WASHINGTON, D.C. - Who is responsible for making sure America's youth acquire the knowledge, skills, and practical experience needed to become good citizens?
Some of the nation's most prominent organizations and leaders today acknowledged that the challenge is too big for any one group. To increase prospects for success, they formed a new alliance that brings together the energy of diverse groups and individuals in a coordinated effort to make the civic education of America's youth a national priority.
The National Alliance for Civic Education (NACE) was launched with more than 80 group and individual charter members, including the National Council for the Social Studies, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and Campus Compact. The coalition includes representatives of elementary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, civic education organizations, community advocates, public officials, and many others committed to advancing civic knowledge and engagement.
Formation of the coalition was spurred by the disturbing rise in civic indifference, mistrust, and disengagement among young adults and by a recent report of the 1998 National Civics Assessment, which revealed alarming deficiencies in the civic knowledge of school children. The civics assessment, conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, showed three-fourths of 4th, 8th, and 12th graders fail to exhibit a "proficient" command of civic knowledge and skills, the expected standard; and thirty percent are virtual civic illiterates, lacking a "basic" grasp of political institutions and practices.
Our young people are idealistic and eager to serve," says William A. Galston, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Affairs and a coordinating charter member of NACE. "If our young people are disengaged from public life, it is not they who are failing our country; it is we who are failing them, by not providing suitable opportunities for civic learning and practice, and by not sending clear messages about its importance. We believe that it is time to end a generation of neglect and to give civic education its rightful place of honor in our national life."

The NACE Declaration identifies a number of key goals for the organization, including commitments to:

• Work with states and localities to strengthen their commitment to civic education.
• Seek expansion of civic education in state curriculum guidelines.
• Improve the preparation and professional development of teachers engaged in civic education.
• Make up-to-date civic teaching materials and techniques easily accessible.
• Strengthen the links between elementary and secondary education and colleges and universities around civic education and engagement.
• Work with the federal government to improve the collection and assessment of information in this area.
• Expand opportunities for young people to participate meaningfully in the civic life of their communities.

The specific programs required to achieve these goals will be developed collaboratively among Alliance members in coming months. Creating an accessible forum for this deliberation is itself a core NACE objective.
There is strong evidence that the American public is supportive of efforts to expand civic education. Recent surveys show the people overwhelmingly believe that an intensified focus on the civic education of young people is an essential part of the response to declining civic knowledge and engagement.
A 1999 survey conducted for the Council on Excellence in Government, for example, found that 83 percent of the respondents thought civic education of young people would be "very effective" or "fairly effective" in improving the performance of our government; 65 percent thought it would be very effective.
In another poll, conducted for the Democratic Leadership Council in 1999, 90 percent of the respondents supported "requiring democracy education in service and civics as a graduation requirement for all high school students" as a way of improving civic life. Sixty-eight percent "strongly" favored this requirement which was by a substantial margin the most favored strategy for addressing what most Americans see as a marked decline in our civic life.
While schools and post-secondary institutions are major players in civic education, young people come to understand democratic life in a number of other ways, including organized practical work in neighborhoods and communities, volunteer service activities, and interactions with family and friends. NACE seeks to engage all of these groups as partners in the effort to ensure that the next generation of citizens knows and values democracy and participates in the ongoing work of building democracy in America.
The efforts leading to the formation of NACE were supported in part by grants from the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Smith Richardson Foundation.

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