?Today's NAEP results confirm that we have a crisis on our hands when it comes to civics education,? said former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, responding to results released today showing that, according to the New York Times, ?fewer than half of American eighth graders knew the purpose of the Bill of Rights? and ?only one in 10 demonstrated acceptable knowledge of the checks and balances among the legislative, executive and judicial branches.?
Crisis? Here are the test results, reported by the Times:
Average fourth-grade scores on the test's 300-point scale rose slightly since the exam was last administered, in 2006, to 157 from 154. Average eighth-grade scores were virtually unchanged at 151. The scores of high school seniors?students who are either eligible to vote or about to be?dropped to 148 from 151. Those scores mean that about a quarter of 4th- and 12th-grade students, and about one-fifth of 8th graders ranked at the proficient or advanced levels.
It's not great. But again:?is it, as O'Connor says, a crisis? Allow me to answer the question with a question: Is there a?time in?history to which O'Connor can point at which young Americans' knowledge of civics was at a level she would describe as not a crisis?