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Findings from a participatory, randomized civics minicourse and randomized survey experiment (n=586) indicate that issue-salient local content increases political knowledge and self-efficacy. The study also documents variation in how access relates to trust in government and connects lower trust to mobilization, supporting the case for more effective local, issue-salient civics.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & 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Participation  \nAbigail Dym  \nBowdoin College  \nCivic education can provide students with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to become informed and engaged citizens. However, empirical research reveals that civics curricula have achieved limited or inconsistent success in meeting these democratic imperatives for young people in a pluralistic and multiracial United States. Drawing from scholarship on personal issue salience and local political mobilization, I test whether a curriculum that centers salient local political issues, rather than relying on less salient national politics, improves student political outcomes. Original fieldwork findings from a participatory and randomized civics minicourse and randomized survey experiment (n = 586) provide evidence that salient local political curriculum increases student political knowledge and self-efficacy. While I observe variation in the relationship between access to salient local political content and trust in government, I link these findings to existing evidence that lower trust can be a mobilizing force, which solidifies the argument that local and issue-salient civics may more effectively make engaged citizens.  \nVERSION: July 2026  \nSuggested citation: Dym, Abigail. (2026). Making Civics Salient: Local Political Knowledge for Democratic Participation.(EdWorkingPaper: 26-1522). Retrieved from Annenberg Institute at Brown University: [https://doi.org/10.26300/2j49-d109](https://doi.org/10.26300/2j49-d109)  \nTitle: Making Civics Salient: Local Political Knowledge for Democratic Participation  \nAbstract: Civic education can provide students with knowledge, skills and dispositions to develop into informed and engaged citizens. However, empirical research reveals civics curricula has achieved limited or inconsistent success in meeting these democratic imperatives for young people in a pluralistic and multiracial United States. Drawing from research on personal issuesalience and local political mobilization, I test whether curriculum that centers salient local political issues, rather than relying on less salient national politics, improves student political outcomes. Original fieldwork findings from a participatory and randomized civics minicourse and randomized survey experiment (n = 586) provide evidence that salient local political curriculum increases student political knowledge and self-efficacy. While I observe variation in the relationship between access to salient local political content and trust in government, I link these findings to existing evidence that lower trust can be a mobilizing force, which solidifies the argument that local and issue salient civics may more effectively make engaged citizens.  \nKeywords: Civic education; political issue salience; political knowledge; democratic participation; political socialization; democratic education.  \nAuthor: Abigail Dym, Ph.D.  \nAssistant Professor of Education, Bowdoin College  \nRethinking Civic Education  \nCivic education 1 is often the first formal opportunity for young people to learn about politics and become informed, engaged, and efficacious citizens.2 The ideal and effective civics classroom sparks political interest and engagement by helping students expand democratic skills and dispositions alongside the primary goal of civic education: gaining political knowledge. Political knowledge,“the range of factual information about politics that is stored in long-term memory”(Delli Carpini and Keeter 1996, 10), is central to a functioning democracy and an important indicator of a citizen’s ability to effectively engage with her local and national political systems (Dahl 1998; Luskin 1987; Ondercin and Jones-White 2011; Zaller 1992). Being politically knowledgeable, an indicator of democratic dispositions like self-efficacy and trust in government (e.g., Verba et al. 1995) and a purpose of formal civic education (Fine 20","cbCaik2lbA2fOyfS","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaik2lbA2fOyfS","pdf",1044960,48,"English","# Rethinking Civic Education\n## Political Knowledge as a Core Civic Outcome\n## Limitations of Nationally Focused Civics\n## Issue-Salient Local Curriculum and Expected Effects\n## Findings from the Minicourse and Survey Experiment","[{\"question\":\"What core problem does the paper address about civic education?\",\"answer\":\"Civic curricula have limited or inconsistent success in producing the democratic imperatives needed for young people, including the development of political knowledge and engagement.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the proposed curriculum differ from conventional civics instruction?\",\"answer\":\"It centers salient local political issues instead of relying primarily on less salient national politics.\"},{\"question\":\"What evidence does the paper provide for the curriculum’s effectiveness?\",\"answer\":\"Results from a participatory, randomized civics minicourse and a randomized survey experiment (n=586) show increases in student political knowledge and self-efficacy when exposed to salient local political content.\"}]","Making Civics Salient - Local Political Knowledge for Democratic Participation | PDF",121]