The IEA Civic Education Study as a Source for Indicators of

Civic Life Skills

Judith Torney-Purta Carolyn Barber Gary Homana

Britt Wilkenfeld University of Maryland, College

Parkjtpurta@umd.edu

Outline of the Presentation:

• Criteria for indicators of civic life skills and examples of issues– in the U.S.; in Europe

• The IEA Civic Education Study data base – data collection, primary and secondary

analysis

• New approaches to indicators tailored to audiences– Academics and researchers– Policy-makers – General Public

IEA Civic Education Study

• Early 1990s– IEA’s member countries decided to go beyond science, math,

and reading assessments to conduct a knowledge and attitudinal study of civic-related outcomes.

• Mid-1990s Civ-Ed Phase 1– An international consensus process achieved agreement on

concepts for a test and survey.

• 1999 Civ-Ed Phase 2– Nationally representative samples of 14-year-olds were tested

in 28 countries – 90,000 students; nearly 2500 schools.

• 2001 to the Present – Data analyzed internationally and with special attention to U.S.

in comparative context.– Policy implications examined

Countries Testing in Civic Education Study (at age 14)

• Australia, England, United States

• Belgium (French), Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland

• Hong Kong (SAR)• Denmark, Finland,

Norway, Sweden

• Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

• Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovak Republic, Slovenia

• Chile, Colombia

Academics and Researchers as Audiences: • The importance of multi-dimensional

views of participation • Differences across 28 countries in

average performance on 3 indicators of expected participation

• Differences across 4 countries in the predictors of 3 types of expected participation

Examples of Diverse Patterns in Three Types of Expected Participation Using IRT scales mean 10; SD 2:All countries above International Mean in Civic Skills

10.7

10.3

9.7

10.19.9

10.5

9.8 9.7

10.510.2

9.2 9.2

8.0

10.0

12.0

Greece U.S. Sweden Finland

Voting

Conv.Act.

Commun

Summary of Multidimensional Patterns of Participation:• Southern countries (Latin America,

Greece, Cyprus, Portugal) high in expected participation;

• Northern European and most Post-Communist countries low in expected participation;

• However, considerable variation by dimension of participation.

Summary of Differential Predictors of Multiple Participation Dimensions:• School-related variables predict

likelihood of voting in the future. – Civic knowledge, experiences at school

• Parent discussion and political interest but not school variables predict likelihood of joining a party in the future.

• Current volunteer activity but not school variables and not political interest predict likelihood of volunteering in the future.

International and National Policy Makers as Audiences: • Modeling analysis that relates country-

level variables to students’ knowledge and attitudes

• Wide range of items and scales in the IEA data base and a nested sampling design make this feasible

• Choice of appropriate national or international indicators is key.

Summary of Results on Knowledge Items:• Students in countries with stronger

civil/political rights– less likely to know about the Declaration of

Human Rights, but – more likely to know about the purpose of

the United Nations

• Students in countries paying more attention to human rights in intergovernmental dialogue are – more likely to know about the Convention

of the Rights of the Child

Percent Correct on Question about the Convention on the Rights of the Child by Country’s Focus on Human Rights in Intergovernmental Dialogue:

79%82%

84%86%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

0 1 2 3

Summary of Attitudes toward Immigrants’ Rights: • Recent history of government issues

with human rights did not predict attitudes toward immigrants’ rights

• Alternate hypothesis: attitudes associated with the level of diversity in the country– Language, religious, ethnic and cultural

Immigrant Attitudes by Religious Fractionalization

10.1

9.9

9

9.5

10

10.5

11

Low Frac High Frac

3.3

2.8

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Low Frac High Frac

StronglyAgree

StronglyDisagree

Attitudes toward Refugees by Religious Fractionalization

Summary

• Students in more homogenous countries have more positive attitudes toward the rights of immigrants/refugees;

• Fractionalization is more significantly related to immigrant attitudes than the country’s human rights situation;

• Students who know more about human rights have more positive attitudes toward immigrants and refugees.

The Public and Policy Makers as Audiences: • How do attitudes cohere in students?• What characteristics distinguish

clusters or typologies of adolescents in different countries?

• Is any substantial group of concern because of attitudes or expected behavior?

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Conv. Cit.

Soc. Cit.

Trust Gov't

Patriotism

Protectionism

Efficacy

Immig. Rights

Minor. Rights

Wom. Rights

Conventional/ Trusting Conventional/ Social Justice Moderate Alienated

U.S. Clusters

Distribution of Cluster Membership in the United States:

37.1%

28.2%

4.1%

31.7%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Conv/Trust Conv/Justice Moderate Alienated

Civic Knowledge Scores by Cluster Membership:

102.44

114.62

103.72

93.47

60.00

70.00

80.00

90.00

100.00

110.00

120.00

130.00

140.00

Conventional/Trusting

Conventional/Social Justice

ModeratelyEngaged

Alienated

IRT Means on Four Expected Participation Dimensions by Cluster:

10.610.9

10.310.8

9.39.610.1

9.710.2

7.4

8.57.7

11.5

9.8

10.9 10.9

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

11.0

12.0

13.0

14.0

Voting Conventional Community Protest

Conventional/ Trusting Conventional/ Social Justice Moderately Engaged Alienated

Percent Disagreeing that a Good Citizen “Obeys the Law” by Cluster Membership:

1.2 0.7

6.8

44.3

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

35.0

40.0

45.0

50.0

Conventional/Trusting

Conventional/ SocialJustice

Moderate Alienated

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Conv. Cit.

Soc. Cit.

Trust Gov't

Patriotism

Protectionism

Efficacy

Immig. Rights

Minor. Rights

Wom. Rights

Conventional Social Justice Trusting/ Patriotic Alienated

Sweden Clusters:

Distribution of Cluster Membership in Sweden:

32.6%30.0%

20.7%17.5%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Conventional Conv/Justice Trust/Patriotic Alienated

Characterizing the Potential for Analysis in IEA Dataset:• Multiple levels

– Country and student

• Multiple student outcomes– Knowledge and different dimensions of attitudes

• Multiple categories of country predictors– Political and cultural/demographic

• Multiple types of analysis relating to indicators:– Patterns of dimensions by country– Predictors by country – Country-level predictors– Individual typologies or clusters