States are slowly beginning to require civics education to meet the standards required of incoming immigrants, finds a new report by the Education Commission of the States.
The Joe Foss Institute’s civics education initiative in 2015 called for states to require a civics test with questions drawn from the 100 basic historical and civic facts in the U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services test, which immigrants must pass to become U.S. citizens.
The commission found 17 states passed laws requiring the test, and in eight states, students must pass the test with a minimum score in order to graduate from high school. However, another 18 states tried and failed to pass the requirement. “Defeat of the legislation primarily reflects a rejection of additional mandated high-stakes testing and concerns over the adequacy of the proposed test to ensure robust civic learning,” the report says.
