New resource helps educators navigate surveys to measure civic readiness

Denver, CO –REL Central, operated by Marzano Research, released a new resource for state and local education agencies who want to measure or assess civic readiness to support civic education initiatives. Measuring Civic Readiness: A Review of Survey Scales was developed in response to growing concerns among educators, advocates and policymakers about the data trends reflecting civic education and participation. Since it was first administered in 1998, only about one-quarter of U.S. students have scored “proficient” on the civic component of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

“Finding and culling through available resources took a significant amount of time for our research team—time educators don’t have,” said Steven Tedeschi from Marzano Research. “This new resource takes a lot of the legwork out of searching for available civic-related surveys.”

Thousands of resources were reviewed for inclusion in the new tool for the degree to which they assess civic knowledge, skills, behavior or dispositions. Thirty-three resources that describe 22 survey instruments and cover 183 surveys scales are reviewed in the tool. Available information about each survey scale’s reliability and validity is also summarized.

Survey scales are groupings of self-report questions intended to measure a specific topic. The reviewed survey scales are organized in six categories: political behavior, political attitudes, civic behavior, civic attitudes, civic knowledge and civic-related character traits and skills. The tool also provides guidance for educators on how to select the survey scales that best fit their needs.

“There’s still room for improvement when it comes to developing easy to find, quality instruments for measuring civic readiness,” said Tedeschi. “If we want to ensure our young people acquire civic-related skills, dispositions and knowledge to engage in their communities, more attention should be given to developing quality instruments that support students and educators.”

Download Measuring Civic Readiness: A Review of Survey Scales on the Institute of Education Sciences website.

REL Central, operated by Marzano Research, is one of 10 Regional Educational Laboratories funded by the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education. RELs work in partnership to conduct applied research and training with a mission of supporting a more evidence-based education system. REL Central serves Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.