National Assessment Program--Civics and Citizenship Years 6 & 10 Report, 2007

This report presents the findings from the second National Assessment Program--Civics and Citizenship, conducted under the auspices of the national council of education ministers, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA). The National Assessment Program--Civics and Citizenship measures Year 6 and Year 10 students' understanding and appreciation of Australia's system of government and civic life. The report compares results by State and Territory. It also compares the most recent achievements of students against those from the first national assessment of Civics and Citizenship, conducted in 2004. Chapter 2 describes the development and substance of the assessment instrument and parts of the Student Background Survey and the administration of the National Assessment Program--Civics and Citizenship. It describes the achieved participation rates, as well as the personal characteristics of Year 6 and Year 10 student population, using data collected by the Student Background Survey. Chapter 3 provides a more detailed analysis of the Assessment Domain, through the description of the achievement scale, and an analysis of examples of many of the items used to construct it. The items analysed and used to describe and illustrate student achievement on the Civics and Citizenship Literacy Scale are all release items. (The School Release Materials, a suite of documentation developed for schools, comprise an outcome of this assessment program and will be available from the MCEETYA website on the release of this report.) A profile of student achievement at Year 6 and Year 10, as represented by the proficiency levels which form the Civics and Citizenship Literacy Scale, is developed. Some comparisons of 2007 with 2004 data and findings are also provided. Chapter 4 examines the relationship between students' performance in the National Assessment Program--Civics and Citizenship (NAP-CC) and their personal and family backgrounds an civic experiences. Chapter 5 explores the findings, including the relationships between the personal student background variables and student participation in civics and citizenship activities introduced in Chapter 2, and the achievement data described in Chapters 3. Chapter 6 discusses some implications of the findings. A separate Technical Report provides more detailed information about the developmental and analytical procedures that provide the basis for this report. Appended are: (1) Assessment Domain; (2) Student Background Survey (including Assessment of Civics and Citizenship Opportunities); (3) Sample Characteristics by State; (4) Percentage Correct by Score Code for Sample Items in Chapter 3; (5) Percentage Distributions "At and above" Proficiency Levels (for Year 6 and Year 10); (6) Year 6 Achievement on the Civics and Citizenship Literacy Scale by Background Characteristics; (7) Regression Analysis Methodology; and (8) Correlations and Factor Analysis for Civics and Citizenship-related Activities. (Contains 60 tables, 43 figures, 6 boxes and 13 footnotes.) [For related reports, see "National Assessment Program--Civics and Citizenship Year 6 School Assessment, 2007" (ED534716) and "National Assessment Program--Civics and Citizenship Year 10 School Assessment, 2007" (ED534717).]