More than 420 schools in the United States and around the world have incorporated the World's Smallest Political Quiz into their classrooms, according to new research by the Advocates for Self-Government.

In more than three-quarters of the schools, the Quiz is used in Political Science or American Government classes, while the remaining schools utilized the Quiz to teach everything from Computer Science to Sociology, the study shows.

The findings are good news for libertarians, because they show that increasing numbers of high school and college students are being taught that politics is more than a simplistic Left-Right line, said Advocates President Sharon Harris.

"Thanks to the growing acceptance of the World's Smallest Political Quiz, a new generation of students has been exposed to a more accurate, more diverse political map that includes libertarians," she said. "That's an important breakthrough for libertarians, who have traditionally been excluded from the Left-Right political spectrum."

The study, the first of its kind, examined online syllabuses, lesson plans, and class assignments from schools around the United States and the world.

According to the research, at least 425 colleges, universities, high schools, middle schools, elementary schools, and preparatory academies used the Quiz in the classroom during the past few years.

The schools using the Quiz ran the gamut from A (Aberdeen Composite School, Saskatchewan, Canada) to Z (the Zurich International School in Silver Spring, Maryland).

The list included the large (Texas A&M University) and the small (Winnebago High School, Nebraska); and the famous (Harvard University) and the obscure (Westwind Preparatory Academy, Phoenix, Arizona).

The list even featured two "virtual" schools -- the Utah Electronic High School, run by the Utah state government's Office of Education, and the Wichita eSchool in Wichita, Kansas.

The overwhelming majority of the schools were in the United States. Those in other countries included The Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics, and Strategic Research (Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan), Al Akhawayn University (Ifrane, Morocco), The American School in Japan (Tokyo), the Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute (Ontario, Canada), Bilkent University (Ankara, Turkey), Singapore American School, Acadia University (Nova Scotia, Canada), Aberdeen Composite School (Saskatchewan, Canada), Universitat d'Alacant (Alicante, Spain), the University of Granada (Spain), and The American School Foundation (Mexico City, Mexico).

The study confirmed what the Advocates had suspected but had been unable to prove, Harris said -- that the Quiz has made major inroads into the American educational system.

"For years, we've known that the Quiz was used in high school and college classrooms," she said. "We heard reports from students, and occasionally a teacher would tell us that he or she had used it. However, we had no idea how many schools used the Quiz, or in what specific classes it was being utilized.

"The Internet changed that. Now, teachers and professors are posting more classroom functions online, making this information available for the first time."

In all the schools, the Quiz was part of a specific lesson plan, or available for extra credit, or listed as an online resource for further study. The research excluded schools where the Quiz was merely listed by a teacher as an "interesting" link, or featured on a teacher's personal list of links.

According to the study, the Quiz was most frequently utilized to teach students about the political spectrum, or about different political ideologies.

In 79% of the schools, it was used in Political Science, U.S. Politics, U.S. Government, Social Studies, or Civics classes. In another 4% of schools, it was used in a World History or World Affairs class.

In many cases, the World's Smallest Political Quiz was the only political quiz used by a teacher. In some cases, it was used in conjunction with other online political quizzes, or with various presidential candidate "match" tests.

In an unexpected finding, the Quiz was used in nonpolitical classes in 17% of the schools.

For example, in Big Bend Community College (Moses Lake, Washington), the Quiz was used in Sociology 110: Introduction to Sociology to illustrate the complexity of people's political views. In two schools, Duke University and Mountain Vista Middle School (Kelseyville, California), the Quiz was used in a computer class as an example of an interactive online survey.

In Williamette University (Salem, Oregon), the Quiz was used in Politics 311: Writing Political Humor, to remind students about the different ideological approaches they can take to political issues. The Quiz also cropped up in a Science, Technology, and Society class (Bilkent University), an Internet and Politics class (Suffolk University, Massachusetts), and even a National and International Health class (Radford University, Virginia).

"We were amazed at all the different ways teachers found to use the Quiz in their classrooms," Harris said. "Apparently, no matter what your subject, the Quiz somehow relates to it!"

The study's findings should help boost the educational establishment's acceptance of the World's Smallest Political Quiz, Harris said.

"The fact that over 420 colleges and high schools already use the Quiz can only enhance its credibility," she said. "And this research will make it easier for us to approach more teachers and professors and invite them to also use this endlessly flexible educational tool."

In a separate research project, the Advocates discovered that at least a dozen popular high school and college textbooks feature the Quiz as part of their enhanced digital content. [See related article.]

Over the years, the Quiz has been praised by instructors, political science textbooks, and educational organizations.

W. Phillips Shively, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Minnesota, said, "While there are many sites on the Web that profess to tell you your political views, this one actually does a fairly good job and, as claimed, it is incredibly short! This is a fun way to get more information on the different political ideologies..."

Political Science: An Introduction, Seventh Edition (Prentice-Hall, Inc.), by Michael G. Roskin, reported: "The World's Smallest Political Quiz can help you find your political identity."

And the California State University Social Sciences Research and Instructional Council stated: "The World's Smallest Political Quiz [can be used] in Political Science classes to develop an understanding of one's political philosophy and how it compares to the political philosophy of others."

The World's Smallest Political Quiz asks 10 questions about economic and personal issues. Based on the answers, a person's political position can be pinpointed on the diamond-shaped "Nolan Chart." That five-way chart includes Conservative, Liberal, Centrist, Libertarian, and Statist.

The Quiz is based on an expanded model of politics developed in 1969 by Libertarian Party founder David Nolan. In 1987, Advocates for Self-Government founder Marshall Fritz added 10 questions to help people determine their exact place on Nolan's chart.

More than 7 million copies of the paper version of the Quiz have been distributed, and over 10.9 million people have taken the online Quiz.

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