What have we learned about education policy in 250 years?

• Our nation’s survival is still dependent on the quality of our civics education; new survey results show there is a lot of work to do.

• Those closest to the student are best equipped to make education choices, especially parents.

Soon, the nation will celebrate its 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. That is no small milestone. When the Declaration was adopted, the signers had a vision for what the nation could become, founded on human equality and natural, unalienable rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for years to come. Have we achieved it?

Part of the work of maintaining the new nation was (and is) educating people about their republic in order to preserve it.

What have we learned about education policy in 250 years of America? Two key principles stand out.

Our nation’s continuation is still dependent on good civics education

Elevating civics education for America’s survival remains essential. So does the challenge of doing the work.  

Recent results from a survey published by the American Enterprise Institute, titled “America at 250: Surveying Change and Continuity on Civic Values,” show there is serious work to be done.  

It found that only 29% of its respondents had read the Declaration of Independence in full. Results show that 45% said they had read it in part, but a whopping 26% had not read it at all. If we are to preserve the work of the founders and the nation, Americans need to read and be literate in the actual documents that established this country rather than merely relying on commentary or thought leadership from others. 

The survey also shows clear generational divides: 85% of Gen Z said learning basic academic skills was “very important,” but only 50% said understanding the ideas and history that tie all Americans together was “very important.” For perspective, their baby boomer counterparts reported 97% and 78%, respectively, to those questions.  

Likewise, when asked whether studying the Declaration of Independence should be required this year, 86% of baby boomers said yes, while only 61% of Gen Z agreed.  

When asked whether the U.S. is a unique country that stands for something special, 80% of baby boomers said yes. Only 52% of Gen Z reported believing this in the survey. 

I’ve written in the past about how civics education slid into the background as other policy preferences grew, especially those set at the federal level, with a focus on math and reading standards. This may be part of the reason for the decline between generations, but there have also been other movements to complicate the virtues of America’s story.  

The good news, though, is that amid widespread controversy about the nation, there has been a renewed boom in interest in civics education in recent years, with at least 23 states and D.C. passing legislation to improve it since 2023.  

According to a 2025 iCivics tracker, 36 states plus D.C. require a civics course in high school, 29 states require a civics test, and 44 states offered civics-related professional development (up from 36 in 2024).

Recommendations

More states should opt in to sharing their National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) civics scores so this granular data can be tracked over time. NAEP recently announced that, by 2028, states will be able to publish eighth-grade civics scores, but it’s currently only voluntary.

States should consider offering students diploma seals for civic achievement as they do for other areas of concentration. As of a few months ago, 17 states offer this opportunity. This would elevate civics to the level of importance of other subject areas that offer this same honor.

Those closest to students are best equipped to make education choices

Parents are the natural teachers of their children. As American education policy has evolved over time, we have seen a return to understanding the parent’s inherent role in education. 

At the founding of the nation, access to education was often shaped by one’s family and their means to educate, which left access to education uneven. But after the introduction of publicly funded schools and the widespread adoption of the common school structure, formal education was largely de-centered from the home. 

Today, each state provides a system of public education, with many rooted in state constitutional obligations to provide public schools. But attitudes about education in America have changed significantly since these constitutional provisions were first written.  

Parents have begun to insist on having a greater role in educational decision-making. The rise of parents’ bills of rights, the demand for curriculum transparency, and the growth of education choice legislation, for instance, have enabled more parents to consider their role as consumers of educational options and even as direct teachers for their children.  

Just as parents’ proximity and familiarity with their children make them the best education decision-makers, so too are state and local leaders better education policymakers than federal leaders.  

The government that the founders created reflected this understanding, too. The enumerated powers meant that unless powers were listed for the federal government, they did not exist. The 10th Amendment further clarified that all power not delegated to the federal government is left to the states. Education is not mentioned in the Constitution and has largely been understood as a state issue. 

Still, for decades Congress and the federal government have increased their policymaking in education, all while insisting that states are still in charge. In response to decades of test score stagnation, bureaucratic frustration, and “culture wars,” the current administration has attempted to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, reducing its size and reorganizing where the many programs will be housed. The steps have not reduced the overall impacts of federal intrusion in this space, but they are symbolic of the changing appetite. 

These shifts reflect a basic truth: parents generally know best what their child needs to succeed academically, and policymakers at the state and local levels are more likely to create policy that reflects that.

Recommendations

States should vigorously defend their education choice programs or create them if they do not yet offer them.

Legislatures should consider passing state-level, education-specific parental rights amendments to bolster parents’ role in education going forward.

Conclusion

After 250 years, we can appreciate even more the importance of parents’ role in education and of civics education in preserving the republic in which we live.