ICCS 2009 Technical Report - IEA

This volume contains the technical report for the International Civic and Citizenship EducationStudy (ICCS) sponsored by the International Association for the Evaluation of EducationalAchievement (IEA). Over the past 50 years, IEA has conducted 30 comparative research studiesfocusing on educational policies, practices, and outcomes in various school subjects taught inmore than 80 countries around the world.ICCS studied the ways in which young people in lower-secondary schools are prepared toundertake their roles as citizens in a range of countries. It investigated student knowledgeand understanding of civics and citizenship as well as student perceptions, attitudes, andactivities related to civics and citizenship. It also examined differences among countries in theseoutcomes and the relationship of these outcomes to students’ individual characteristics andfamily background, to teaching practices, and to school and broader community contexts. Threeregional modules for Asia, Europe, and Latin America addressed issues of civic and citizenshipeducation of special interest in those parts of the world.Thirty-eight countries from around the world participated in ICCS. Data gathered from more than140,000 Grade 8 students and 62,000 teachers in over 5,300 schools have provided evidence thatmay be used to improve policy and practice in civic and citizenship education. The study’s datahave also provided a new baseline for future research on civic and citizenship education.This technical report follows publication of several international and regional reports thatpresented the results of ICCS. It includes detailed information on the development of theinstruments used, including their translation to national languages and translation verification, aswell as on sampling design and implementation, sampling weights and participation rates, surveyoperation procedures, quality control of data collection, data management, and creation of theinternational database. Separate chapters present scaling of the ICCS test and questionnaires anddescribe the procedures that were used to report results in the ICCS publications.This technical report will enable fellow researchers in the field to evaluate published reports,monographs, and articles based on the ICCS data. It will also help them conduct their ownanalyses of the data included in the ICCS international database, available from IEA, as is thedatabase user guide.