PHOENIX, April 27 -- America's ninth-graders outscored their counterparts in 27 countries in their use of civic-related skills and scored above the international average in total civics knowledge, according to the National Center for Education Statistics recent report What Democracy Means to Ninth-Graders: U.S. Results From the International Civic Education Study (CivEd). The CivEd report measures knowledge and understanding of key civic principles that are universal across democracies. Results were presented for a total civic knowledge scale and two subscales: content and skills. Among all 28 participating countries, U.S. ninth-graders scored above the international average on the total knowledge scale. Their average score on the civic content subscale was not significantly different from the international mean, while students from six countries - Poland, Greece, Finland, Cyprus, Hong Kong, and Slovak Republic - performed better than U.S. students on this subscale. On the civic skills subscale, U.S. students scored significantly higher than students in any other participating country.

"This new assessment shows that U.S. students have acquired the basic concepts of what it means to live in a democracy and the rights and responsibilities of its citizens," said U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige. "It is an encouraging note for the citizens of tomorrow." Content subscale scores refer to knowledge of civic principles or pivotal ideas, for example, "What constitutes a democracy?," whereas skills refer to interpretative and thinking skills, e.g., the skills needed to make sense of a newspaper article or a political cartoon.

"This is a good report for U.S. students," said Gary Phillips, acting commissioner for education statistics. "Not only is it a good indicator of their attitudes toward democracy and citizenship, it provides valuable information on the schools' instructional practices and extracurricular activities."

The study, released by the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, also tapped students' civic concepts, attitudes and expected political activities. For example, U.S. ninth-graders expressed a great deal of trust in government-related institutions and are above the international mean on this scale. In addition, more than 85 percent of students said that the government should be responsible for ensuring equal political opportunities for men and women, providing free basic education and health care for all, guaranteeing peace and order within the country, and providing an adequate standard of living for senior citizens. U.S. students are right at the international mean on the society-related government responsibility scale, which includes these items mentioned above.

Other findings include:

• Most U.S. students report that voting in every election and showing respect for government leaders were two important factors for being good citizens;

• 59 percent of ninth-graders said that it was the responsibility of the government to provide an adequate standard of living for the unemployed;

• Performance on the CivEd assessment was positively related to the number of books that students reported in their home. The assessment was also positively related to students who reported receiving the newspaper daily in their home.

• About 90 percent of ninth-grade U.S. students reported that it is good for democracy when everyone has the right to express opinions freely.

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) released results from all 28 countries in the study on March 15, 2001, in the report itizenship and Education in Twenty-eight Countries: Civic Knowledge and Engagement at Age Fourteen. In the U.S., the CivEd assessment was administered to 2,811 students across 124 public and private schools nationwide at the beginning of ninth grade, the grade in which most 14-year olds were enrolled at the time of the assessment (October 1999).

To view this report on the web, visit http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2001096. All NCES reports can be ordered by calling toll-free 1-877-4ED-Pubs (1-877-433-7827); emailing at edpubs@inet.ed.gov, or via the Internet at http://www.ed.gov/pubs/edpubs.html.

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