The Civic Opportunity Gap

A Generation of High Achievers? These are some winning words from the National Spelling Bee, by year: 1932: knack 1940: therapy 1973: vouchsafe 1975: incisor 2001: succedaneum 2004: autochthonous (Strauss and Howe, Millennials Rising.)

But National Scores are Flat It’s the “long tail” of the achievement curve that is performing well.

Half of Young Adults Have No College Experience Source: Census Current Population Supplement, tabulated by Abby Kiesa and Karlo Barrios Marcelo, "Youth Demographics--Youth with no College Experience," CIRCLE Fact Sheet, January 2009 College Attendance is also Flat

People born National Longitudinal Study of Youth, Source: Analyzed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, As they move from age 18 through age 21, no more than 45 percent of each recent cohort is ever enrolled in college

Low mobility: Only 7 percent of students from the bottom quarter of the income distribution will obtain a bachelors degree by the age of 26, compared to 60 percent of those from the top quarter (Susan M. Dynarski & Judith E. Scott-Clayton, Brookings, 2007)

Half of Those Who Do not Attend College are People of Color Source: Census Current Population Supplement, tabulated by Abby Kiesa and Karlo Barrios Marcelo, "Youth Demographics--Youth with no College Experience," CIRCLE Fact Sheet, January 2009 ( mo_CollExp.pdf)

Young Adults with no College Experience are Most Vulnerable to Unemployment in Recessions Source: Census Current Population Supplement, tabulated by Abby Kiesa and Karlo Barrios Marcelo, "Youth Demographics-- Youth with no College Experience," CIRCLE Fact Sheet, January 2009 ( ollExp.pdf)

Census data, analyzed by CIRCLE Voter Turnout Depends on Educational Level

Volunteering is Also More Common for College Youth Source: Census Current Population Supplement data tabulated by Karlo Barrios Marcelo, Kei Kawashima- Ginsberg, and Emily Hoban Kirby for “Volunteering and College Experience,” CIRCLE Fact Sheet

For College-Educated Youth, Civic Engagement has Declined Since the 1970s Source: General Social Survey data, tabulated in Flanagan, Levine, and Settersten, Civic Engagement and the Changing Transition to Adulthood (CIRCLE, 2009)

There Have Also been Declines in Civic Engagement for Young Adults with No College Experience Source: General Social Survey data, tabulated in Flanagan, Levine, and Settersten, Civic Engagement and the Changing Transition to Adulthood (CIRCLE, 2009)

The Result is a Dramatic Gap Today Source: General Social Survey data, tabulated in Flanagan, Levine, and Settersten, Civic Engagement and the Changing Transition to Adulthood (CIRCLE, 2009)