Texans View Civics Education As Vital For K-12 Students & America’s Future

As the United States approaches its Semiquincentennial, a new statewide survey of Texas registered voters conducted by the Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center at Texas Southern University finds a substantial majority of Texans believe civics education in the state’s K-12 schools is very important, that Texas public school students should be required to take a civics class, that Texas students should be required to pass a civics test to graduate from high school, and that the State of Texas should spend more money on civics education in K-12 public schools.

According to a new Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center report based on this statewide survey, more than three-fourths of Texas registered voters believe it is very important for Texas students to have a basic understanding of the country’s foundational documents and the responsibilities of citizenship by the time they graduate from high school, and that their obtaining this knowledge is vital for America’s future.  Dr. Michael O. Adams, Founding Director of the Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center at Texas Southern University, also noted that “more than two-thirds of Texans view civics education as crucial in order to prepare students to be informed voters and active participants in their communities.”

More than nine out of ten Texas registered voters think all Texas public school students should be required to take a class on civics, and more than eight out of ten would support legislation instituting a requirement that Texas students pass a standalone civics test in order to be able to graduate from high school.  More than a dozen other states already require students to pass a standalone statewide civics test to graduate.

Dr. Adams highlighted that “in addition to the importance they place on civics education, a majority of Texans believe the state should spend more money on civics education in public schools.” Overall, 59% of Texas registered voters believe the state should spend more money on K-12 civics education, compared to only 5% who think it should spend less, with the remaining 36% of the opinion that Texas is currently spending the right amount of money on civics education.

While more than three-fourths of Texas registered voters believe it is very important for Texas K-12 students to receive a robust civics education, only one-fourth (25%) of Texas parents and guardians of current K-12 students believe the quality of the civics education provided by their child’s school is excellent, with 46% characterizing it as good, 22% as only fair, and 7% as poor. Dr. Adams cited the low proportion of parents characterizing their child’s civics education as excellent, and the almost one-third who characterize it as either only fair or poor, as strong evidence for the need of both enhanced state support for civics education as well as for initiatives like that being launched this summer by a partnership between Texas Southern University and West Texas A&M University.  This TSU-WTAMU initiative is funded by a United States Department of Education grant and is focused on enhancing civic literacy and teaching excellence among educators and students in Houston and the Texas Panhandle.

The full report is available on the Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center website.