More About NAEP Civics

The NAEP civics assessment presents a broad view of what America's students know and can do in civics. The assessment was developed by a committee of civics educators and curriculum experts to capture the goals of the NAEP Civics Framework (803K PDF). The framework, which describes the goals of the assessment and what kind of exercises it ought to feature, was created by the National Assessment Governing Board through a comprehensive national process involving educators, researchers, measurement experts, administrators, and members of the general public.

At grades 4, 8, and 12, the assessment consisted of the following types of questions:

• multiple-choice designed to address the full range of knowledge and skill areas outlined in the civics framework document; and
• constructed-response questions consisting of both short- and extended-free response questions.

Look at the distribution of questions in the civics assessment.

NAEP also gives questionnaires to teachers, students, and schools that are part of the NAEP sample. Responses to these questionnaires give NAEP information about school policies affecting civics instruction, as well as information from schools about educational resources.

Learn more about NAEP, the nation's only ongoing assessment of what students know and can do in various subjects.

View the NAEP 2010 Civics Report Card.