Dive Brief:
- A handful of states are considering adopting similar legislation to Arizona's requirement that high school students pass a citizenship exam in order to graduate.
- Among the 13 states proposing a similar requirement are North Dakota, Indiana, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia.
- Controversy and resistance to the new exams is not tied to any immigration platform, but rather frustrations about the over-testing of students, with educators and administrators worried that the new assessment will take away from important instructional time.
Dive Insight:
This is a tough one. The argument that students are over-tested has validity. Adding one more exam into the mix seems to go against the current trend of skimming the fat and eliminating repetitive or non-crucial exams.
The flip side is, of course, the fact that US voter turnout is at an all time low, and this is largely associated with the fact that many Americans do not know basic civic information. Last year, the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania found that a third of people surveyed were unable to name a single branch of US government, and that less than a quarter knew that a presidential veto can only be rejected with a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate. If nothing else, these tests can arguably be used as a valuable teaching resource.
Following how Arizona districts deal with the new test will be an important indicator as these other states potentially follow suit.
