Report: California Schools Fall Short on Civics Education

Mina Kim

Aug 7, 2014 at

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(Jim Lo Scalzo-Pool/Getty Images)

What can California schools do to improve civic engagement? The U.S. ranks near the bottom of the world’s democracies in voter participation, and less than half of California’s high school seniors consider active involvement in state and local issues their responsibility. That’s according to a report released Tuesday by a state task force set up to revitalize K-12 civic education in California. How can schools help students get more interested and involved with issues in their community and government?

Guests:

David Gordon, superintendent of the Sacramento County Office of Education

Joseph Kahne, professor of education at Mills College, research director of the Civic Engagement Research Group and former member of the Civic Learning Task Force

Robin Mencher, director of Education and Media Learning for KQED

Young Whan Choi, history and civic engagement coordinator for the Oakland Unified School District

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