How did students perform in civics?
In 2018, the average civics score for eighth-grade students was not significantly different from 2014. The 2018 average score was 3 points higher than that in 1998, the first assessment year.
A summary of the results from the 2018 civics assessment can be found in the Report Card Highlights.
More detailed civics assessment results are available throughout this Report Card.
The NAEP civics assessment measures students’ knowledge and understanding of civics with three interrelated components: knowledge, intellectual and participatory skills, and civic dispositions. Taken together, these three elements are defined in the framework as the core elements of civics instruction in the U.S. Learn more about the NAEP civics framework.
- The civics assessment was administered between January and March of 2018.
- A nationally representative sample of approximately 13,400 eighth-graders from about 780 schools across the nation participated in 2018.
- This was the first digitally based civics assessment; previously it was administered only in a paper-based format. For this administration, students were randomly assigned to take either the digitally based assessment or the paper-based assessment.
- Students answered questions related to civics for approximately 60 minutes.
- Survey questionnaires were administered to students, teachers, and school administrators.
The Story of NAEP
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a continuing and nationally representative measure of trends in academic achievement of U.S. elementary and secondary students in various subjects. It is the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of what our nation's students know and can do in select subjects. It was first administered in 1969 to measure student achievement nationally. Teachers, principals, parents, policymakers, and researchers all use NAEP results to assess progress and develop ways to improve education in the United States.