This post is the fourth in a seven-part series unpacking the 2023 Cardus Education Survey. If you’re just joining the series, here’s a look at what we’ve covered so far:
Series Overview: Exploring the 2023 Cardus Education Survey
Part 1 — Introduction to the Study: What Difference Does Christian Education Make?
Part 2 — What Students Remember: The Christian High School Experience
Part 3 — Learning, Earning, and Serving: Long-Term Outcomes of Christian Education
→ Part 4 — Shaping Citizens: Civic Formation and Christian Education (this post)
Part 5 — Mental Health and Well-being
Part 6 — Faith and Family Formation
Part 7 — Reflections, Areas for Growth, and Next Steps
Most mission statements in Christian schools include something like this: “to prepare students to impact the world for Christ.” But what does that actually look like in adult life? Are graduates showing up and participating in their communities? Are they generous? Engaged? Responsible?
The 2023 Cardus Education Survey looks closely at these outcomes through a civic lens. And the findings offer both encouragement and insight for Christian educators who long to shape faithful citizens—not just competent graduates.
Let’s explore three dimensions of civic formation: generosity, engagement, and social trust.
Generosity
Christian school graduates are among the most generous adults in the entire survey sample. In Figure 4.3, Protestant school grads are significantly more likely than their public school peers to give money to charitable causes—including religious and non-religious organizations.
Catholic and nonreligious independent school graduates also give at higher-than-average levels, but Protestant grads lead in frequency and consistency of giving.
Volunteering: Faith in action
Another important dimension of civic life is unpaid, voluntary service—and Figure 4.4 shows encouraging results. Protestant school graduates are significantly more likely than public school grads to engage in regular volunteer work. This includes service through churches, community organizations, schools, or local charities.
While Catholic and nonreligious independent school graduates also report high levels of volunteering, Protestant school grads consistently lead in volunteering weekly or monthly, which suggests a rhythm of service that extends well beyond occasional participation.
Civic values
Civic formation begins not with ballots or rallies, but with values. In Figure 4.2, the Cardus survey asks how important community involvement is to graduates as a personal value. The highest results come from nonreligious independent school graduates, who are nearly twice as likely as public school peers to say it's “very important.”
Surprisingly, Protestant school graduates are less likely than public school peers to place high value on community involvement. This result challenges us to think carefully: are we unintentionally overemphasizing personal morality at the expense of civic responsibility? Or are these graduates investing more in local or nonprofit avenues versus politically motivated community events? However, from Figure 4.4 (above) it seems that they verycommitted to volunteer work.
Volunteering with Faith-Based Organizations
Figure 4.6 offers a more specific look at civic participation by measuring how many graduates have volunteered with a religious organization other than their local church in the past year. Protestant school graduates score slightly above their public school peers—about 4 percentage points higher in the raw data and 3 points higher after adjusting for background factors.
This may seem like a small margin, but it's telling: Protestant school grads are more likely to engage with religious nonprofits, ministries, or faith-based service organizations beyond Sunday worship. While Catholic school graduates show significantly lower levels of this kind of engagement, homeschool and nonreligious independent school grads report notably higher involvement.
Final Thoughts: Preparing Students for Faithful Citizenship
Civic formation isn’t just about knowing how government works—it’s about learning how to live well in community. It’s about becoming the kind of person who shows up, serves generously, builds trust, and seeks the good of others. In that light, the findings from this section of the Cardus Education Survey are both humbling and hopeful.
Christian education, particularly in Protestant schools, appears to shape graduates who give consistently, volunteer regularly, and engage thoughtfully with civic life—even if not always in loud or overtly political ways. Their involvement may lean more relational than rhetorical, more nonprofit than partisan—but it is real, sustained, and meaningful.
At the same time, the survey challenges Christian educators to take stock. Do our students leave school with a passion for community, or just a private faith? Do they see civic responsibility as part of discipleship—or something optional and “extra”?
Coming next: Part 5 — Mental Health and Well-being
The concept of private school graduates level of involvement with political or non faith based community causes, is a very interesting concept….. I’m realizing I have not given it much thought.
Thinking back to my public school middle/ high school years the only political issue that ruffled feathers for teens/ tweens during those 7 years ( that I can remember) was in 1990, 6th grade ( 11 years old). Ryan White, a boy who contracted AIDS from a contaminated blood clotting treatment had died that Spring. He had been combating it since 1984.
A crowd of students wanted the school to bring the flag half mast in Ryan’s honor. That was not something the school was going to be doing so there was a protest-sit out ( outside at the flag pole).
I remember thinking that there were probably some who deeply cared about the cause, while others were just using the hoopla as an excuse to just not be in class. It was quite the uproar with threats for referals or suspend students for truancy of class attendance. While I felt for the boy, even then I knew it was a hopeless cause, so why participate? Even so if I was going to get in trouble. I remember thinking, “Besides …..what good would the flag position do to change the tragedy anyway? Nothing. These people just want to create drama and have an excuse not to be responsible
today”
At a private school a person could get expelled I’d imagine.
I wonder if at public schools since it’s accepted that there is so much diversity, it is expected that people will have more open disagreement, and stating differences is more a part of the culture. In addition, faith based differences are more distinct so if someone is going to be known in peer groups for what they actually believe, it feels more like evangelism of sorts, even within political differences…. Which feels noble.
But… at private schools unity is aspired to…. Including with uniforms. Sameness. The cause to unity makes politics especially tricky to address. Conversation debates would not go so well in private schools… which is more important civil rights or no abortion? To vote for one is often to sacrifice the importance of the other, which is often why Christians will for very good reason be for one camp or the other based on personal convictions. But…. at a Christian school it is really tricky to address political parties without these deeply sensitive issues being tied to the topic of a party. So…. Politics gets avoided all together.
As a result petitions about uniform styles get pushed on peers radar for an internal cause to join, vs. a national issue.
Definatly a topic to ponder when striving to be leaders of salt and light to the country in which God has placed a person.