For the civic good: the level of civics knowledge among most Americans is nothing to write home about.

• Author: Hoback, Jane
• Position: EDUCATION

Call it civics literacy, or perhaps more accurately, civics illiteracy. Survey after survey shows that Americans' knowledge of how their government works is at an alarming low. And educators and legislators alike point to what they see as a primary reason: a big gap in civics classes in public schools.

"The whole concept behind having public schools in the first place was to teach civics so we would have good citizens," says Florida Representative Charles McBurney (R). "A student may be great at Shakespeare or a math whiz, but if students don't understand our republic and how our government works and we lose our republic as a result, all the rest of their education won't do us any good."

State legislators like McBurney, along with organizations dedicated to civics education, are joining forces to turn the tide. They hope to expand civics engagement among young people to increase voter turnout as well as community involvement and participation in all levels of government. And their efforts encompass a range of viewpoints about how to teach civics and make it relevant in the 21st century.

Arizona is the first state to require high school seniors to pass a civics test to graduate, starting in 2017. The test, the same one immigrants take when seeking citizenship, asks questions such as "What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?" Students must correctly answer 60 of the 100 questions. The fast-moving bill left committee, passed both chambers and was signed by Governor Doug Ducey (R) in one day. Supporters said it will help ensure an informed citizenry: critics said it is a waste of time and money and burdens schools with an additonal test.

"I've read that anything of real value is worth appropriately measuring," Senator Steve Yarbrough (R) told The Arizona Republic. "I would submit that a minimal understanding of American civics is of real value and therefore worthy of measurement."

What They Don't Know

The recent spotlight on civics education is due in part to retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who pointed to results of surveys by the Annenberg Public Policy Center as well as the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the nation's report card, administered by the U.S. Department of Education.

The oft-quoted 2011 Annenberg surveys showed that more respondents (two-thirds) knew the name of at least one of the judges on "American Idol" than the name of the chief justice of the Supreme Court (15 percent) or the three branches of government (one-third).

Students who took the nation's report card civics test in 2011 did poorly as well. Only 27 percent of fourth-graders, 22 percent of eighth-graders and 24 percent of 12th-graders scored proficient or higher in civics on questions involving such topics as the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, the Supreme Court and the three branches of government.

The results follow a decades-long downward trend, according to Peter Levine, director of Tufts University's Center for Information and Research on Civics Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE).

"All evidence is that [civics knowledge] is weaker than it was 30 years ago," Levine says.

Calling the state of civics education a "crisis," O'Connor founded icivics.org, a nonprofit group that teaches civics through Web-based games and other resources available to students, teachers and schools. And she continues to travel...