What Unites and Divides U.S. Public Opinion Concerning the Goals of Civics Education

• In Event: Educational Battles and Bridges: Media, Curriculum, and Civic Engagement Across Contexts

Abstract

The topic of civics in schools is being debated in American politics. This study reports on a pair of national surveys (Study 1, N = 830, fielded August 6-19, 2024; Study 2, N = 1,039, fielded December 6-9, 2024) asking what U.S. adults think should be the goals of civics education. The priorities identified by respondents strongly replicate and correlate highly with U.S. teacher priorities reported in earlier research. Network analyses display the goals U.S. adults feel should be at the core versus the periphery of a local high school’s civics offerings. Political party identification is explored as a moderator. There are several between-party commonalities, but also meaningful differences that reflect competing civics education initiatives (i.e., 1619 and 1776 curricula).

Authors

• Brandon Harrison, University of Pennsylvania

• Huma Rasheed, University of Pennsylvania

• Lance Holbert, University of Pennsylvania