“Responsible citizens of a constitutional democracy such as the United States should have adequate knowledge of the country’s principles and institutions, skills in applying this knowledge to civic life, and dispositions to protect individual rights and promote the common good.”
So begins the introduction to the summary report for 2010’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which was released this morning. However, it turns out that, where civic knowledge is concerned, “the nation’s report card” does not actually look very encouraging. In fact, the average score for 8th graders on the NAEP was 151 out of 300 points — and only around 20 percent of students performed at or above the “proficient” level.
How well would you do if you took the test yourself? We’ve chosen 10 sample questions from the 8th-grade section of the NAEP’s website — some harder than others. Grab a pencil and get going!
Can you pass an 8th grade civics test? – Salon.com
Yours truly aced it, 10 correct of 10. Answers are at the bottom (after question 10), so note your responses as you go.
Can I pass? Just barely. I got 6 of 10. A solid D grade.
I got 9 out of 10 (missed #8). I definitely wouldn’t have done that well when was in 8th grade.
10 out of 10, but I’m certain no 8th grader at my middle school could do it. I don’t know that I could’ve done it in 8th grade.
Well, I passed, but I didn’t ace it… 8 out of 10. I guess (wrongly) on #3 (about Japanese relations with U.S.). I also got #6 wrong (about federalism). I was pretty confident of all my other answers, and rightly so. No way I could have passed that test in 8th grade. In fact, I don’t actually remember having a class about any of that subject matter until I was a senior in high school and took U.S. Government.