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The school and classroom context of civic knowledge
- In 1999, 70 percent of U.S. schools with a ninth grade reported having a ninth-grade civic-related subject requirement.
- In 55 percent of U.S. schools, principals reported that ninth-grade students are required to
take 5 to 6 periods a week in civic-related subjects such as social studies, history, or civics.
- Sixty-five percent of students reported studying social studies in school almost every day.
However, 12 percent of students reported never or hardly ever studying social studies in
school.
- The majority of U.S. ninth-graders typically spent less than 1 hour a week on social studies
homework.
- Students who studied social studies in school almost every day had higher scores on all three
civic achievement scales than students who studied social studies once or twice a week or
even less frequently.
- Students in low-poverty schools (with a low percentage of children eligible for the free or
reduced-price lunch program) outperformed students in high-poverty schools.
- Students in U.S. schools were more likely to study domestic civic issues than international
civic issues.
- U.S. students were more likely to report reading a textbook or filling out worksheets when
studying social studies than engaging in activities such as receiving visits from leaders or
writing letters to give their opinion (figure 3).
- Eighty-five percent of students reported being encouraged by teachers to make up their own
minds about issues, and about two-thirds reported being encouraged by teachers to discuss
political or social issues about which people have different opinions.
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