The Nation’s Report Card: 2014 U.S. History, Geography, and Civics
This interactive report from the National Center for Education Statistics presents results from the 2014 NAEP assessments of 8th-grade history, geography, and civics. Results are reported by gender, race/ethnicity, parental education levels, and other student groups. The report also describes classroom practices and students’ attitudes regarding these subjects, and it features sample questions and student performance on those questions. The overall results show that 8th grade students did not improve performance in any of the three subjects compared to the 2010 NAEP assessment.
The purposes of this report are clearly stated and met, using sound methodology and analysis. As is the case with most NAEP reports, this one communicates a substantial amount of information effectively using exceptional online graphics and simple language. While the results, which show no significant improvement compared to the NAEP 2010 history, geography, and civics assessment, may not be encouraging, they should be highly useful to policymakers, educators, researchers, and schools. Evidence of effectiveness is assured given the excellent reputation of reports from the National Center for Education Statistics.