As I’ve noted on more than one occasion, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute does vital work.  It recently launched two new websites well worth a look:

Civic Literacy Report features ISI’s recently-released report, The Coming Crisis in Citizenship: Higher Education’s Failure to Teach America’s History and Institutions. It is based on a survey of 14,000 randomly selected college freshmen and seniors at 50 colleges and universities across the country, who answered 60 multiple-choice questions.  The report concludes that 

• There is trivial difference between freshmen and seniors in their knowledge of America’s heritage.
• 16 of 50 schools surveyed exhibited negative learning.
• Overall, seniors failed the civic literacy exam with an average score of 53%.

You can read Pete DuPont’s Opinion Journal column describing and discussing the study by clicking here.

The Culture of Enterprise site showcases a new ISI initiative to encourage study and scholarship on the topic through an essay contest, book and article awards, and a book publishing program.  Here’s hoping this effort enjoys great success.