Civics, according to education writer and longtime Los Angeles teacher Larry Sand, is “the study of what it means to be a citizen, focusing on the rights, duties, and responsibilities of community members,” and also “understanding how government functions, including citizens’ roles in voting, obeying laws, and participating in the democratic process.”
Yet, too many young Americans know little about how their government functions, who its leaders are or were, and what their roles as citizens imply.
On the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress civics exam, 78 percent of eighth graders failed to score at or above the proficient level, and a survey that accompanied the test found that “more than a quarter of students reported spending little to no time learning about how laws are made or studying current political and social issues.”
In a 2026 Education Next article on these civics test results, Patrick Kelly, a high school government teacher and member of the NAEP governing board, and Harvard education professor Martin West observed: “There are real consequences to these low scores and survey findings. Democracy is not self-sustaining. It’s incumbent on us to ensure each new generation can support and strengthen America’s system of governance by understanding how it functions and how to participate in it.”
Sadly, as Americans go from K-12 schools to college and into the workaday world, they continue to be uninformed about the functions of government and the democratic process.
In its 2024 survey of 3,000 college undergraduates, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) found that 60 percent of undergrads do not know the term lengths of members of Congress.
Further, 68 percent did not know that impeachment trials took place before the Senate, despite two impeachment trials taking place recently in the students’ lifetimes.
Michael Poliakoff, president of the ACTA, observed that as America approaches the 250th anniversary of its birth as a democratic republic, “The dismal results of our survey show that current students and recent college graduates have little idea of the American past or its core principles and values, no guide to take them through the roiling controversies facing us today or to enable them to defend and protect the free institutions that are the glory of our nation and an inspiration to the world.”
These young people, he said, “cannot uphold what they cannot comprehend.”
Given these statistics for our young people, it comes as no surprise to find out that 70 percent of Americans failed a basic civics literacy quiz, according to a 2024 national survey by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce of 2,000 registered voters.
Indeed, 75 percent of those surveyed said that they did not feel “very confident” that they could explain how the country’s system of government works.
Noting the upcoming 250th birthday of the nation, Hilary Crow, the head of the U.S. Chamber Foundation’s The Civic Trust, said that the survey findings are “a five-alarm fire drill for civic health of the nation.”
She emphasized, “Without reversing these deficiencies in understanding how our government works, we are risking the long-term health of our civic culture and democracy itself.” In other words, the lack of civics understanding is an existential threat to America.
Why are Americans so deficient in their knowledge of basic civics?
According to a 2024 report by the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute for American Democracy, there are several reasons.
While U.S. students were required to take three civics courses in the 1960s, “today most students get by with a single semester-long class.”
In view of the poor performance of eighth graders on the NAEP civics exam, it is no surprise to learn that only eight states “currently have any civics requirements for middle-school students.”
Also, many teachers themselves feel unqualified to teach civics, with a shocking 80 percent of social studies teachers saying that they “do not feel well prepared to support students’ civic learning.”
Further, “a mere 40 percent of educators said a top-three aim was ‘promoting knowledge of citizens’ rights and responsibilities’; the rights and responsibilities of citizenship is literally the definition of civics.”
Given these challenges, what can policymakers and educators do to increase civics knowledge?
There are promising initiatives at various levels that target improving students’ civics understanding.
At the micro level, organizations like the Pacific Research Institute will be launching its America 250 video series later this spring including teacher lesson plans that focus on the impact of key Americans, such as Declaration of Independence signer Benjamin Rush and women’s rights trailblazer Sarah Josepha Hale, who made a critical difference in the nation’s civic culture.
At the school level, there are schools such as John Adams Academy charter school network in Northern California, which employs a classical education model that emphasize restoring America’s heritage through study of the nation’s founding documents and the principles contained in them.
At the state level, Louisiana has expanded civics education from kindergarten through high school.
In kindergarten, students learn civic virtues such as personal responsibility and respecting the property of others. In the second and third grades, students learn about the lives of American heroes from Patrick Henry to Sojourner Truth. In the sixth grade, students connect the legacy of Western civilization to the nation’s founding.
In high school, Louisiana students take a standalone civics course that, according to the state’s education department,emphasizes “practical knowledge about how the American government functions on local, state, and national levels, as well as an understanding of the philosophical and intellectual underpinnings of our constitutional republic.”
Finally, Louisiana high school students must take a state civics test that serves as a graduation requirement. Students who score in the top 20 percent receive a special recognition on their diplomas. By contrast, California does not require a civics test for graduation.
The bottom line is that there are strategies and programs that can reverse the decline in civics knowledge. There could be no better 250th birthday gift to the nation than having Americans once again understand the democratic mechanisms that make America great.
Lance Izumi is the senior director of the Pacific Research Institute’s Center for Education.