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Sample Questions in Civics
GRADE 4
GRADE 8
GRADE 12

Test Yourself...then see how students responded to the same questions on NAEP. The following grade 8 multiple-choice question addresses the skill of "explaining and analyzing" in the content area, "What are the foundations of the American political system?" The percentages below the question indicate how students performed on the question. In addition to the overall percentage of students who answered the question correctly, the percentage of students at each achievement level who answered the question correctly is presented. 

As an example of how to interpret these percentages, 28 percent of the students overall answered this question correctly. When only the students in the Proficient category are considered, 61 percent answered correctly.

Grade 8 Multiple-Choice question. National percentage correct in 2006. 28% of all students answered this multiple-choice question correctly. By achievement level 11% of students Below Basic answered this question correctly. 22% of students at Basic answered this question correctly. 61% of students at Proficient answered this question correctly. Reporting standards at Advanced were not met. The sample size was insufficient to permit a reliable estimate. The sample multiple-choice question is as follows: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. The Declaration of Independence was written to a) appeal to other countries for help in fighting Great Britain, b) convince Great Britain to repeal the Stamp Act, c) make laws for a new form of government, d) explain why the colonies were breaking away from Great Britain. The correct answer is d.

See more about this question in the NAEP Questions Tool.

View this question, at score 208, on a map of NAEP civics items.

Find out what the civics assessment measures.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2006 Civics Assessment.

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National Assessment of Educational Progress, National Center for Education Statistics
National Assessment Governing Board
Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education