In the fall of 1999, the Government Task Force selected a random sample of sections of United States Government (GOVT 2305) and Texas State and Local Government (GOVT 2306) for a pretest of ACC students' knowledge of politics and government. The instructors of the selected sections administered the Government Task Force Assessment Test, a test of 30 key concepts that had been identified by the Task Force during the 1997-1998 academic year, during the first week of the Fall 1999 semester. During the last week of the semester, students in a second random sample of sections in GOVT 2305 and GOVT 2306 took the same test. The Task Force decided that students who had completed the course should achieve an average of at least 70 percent correct answers on the test in each course. The Task Force also stipulated that the students who had completed the course should receive a mean score of at least one standard deviation above the mean score of the pretest students in each course.

The scores for the students on the pretest are indicated in Table 1 below:

The scores on the post-test did not meet the Task Force's standards in terms of mean or in terms of one standard deviation improvement (see Table 2).

As the scores on the post-test demonstrate, students who completed the courses were unable to average 70 percent correct answers in either course. Although students in GOVT 2305 came closer to the 70 percent average stipulated by the Government Task Force, they also began the course with a higher average on the pretest, and presumably, more knowledge about the subject matter. Furthermore, students who completed the courses did not achieve an average score that was one standard deviation above the average of the students who had started the courses (Target Scores in Table 1).

In addition to the descriptive statistics, a Wilcoxon rank sum test or z-test was performed on the data. The Wilcoxon rank sum test yields valid results in large samples and makes less stringent assumptions on the data than other tests of samples. In both courses, the null hypothesis that there was no difference in the means (pretest and post-test in each course) was rejected. The results were significant at the .01 level of confidence (See Table 3).

In the committee's analysis of the pretest, we noted that in GOVT 2305, at least 70 percent of students are able to define the following concepts: ideology, democracy, political socialization, primary election, and lobbying. They are also able to identify the social movement that promoted the adoption of the Voting Rights Act, to distinguish between civil liberties and civil rights, and demonstrate an understanding of the principles of separation of powers and checks and balances. In GOVT 2306, at least 70 percent of students are able to define democracy. They also understand the purpose of checks and balances, the meaning of judicial review, the agents of socialization, and the reasons for low voter turnout in Texas.

In the post-test results, at least 70 percent of students in GOVT 2305 were able to define the following additional concepts: elitist theory, Marbury v. Madison, divided government, incumbency, divided government, and voter turnout. In GOVT 2306, at least 70 percent of students were able to answer questions relating to the following additional concepts: characteristics of the Texas Constitution, federalism, Texans' ideologies, legislative districting in Texas, and sources of revenue for Texas cities.