NAEP Civics scores by demographic, Grade 8, 1998 to 2022
An interactive rank bump chart of average NAEP Civics scores for Grade 8 U.S. students, broken down by race, gender, parental education, school location, and other demographics.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, NCES, NAEP 2022 Civics Grade 8 Assessment
The NAEP Civics assessment measures students' knowledge of U.S. government, citizenship, and civic participation. It has been administered at the national level to Grade 8 students every few years since 1998 (Grades 4 and 12 were last reported in 2010).
Scores are on a 0 to 300 scale, with achievement-level cutoffs at Basic (134), Proficient (178), and Advanced (213).
NAEP Civics Scores by Demographic, Grade 8
Each ribbon is a demographic group; its row that year is its rank (top = highest average). Where ribbons cross, groups swapped ranks. Scores on a 0 to 300 scale are shown on the scale at left and inside each pill.
- White
- Black
- Hispanic
- Asian/Pacific Islander
- American Indian/Alaska Native
- Two or More Races
The chart above is a rank bump chart. Each ribbon's vertical position shows the group's rank that year (top = highest), and ribbons all have equal thickness so crossovers read as pure rank changes rather than score changes. Actual scores are shown in the pill at each year and on the 0 to 300 scale at the left, where the achievement bands (Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, Advanced) give a sense of how narrow the observed range is within what NAEP measures. Where a ribbon breaks (for example, American Indian/Alaska Native in 1998 and 2014), the group's sample in that year was too small for NAEP to publish a reliable average; a dashed segment bridges the gap to show how the group's rank shifted across the break.
Use the breakdown pills below the chart to switch between demographic dimensions.
A note on "Asian/Pacific Islander." Starting in 2011, NAEP began reporting Asian students and Native Hawaiian / Other Pacific Islander (NHOPI) students as separate categories. To keep trend lines comparable back to 1998, NAEP also continues to publish the historical combined "Asian/Pacific Islander" category, which is what this chart uses. That is why the 2022 value here (163) differs from the "Asian alone" figure (164) shown on the NAEP Report Card: the combined category includes NHOPI students, whose average is reported separately when the sample is large enough.