High School students to be required to take a portion of Naturalization citizenship test.

Bill Promoting Civics Education Advances in Senate Education Committee 

 

Excerpted from Tracy's Talking Points Newsletter - Legislation which would promote civics education in Tennessee advanced through the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday. Senate Bill 10 would make components of the test administered by the United State Citizenship and Immigration Services to those seeking citizenship one of the tools used in assessing student progress under Tennessee’s civics education program.

The bill follows legislation passed by the General Assembly in 2012 which restored the teaching of project-based civics and required the assessment of student progress between grades 4 and 8 and between grades 8 and 12.

The legislation approved by the Education Committee calls on local education agencies to utilize 25 to 50 of the 100 questions posed by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in the citizenship test. The test, which would be administered during high school, may be taken by the student multiple times until he or she scores at least 70 percent as required for graduation. Students with an Individualized Education Program (IEP) would be exempt from the requirement under certain circumstances as provided by the bill. Students will continue to receive the project-based civics assessments provided under the 2012 law.

The bill provides that schools where seniors have all made a passing grade on the civics test be recognized on the Department of Education’s website as a U.S. Civics All-Star School.

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Follow this link to see a the civic questions and answers for the Naturalization test. This is very elementary stuff. I would expect every American to be able to pass this test. I would think that if someone cannot pass this test then they should consider themselves too little informed to vote and I would hope they would abstain from voting.  I would like to see no student be allowed to graduate unless they can score a 95% on the test, but at least the state is promoting a minimum level of civic knowledge. That's an improvement. Below are the first five questions on the Naturalization test. Rod

A: Principles of American Democracy

1. What is the supreme law of the land?
▪ the Constitution

2. What does the Constitution do?
▪ sets up the government
▪ defines the government
▪ protects basic rights of Americans

3. The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the Constitution. What are these words?
▪ We the People

4. What is an amendment?
▪ a change (to the Constitution)
▪ an addition (to the Constitution)

5. What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?
▪ the Bill of Rights

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