As we continue to honor 250 years of American independence, the most recent Nation’s Report Card shows we must renew our national commitment to our children’s U.S. history and civics education.
Across the country, only one in five 8th graders demonstrated essential knowledge in civics, and just 13 percent did so in U.S. history. What’s more, achievement continues to fall in both subjects from prior years. As leaders of state education systems centered on improving student achievement, the learning gaps that these data communicate demand action.
America’s youth must understand our shared history, our government and its functions, the rights we enjoy, and the responsibilities we bear. How else can we expect future generations to participate in our constitutional republic, engage in civil discourse in the marketplace of ideas, strengthen and trust in American institutions, and protect and sustain the Great American Experiment?
Rising to this nationwide challenge requires a deeper understanding of it. The Nation’s Report Card is a vital national measure of student achievement. However, in U.S. history and civics, it isn’t very precise. We have data for the nation as a whole, but we don’t yet know how students in Iowa, Rhode Island, and other states are doing compared to one another.
But now, states can choose to change that. The Nation’s Report Card is the only assessment that provides an apples-to-apples comparison across the country. The National Assessment Governing Board, which sets policy for the Nation’s Report Card (also called the National Assessment of Educational Progress or NAEP), recently announced that states can opt in to receive state-level results on the next civics assessment at no cost to them.
That data is likely to reveal hard truths, but we owe it to our children and our nation not to look away. Instead, state-level results can be used as a flashlight, illuminating what we do next to advance student learning in partnership with families and teachers. Many states, including ours, have employed the Nation’s Report Card’s high expectations for all students to raise rigor, improve instruction, and accelerate achievement. Iowa and Rhode Island are already helping lead the way.
Iowa has focused on rigorous, content-rich U.S. history and civics standards, prioritizing our constitutional principles and learning from primary sources in defining what every student should know and be able to do. Building upon Iowa’s recent civics test graduation requirement, this past summer, Governor Kim Reynolds signed into law a new social studies state assessment in grades 8 and 11. And now, for the first time, Iowa’s class of 2027 will have the opportunity to earn a Seal of Civics Excellence on their diplomas, recognizing their distinguished knowledge and participation in civic and community activities.
