Governors have no shortage of ideas about how to improve education. But before deciding what to change, they need an honest answer to a more basic question: How are our students doing? We governed Tennessee at different times and from different political parties.
But we learned the same lesson: you cannot improve what you are unwilling to measure honestly. Governors will get the chance to see how students in their state are doing in a critical,often-overlooked subject: civics. But they have to sign up by the end of January to get state-level results on the National Assessment of Educational Progress civics assessment, also known as the Nation’s Report Card, or NAEP.
For newly elected governors, that will mean making a quick decision shortly after taking office. It shouldn’t be a hard one, though. U.S. students get limited instruction, particularly in early grades, about how our government works, the rights and responsibilities of citizens, and how to apply civics knowledge beyond the classroom.
Governors can help change that by prioritizing and measuring what students know and can do in civics. What we know now is limited but concerning: only 1 in 5 eighth graders in U.S. schools reached the _NAEP Proficient_ level on the most recent Nation's Report Card in civics, meaning the vast majority of students likely struggle to identify the separation of powers and checks and balances spelled out in the Constitution. Unlike in subjects like reading and math, we don't have state-specific information about how our own students are doing compared to students in other states in civics.
That puts leaders at a disadvantage when trying to improve schools and communities and help young people develop the civic knowledge and skills they need to excel academically, in the workforce, and in their communities. But beginning in 2028, if they meet the January deadline, states can get state-specific results in eighth-grade civics rather than just national averages. Tennessee's academic progress over the past two decades serves as an example of why all states should capitalize on this opportunity.
In 2007, Tennessee’s extremely low Nation's Report Card scores in reading and math, which contradicted our own state assessment results, served as a wake-up call. Our state got to work raising K-12 expectations, increasing the rigor of our end-of-year state tests, and improving classroom practices. The strategy worked: Between 2011 and 2015, Tennessee became thefastest-improving state on NAEP.
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