The IEA Civic Education Study began Phase 1 in 1994, transitioning in 1997 into Phase 2-the test and survey reported in this volume. The scholarly contributions of the members of the International Steering Committee have been extremely important to the substantive guidance of the study during both phases. The authors of this volume want to thank Barbara Fratczak-Rudnicka, Georgia Kontogiannopoulou-Polydorides, Bruno Losito, Barbara Malak-Minkiewicz, Ingrid Munck, John Schwille, Gita Steiner-Khamsi and Lee Wing On, who served as members of the committee during Phase 2, and Ray Adams, representing the IEA Technical Advisory Group. They have brought several disciplinary perspectives, as well as viewpoints from different parts of the world. The committee prepared the study's overall design in the proposal, wrote and reviewed items for the instruments, planned and interpreted data analysis, led groups at meetings, and reviewed this volume in detail. We are grateful for their thoughtful contributions and for the spirit of innovation with which they approached the study.
The commitment and competence of the National Research Coordinators over nearly seven years has made this collaborative effort both successful and enjoyable. They have participated in every part of Phase 2, from reviewing instruments, to sampling, testing and supervising data entry, and finally reviewing analysis and this volume. Their thoughtful comments at meetings and as reviewers have enriched all participants' understanding of this subject area and its cross-national variations. The names of the National Coordinators appear later in this section, with their addresses (so that readers can request information about their national reports).
Since 1998 the major funder for the international coordination of Phase 2 (reported in this volume) has been the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG or German Science Association) through a grant to the Humboldt University of Berlin to support the International Coordinating Center. During 2000 and 2001 substantial additional funding for analysis and publication is being provided by the William T. Grant Foundation through a grant to the University of Maryland at College Park (Department of Human Development)
Other funding and support in Germany came from the Bundeszentrale fur Politische Bildung (Federal Agency for Civic Education), and in the United States from the National Center for Education Statistics of the United States Department of Education (for quality control and scaling) and the Carnegie Corporation of New York (for instrument preparation during the transition from Phase 1 to Phase 2). The Pew Charitable Trusts of Philadelphia funded Phase 1 of the study, which provided the background for this volume and resulted in the volume, Civic education across countries: Twenty-four national case studies from the IEA Civic Education Project (IEA, 1999).
The IEA Secretariat in Amsterdam provided funds and support throughout both phases of the study, and managed matching funds from the participating countries. We are especially grateful to Barbara Malak-Minkiewicz, who was the liaison between the International Steering Committee and the Secretariat. Hans Wagemaker (Executive Director), Alejandro Tiana Ferrer (Chair), Tjeerd Plomp (former Chair) and Leendert Dijkhuizen (Financial Officer) provided important support. Ray Adams, Chair of the IEA Technical Executive Group (TEG), gave excellent technical advice, educating us as he explained both what we should do and why. Pierre Foy, a member of TEG, and Ken Ross gave helpful advice on sampling and weighting. Richard Wolf, Chair of the IEA Publications Committee, reviewed the manuscript with his usual care. Michael Martin, Eugenio Gonzalez and Ina Mullis were generous with their help based on their experience with IEA TIMSS and TIMSS-R. Paula Wagemaker provided thoughtful editing that was always responsive to authors' concerns, and Becky Bliss designed the publication with skill.
Two institutions have made enormous contributions to the study in supporting research time for authors, computer and management services, and office space. The Humboldt University of Berlin, where the International Coordinator is a faculty member, and the University of Maryland at College Park (Department of Human Development and Graduate School), where the Chair of the International Steering Committee is a faculty member, deserve special thanks.
At Humboldt, Wolfram Schulz handled the multifaceted and essential tasks of the Associate International Coordinator of the study from mid-1998, taking over this role from Donald Gray. Vera Husfeld contributed professional expertise to the scaling and the production of figures, while Roumiana Nikolova produced various materials included in this volume.
In Maryland, Jo-Ann Amadeo began as the Associate International Coordinator of the study in 1997. Her skills in synthesizing material, guiding the graduate assistants and mobilizing information for decision-making have been essential to this volume's timely completion. Jo Peng's accounting expertise has been vital. Wendy Richardson and Stephen Tonks prepared the annotated bibliographies on which the reviews of literature are based and proofread the manuscript. Wendy also prepared the reference list, with the care that requires. John Behrens and Vladimir Pavlov helped with technical issues.
Heiko Sibberns and Ursula Itzlinger of the IEA Data Processing Center (DPC) in Hamburg were invaluable in working with the national coordinators on sampling as well as in performing the many activities involved in producing the analysis upon which the scales and figures are based. Kristin Habeck also worked on the analysis. The study has benefited enormously from the impressive skills of the DPC staff.
Bruno Losito and Heinrich Mintrop capably and creatively dealt with the analysis of the teacher and school instruments, and the preparation of Chapter 9 of this volume. The tables for Chapter 9 were produced by Annamaria D'Apice at the National Institute for the Evaluation of the Education System in Frascati, Italy. Christa Handle served as an advisor for the teacher instrument design.
The primary responsibility for the analysis found in the other chapters rests with the following: Chapter 2, Judith Torney-Purta and Wolfram Schulz; Chapter 3, Rainer Lehmann and Wolfram Schulz; Chapters 4, 5 and 7, Judith Torney-Purta; Chapter 6, Hans Oswald; Chapter 8, Wolfram Schulz, Judith Torney-Purta and Rainer Lehmann.
The authors want to express special thanks to all the members of the large IEA network, many of whom we have never met but whose professionalism and competence have been essential to this study. This includes the IEA General Assembly representatives, National Research Coordinators, staff members of their organizations, those who provided funds within countries, and appointees to National Expert Panels.
We would like to thank the nearly 90,000 students and their teachers who responded to the IEA Civic Education survey in 1999. Without the cooperation of school administrators, teachers and students we would not have been privileged to have this glimpse into the civic world of 14-year-olds across five continents.
Finally, we wish to thank our families who have given substantive as well as personal support to all of us throughout the study.
Judith Torney-Purta
Rainer Lehmann
Hans Oswald