Do you know when the Constitution was written? Most Americans don’t, even though that’s a question people need to answer on the U.S. citizenship test.
ASPR is proud to have helped develop and execute a media relations campaign for the WW Foundation about Americans’ lack of knowledge about their history.
The Foundation conducted two sets of polls; the national survey found just 1 in 3 Americans can pass the U.S. citizenship test; a state-by-state survey found people only in one state can pass that exam. Our efforts led to coverage by The New York Times, twice by the Drudge Report, Fox News Channel, C-SPAN, New York Post, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, MarketWatch, as well as stories in every major media market and a supportive editorial by The Wall Street Journal.
The campaign messaging encouraged people to take the Foundation’s online citizenship exam and that has resulted in nearly half-a-million testing their knowledge and over 4 million impressions on Twitter. The Social Shakeup presented the Foundation with an award for the Most Engaged Followers on Twitter.
The Foundation’s American History Initiative has also created significant interest from policymakers and nonprofit leaders.
These efforts have demonstrated that a waning knowledge of American history may be one of the greatest educational challenges facing the U.S. As a result, the Foundation is launching a major national initiative to transform how American history is learned today, providing high school students with an interactive digital platform intended to make American history more interesting and appreciated by all learners, particularly those who don’t see the importance history plays in the now and tomorrow.