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ASSESSMENT OF CIVICS IN PRACTICE

Assessment of Civics in Practice

Sarah Assad
READ 440
James Madison University
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ASSESSMENT OF CIVICS IN PRACTICE

Textbook Information

Massing, G. I. (2011). Civics in practice: Principles of government and economics.

Austin, Texas: Holt Mcdougal

I obtained this textbook from my host teacher for my practicum, an eighth grade

civics teacher at Stuarts Draft Middle School in Augusta County. The textbook is

designed specifically for use in civics classes in the state of Virginia. It was developed in

partnership with the Center for Civic Engagement, a nonprofit, non-partisan group

established by the State Bar of California.

Figure 1: The cover of the textbook

shows that it is intended
specifically for Virginia civics
classes, which has potential
benefits and drawbacks.
(Manning, cover)

Organization

Civics in Practice is organized into units which are subdivided into chapters

which are divided further into sections. The units, chapters, and sections are entirely

thematic but they overlap appropriately. For instance, Unit 1, “A Tradition of

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Democracy,” Chapter 3, “The United States Constitution,” Section 1, “Ideals of the

Constitution,” explains the ideals behind elections and voting while Unit 4, “The Citizen

in Government,” Chapter 10 “Electing Leaders,” Section 3 “The Right to Vote,” also has

to do with the ideals behind elections and voting, but does so from a slightly different

angle. The two sections are obviously similar but complement each other rather than

being too repetitive. This is a strength of the text because a teacher who wants to assign

as textbook reading on voting and elections would have a couple of sections to choose

from. At the same time, a teacher who has their students using all or most of the book

would not have to deal with too much repetition, but could be certain that important

ideas are repeated often enough to allow students to grasp their significance.

Readability Information

Lexile

This textbook, designed for and used in eighth grade classrooms, registered a

Lexile level of 1000-1100 L (Lexile, 2018). In other words, this text quantitatively is on a

seventh to eighth grade level (Lexile grade conversion chart, 2018). On the surface it

certainly seems that the text in this book is appropriately suited for the students it was

meant for and is used by. However, quantitative measures of approximate readability

can only go so far. For instance, the words ‘revenue’ and ‘bonds’ both appear frequently

in the passage I analyzed from Chapter 12, Paying for the Government (Manning, 296).

The Lexile calculating mechanism would have determined that ‘revenue’ is a more

difficult word than ‘bonds,’ since it is longer, but both are actually difficult concepts that

would require explaining for a middle school student. There are too many subjective and

qualitative aspects of reading to assume that because a text is technically readable for
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the average eighth grader that it is also suitable for the particular eighth graders is any

given class.

Evaluation

Virginia

The fact that this book was designed specifically for Virginia civics classes has

some potential benefits as well as potential drawbacks. The specificity has the potential

to enable the book to zero in on Virginia’s own history and political systems and help

students understand the nuance of a federal system such as the United States. A

potential drawback to the book’s narrow focus on Virginia is that students who move

away from the state would have a lot of knowledge of Virginian political systems that

might not benefit them much in their new state. The book avoids both the potential

benefits of the narrowing as well as the potential drawbacks. Upon diving deeper than

the cover, it is clear that the focus on Virginia is only nominal. Before Chapter One and

even before the table of contents there is an outline of the Virginia Standards of

Learning for Civics, followed by several pages of multiple choice practice questions

which correspond to the Virginia Standards.

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ASSESSMENT OF CIVICS IN PRACTICE

Figure 2: Upon first

glance, Civics in
Practice seems like it
will include a lot of
specific information
about Virginia
politics, but actually
the only specific
information about
Virginia is the SOLs
that are included
before chapter one
even begins.
(Manning, VA4-VA5)

Other than that brief section, the only indication that the book is Virginia-focused is the

list of Virginia Standards of Learning on the first page of each chapter, indicating which

Standards the chapter will address. As an aspiring teacher, the emphasis on Virginia’s

Standards of Learning makes me nervous that a teacher using this book would be

tempted to teach only to the Standards themselves and would not push their students to

pursue deeper understandings.

Style

Upon simply flipping through Civics in Practice, the style looks like that of a

magazine; it is full to the brim with photographs, colors, bright headings, cartoons, and

the like. No two pages look the same. As shown in Figure 3, some of the photographs and

cartoons are particularly attention-grabbing and, in my opinion, distracting. Some

educators would like that aspect of this book and see it as a mechanism to hold students’

attention while they are reading. However, as someone who was an eighth grader

relatively recently, I can say with conviction that the profuse imagery in this textbook
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ASSESSMENT OF CIVICS IN PRACTICE

would be distractive and even counterproductive. While all textbooks ought to have some

imagery, and while imagery can certainly deepen students’ understanding, I think it is

still possible to have too much and this text does.

Figure 3: While this

page is not the busiest
in the book, it is a good
example of distracting
images, colors, and
headings. (Manning,
112-113)

In a 1998 article in the Journal of American History, a history teacher writes about

the emergence of textbook publishers including images on every page. That

teacher/author argued that, while the images help to conjure a history-type feeling for

students, they can only be helpful when grounded in historical context and facts (Masur,

1409). 1998 was a long time ago and the way we teach history and the way textbook

publishers do their thing have both changed since then, but Mr. Masur’s point still

stands—in the social sciences, and probably the other sciences too, images are only helpful

to learning when strongly grounded in context. It is my opinion that not all of the images

in Civics in Practice are contextually grounded and for that reason some are superfluous,

as demonstrated in Figure 4.
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ASSESSMENT OF CIVICS IN PRACTICE

Figure 4: In an aside
about students writing a
bill on bullying, there is an
image of a hallway at a
school with the caption
“bullying often takes place
in the halls between
classes.” This image serves
no purpose and is
ultimately distracting.
(Massing, 153).

Text Complexity

Ideas Presented

This text offers primarily basic information. Sentence-by-sentence and

paragraph-by-paragraph there are not many assumptions, biases, or implicit meanings

being transferred. However, as a Civics text, there is a certain patriotic message

conveyed throughout. I do not fault the textbook for this because that is the whole

purpose of public education and especially civics—to produce enlightened, productive

young Americans. For example the book has headings such as “Our Federal System,”

rather than, say, ‘Federalism’ or ‘The Federal System’ (Massing, 323).

Structure Used

This textbooks structure is definitely easily identified and would be easy for

middle school students to follow. Sometimes, however, the headings, section breaks,

and graphics do take away from the flow of the text. As I argued earlier, I think some

aspects of this textbook’s structure do not serve students well. Figure 5, for example,
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shows a typical page of the book but the text is designated to small portions of the layout

while the rest of the space is used for photos or asides.

Figure 5: A typical
page layout in
Civics in Practice,
and the pages with
section breaks,
which occur about
every 3-4 pages,
are even more
cluttered (Massing,
441-442)

Language Used

The language used in Civics in Practice does not demand too much from readers

and the book does allow for lots of vocabulary learning, with what the editors perceived

as new words highlighted and bolded. I tend to agree with which words are designated

as new vocabulary. The only issue that I find with vocabulary is that the definitions are

at the end of the chapter rather than on the page they appear so students would have to

take the initiative to go look them up rather than just glancing over. Figure 6 shows

some highlighted vocabulary words.

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Figure 6: While most students

have probably heard the words
‘juvenile’ and ‘delinquent’ before,
learning their true definitions will
help students think deeply about
problems (Massing, 394).

Knowledge Required

As far as I can tell this text does not require a lot of prior knowledge. It provides a

ton of examples and supplemental photographs in order to allow students to make

connections and envision situations. I think this book would be accessible even to

students who did not grow up in this country and are not at all familiar with its

governmental and political structures.

Pedagogical Choices

I would not hesitate to use this book as a reference and to encourage students to do so as

well. This book offers straightforward definitions of the concepts required of civics

learners and it is valuable for that reason. However, it would not be a daily routine or a

staple in my classroom. If students have questions or need further information for an

assignment, project, or just out of intellectual curiosity, I would suggest that the textbook

be their first stop on finding out more, but certainly not their last. If we are going to use

the textbook, I would remind students when we look at the textbook that no writing is
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ASSESSMENT OF CIVICS IN PRACTICE

perfectly unbiased, even textbooks. It would be an interested assignment to have students

look for bias in the text and see what they come up with. My hesitation from using this

book is not because it is that terrible of a book, but more because I remember what it is

like to be in eighth grade and how much I learned whenever textbook readings or

assignments that involved the textbook were given. It is also all too tempting for both

students and teacher to view textbooks as final words on a subject rather than as one

source with one particular message and some amount of bias. Therein, my goal whenever

we use the textbook would be to help students to understand perspective and truth and

historical thinking skills rather than for them to learn everything there is to know about

civics (Dans, 2018).

Summary

Strengths

In summary, some of the strengths of this text are that its content is simple and

straightforward, that it is comprehensive for the civics classroom, and that it included

pertinent examples. The text does not require much prior knowledge or advanced

vocabulary and thereby could be used to supplement anyone’s learning, not just that of

the most advanced readers and the ones who know enough for the textbook to make

sense. Additionally, this book is comprehensive in that it could be used as a source on

almost any topic a civics teacher would want to teach. That cannot be said for most

social studies books. The final strength, which may prove most useful when teaching

students difficult concepts in civics is that the textbook is completely full of useful

examples.
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Weaknesses

The weaknesses of this text are closely related to its strengths. First of all, the text

is not very challenging. I do consider it a strength that the text is accessible to most

readers regardless of their skill or prior knowledge, however, the text does not also allow

for students who are excellent readers and who do have curiosities and prior knowledge

to dive deeper and expand on the topics they are interested in. While I also not the

profuse use of examples as a strength, I will again note the over-saturation of images as

a weakness. Some images are good and helpful but this book has all too many and they

crowd out the important information. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, this text

seems to be written with the assumption that our democracy is all good. I am not certain

that a textbook editing company could get a civics book approved by a state and school

district if it did not have this assumption, but I still fault it for having it. As a teacher I

will implement texts that not only educate students on the institutions in place, but also

encourage students to question the validity, purpose, and health of those institutions as

they perceive them.

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References

Beers, G. K., & Probst, R. E. (2016). Reading nonfiction: notice & note stances,
signposts, and strategies. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Dans, Enrique. (2018). Why textbooks and education are to blame for fake news.
Forbes. Retrieved from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/enriquedans/2018/03/09/why-textbooks-and-
education-are-to-blame-for-fake-news/#6586f29f42e9
Lexile. Free lexile analyzer. Accessed March 17, 2018. https://la-tools.lexile.com/free-
analyze/
Lexile grade conversion chart. Accessed March 17, 2018.
http://languageartsreading.dadeschools.net/pdf/FAIR/LexileConversionChart.p
df
Massing, G. I. (2011). Civics in practice: Principles of government and economics.
Austin, Texas: Holt Mcdougal
Masur, L. P. (1998). `Pictures have now become a necessity': The use of images in
American history textbooks. Journal Of American History, 84(4), 1409-1424.