Tisch College's CIRCLE (The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement) is the leading source of authoritative research on civic and political engagement of Americans between the ages of 15 and 25.
IMMIGRANT YOUTH LESS LIKELY TO VOLUNTEER
Young people who have immigrated to the United States or whose parents were born outside the U.S. are far less likely to volunteer than youth of U.S.-born parents, according to a new CIRCLE Fact Sheet. This cohort represents the fastest growing portion of the youth population. Twenty-two percent of youth with U.S.-born parents and 21 percent of U.S.-born youth with one foreign-born parent volunteer. Only nine percent of young people born outside of the U.S. and 14 percent of youth with both parents born outside of the U.S. volunteer. Click here to download the fact sheet or learn more.
2009 CIVIC INDEX REPORT FINDS CIVIC ENGAGEMENT UNDER STRESS IN THE RECESSION
The National Conference on Citizenship has released its annual Civic Health Index report for 2009, entitled "Civic Health in Hard Times." As in past years, CIRCLE contributed to the design and analysis of the national survey that was the basis of the study and helped with the writing of the report. The survey included timely questions about civic issues to evaluate the 40 measures of civic participation that compose the Civic Health Index. For instance, 72 percent of respondents said they have recently cut back on time engaged in civic participation, which includes volunteering, participating in groups, and performing other civic activities in their communities. Click here to learn more or to download the report.
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS IN YOUNG ADULTHOOD
A new CIRCLE working paper (#67) by Andrea Finlay and Connie Flanagan finds that young adults (those between the ages of 16 and 30 at baseline) who make academic progress over a four year period are also more likely to participate in civic activities such as voting, volunteering, and accessing social media to discuss current events. This relationship held for young adults from low-income backgrounds as well as high-income backgrounds. Click here for more information, or to download the working paper.
NEW CIRCLE WORKING PAPER on K-12 CIVIC EDUCATION
In CIRCLE Working Paper #65, Myiah J. Hutchens & William P. Eveland, Jr. examine the effects of exposure to various elements of a civics curriculum on civic participation, two forms of political knowledge, internal political efficacy, political cynicism, news elaboration, discussion elaboration and various forms of interpersonal and mediated political communication behaviors. The data are based on a longitudinal study of high school students in a challenged large urban school district in Ohio. Two approaches to instruction are contrasted: stimulating political communication by discussing media sources and engaging in political
debate; and rote learning of traditional civics content. Both approaches correlated negatively with civic outcomes, but there could be several interpretations of that correlation. Click here to download the working paper.
