.com

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CIRCLE designed and analyzed the 2008 Civic Health Index Poll for the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC), with input from the NCoC and its Civic Indicators Working Group. The survey was conducted in July by Peter D. Hart Research Associates with national samples of 1,000 respondents interviewed by telephone and 1000 surveyed online, plus large samples in Ohio, Florida, and California. It was released today at the National Archives. Read the CIRCLE press release or the whole report as a PDF.

The survey provides a wealth of information about Americans’ civic participation. Citizens are heavily engaged in political activities during the 2008 campaign, but many do not anticipate taking action on issues raised during the campaign after the election is over. The survey did, however, find strong and bipartisan support for policies that would institutionalize civic engagement between elections:

• 87% favored expanding national and community service programs so that every young American would have a chance to serve full-time for a year
• 80% favored holding a national deliberation on a major policy issue and requiring Congress to hold hearings on the results
• 76% would like service-learning to be required of all high school students
• 67% would strengthen civic education by requiring new tests

Finally, the survey collected Americans’ reactions to key words used to promote civic engagement, such as “citizenship,” “service,” “democracy,” and “community organizing.” The results demonstrate that all these words and phrases are problematic if our goal is to promote active involvement in democracy. For example, although “community organizing” has been discussed as a controversial phrase since the Republican convention, we find that most Americans either do not know what it means or associate it with benign, helping behavior.

by Connie Flanagan and Leslie Gallay

September 2008

CIRCLE releases a new working paper (#60) “Adolescent Development of Trust.”Below is a summary of the paper. Click here to download the report.
Report Summary: Trust is often found to correlate with civic engagement. While there is a general belief that the foundations for trust develop prior to adulthood, there is no work examining dimensions of trust during adolescence.
Surveys of 1,670 students ages 12-19 from 80 social studies classes in the United States suggest that adolescents distinguish between various dimensions of trust but that there is very likely a ‘disposition to trust’ underlying the moderate to strong correlations between the various dimensions of trust. One conclusion is that there is a general ‘diffuse support for the system’ underlying these results. That is, youth who are disposed to trust humanity or people in general (Social Trust) also tend to see the government and elected officials in a positive light and also endorse the fundamental fairness of the principles of the system, i.e., believe that America is basically an equal opportunity society where anyone can get ahead by dint of hard work. This may point to an optimistic or trusting disposition underlying these relationships. However, as the early political socialization theories claimed, trust in the system is distinct from support for particular administrations in power at any one time.

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CIRCLE (the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement) has moved to the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University, boosting both institutions’ strength in the field of youth civic and political engagement.

CIRCLE and Tisch College are two of the nation’s leading organizations devoted to researching civic and political engagement and developing young Americans into active and responsible citizens:

• The non-partisan CIRCLE, renowned for youth voter election data and analysis, conducts and promotes reliable, relevant and timely research on civic education, community service, young people’s use of the news and electronic media, and other aspects of youth civic and political engagement.
• A national leader in civic engagement, Tisch College prepares students from all fields of Tufts to become engaged public citizens and community leaders. Through a broad array of programming, Tisch promotes new knowledge in the field of civic engagement and gives students, faculty, and alumni the tools to be lifelong active citizens.

Download a press release from CIRCLE and Tisch College with more information and quotes.
Please note our new contact information.

CIRCLE is hiring for the position of Lead Researcher. In July of 2008, CIRCLE will become part of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University. The Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service prepares students in all fields of study for lifetimes of active citizenship, promotes new knowledge in the field, and builds an enduring and broadly shared ethos of citizenship and public service across Tufts University.  For best consideration, we request that applications be submitted by May 31, 2008.
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