School curriculum is usually the purview of education experts, but this fall it could be decided by California voters, who will vote on adding a new requirement for high school students: a one-semester class in managing personal finances.

California’s Secretary of State is poised to certify that the  is eligible for the November ballot, which would add financial literacy to the list of high school graduation requirements beginning with the class of 2030.

Students would learn about paying for college, online banking, taxes, budgeting, credit, retirement accounts, loans, how the stock market works and other topics. The issue is critical, organizers said, as students face a shifting economy and difficult decisions about college, careers and their futures.

“No one comes out of the womb knowing how to manage their credit score. It has to be taught,” said Tim Ranzetta, co-founder of a  and a chief backer of the initiative. “And right now there’s a dramatic gap between what students know and what they need to know. We have to change that.”

Voters seem to agree with him. A 2022  of adults nationwide showed that nearly 90% support a financial literacy requirement in high school, and nearly as many wished they had taken such a course when they were students. 

That’s not surprising, considering the financial woes many people incur. The average  is $8,366, the sixth-highest rate in the country, and 1 in 6 borrowers nationwide are in default on their student loans. 

Financial literacy already in classrooms

But some education experts have pushed back, not because they’re opposed to financial literacy for students but because they question whether voters are best equipped to dictate what’s taught in classrooms.

Currently, the state’s History-Social Studies framework includes a , required for graduation, that covers much of the same material proposed by the financial literacy ballot initiative proponents. Financial literacy is also included in first, second and ninth grade curriculum. First graders, for example, learn that money can be exchanged for goods and services, and people make decisions about how to spend their money.

But Ranzetta said the curriculum, which was last updated in 2017, doesn’t focus enough on financial literacy. Personal finance is covered for only a few weeks in the economics course; the rest covers more abstract economic concepts like international trade, resource allocation and the benefits and drawbacks of capitalism. Individual teachers can choose how much they want to focus on certain topics.

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond wouldn’t answer questions about the ballot initiative, although he endorsed it. Linda Darling-Hammond, president of the State Board of Education, also wouldn’t answer questions. 

Leaving curriculum decisions to voters is ‘a bad idea’

The proposed ballot initiative so far has almost zero opposition, but some are questioning the idea of letting voters — and not education experts — decide what students learn in the classroom. Ordinarily, curriculum in California is developed by a group of teachers and subject-matter professionals who serve on the , which meets publicly six times a year. New curriculum is subject to multiple reviews, edits and public vetting, ultimately going before the  for adoption. Local school boards can adjust curriculum according to the needs of their students.

Polikoff worries that adopting curriculum through ballot initiatives could set a dangerous precedent. Religious or anti-LGBTQ curriculum, for example, could be approved by voters, setting up costly and lengthy legal showdowns with the state Department of Education. 

Curriculum can be complicated, as well. When writing new curricula, the Instructional Quality Commission looks at the broader context, making sure students get new material every year that builds on what they learned previously, subjects don’t overlap and topics are flexible enough for teachers to adapt lessons to the individual needs of their students. Textbooks and tests are also taken into consideration. 

Legislature weighs in

Most curriculum updates and changes originate with the commission, but sometimes the Legislature weighs in. The state’s new  and  requirements, for example, stemmed from Assembly bills. Another bill, , would add computer science as a graduation requirement.

, a financial literacy bill proposed by Democrat  of Sacramento, would actually do almost the same thing as the ballot initiative. The bill would require financial literacy as a graduation requirement, although it would go into effect until 2031, a year later than the ballot measure.

Bruce Fuller, education professor at UC Berkeley, said he worries about the increasing politicization of curriculum — either from the Legislature or those pushing for ballot initiatives.

“We have these political interests unabashedly trying to control what’s taught in the classroom, instead of leaving it up to teachers and locally elected school boards,” Fuller said. “We should trust those folks to devise thoughtful curriculum that’s appropriate for their students.”

He also questioned the ever-growing list of graduation requirements. High schools only offer six or seven class periods a day, and with more required classes there’s less room for art and other electives. Some districts have started adding an extra period so students can fit in all the classes they need to take to graduate,  and qualify for California’s public universities. 

“I’m not sure how adding more required classes is going to motivate restless teenagers,” Fuller said. “With more requirements, we’re giving them almost no chance to study things they’re actually interested in.” 

McCarty’s bill  is not the Legislature’s first attempt to wade into financial literacy. A dozen bills requiring financial literacy have died or been vetoed in recent years, in most cases because financial literacy curriculum already exists and the state already has a system for adopting curriculum.

As Gov. Jerry Brown wrote in 2018 when he  that would have made financial literacy materials available to teachers: “This bill is unnecessary. The History-Social Science Framework already contains financial literacy content for pupils in kindergarten through grade 12, as well as a financial literacy elective.”

Ranzetta said the Legislature’s inability to pass a financial literacy curriculum is what spurred him to take the matter directly to voters.

“I recognize the value of the process, but it’s slow and so far it hasn’t worked in California,” he said. “The issue is too urgent and too popular to wait any longer.”     

Ranzetta grew up in New Jersey, where his father was a banker and his mother was a community volunteer who raised six children. He learned financial literacy from his parents, and assumed other young people did, too. It wasn’t until he started volunteering at an East Palo Alto high school that he realized many students are clueless about money, and that ignorance can hamper them throughout their lives. But they were eager to learn, he said, and share the information with their parents.

That experience inspired him to start NextGen Personal Finance, which offers free financial literacy curriculum and training for teachers. At least 7,000 teachers in California and more than 100,000 nationwide have participated, he said.

A class that demystifies money

At Berkeley High, Crystal Rigley Janis teaches two economics classes and three personal finance classes, covering topics she wishes she knew as a young person: how to negotiate a salary, not relying on gut instinct when investing, and avoiding individual stocks in favor of index funds.

“It took me 15 years to understand those things, and it probably cost me millions of dollars,” said Rigley, who worked for several years at a wealth management firm before going into teaching. “I don’t want other people to make the mistakes I did.”

Eliza Maier, a senior, was so inspired by Rigley’s class that she opened a Roth IRA when she turned 18 and transferred money from her low-interest savings account. The class, she said, helped demystify money and the role it can play in major life choices.

“We learned that money isn’t good or bad – it’s a tool,” Maier said. “It can help you realize your goals. It can help you be prepared for whatever happens in your life. I didn’t know anything about money when I started taking this class, but I think it’s so important, especially for high school students.”

This was originally posted on .

Computer science classes might be required for Louisiana high school graduates starting in the 2027-28 school year.

, authored by Democrat Rep. Jason Hughes from New Orleans, passed without objection Wednesday out of the Senate Education Committee. The bill adds computer science requirements for every path to a high school diploma at Louisiana public schools.

Computer science would also be required to receive any award from . The TOPS Opportunity, Performance and Honors awards would require students to take one credit of computer science as part of their math or science curriculum or in place of a foreign language.

Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter

For TOPS Tech, students can take computer science as one of their math or science courses or as one of their electives.

The option for using computer science to complete graduation requirements would partially begin in the 2027-28 school year.

For those graduating in 2028 and pursuing TOPS Opportunity, Performance, and Honors awards, computer science can only be used in place of the foreign language requirement. The TOPS Tech pathway does not allow for students graduating in 2028 to use computer science to fulfill any of the existing requirements.

Two years ago, then-Sen. Sharon Hewitt, R-Slidell, gained approval for a bill that allowed students to count instead of a foreign language for TOPS eligibility.

Hughes’ bill now heads to the Senate floor.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on and .

Washington school districts will be able to keep waiving certain graduation requirements for high school students in the class of 2024.

State Board of Education to continue allowing them to waive requirements for the state’s “graduation pathways” for the 2023-2024 school year, citing the lasting impact of COVID-19 on students. Graduation pathways were established in 2019 to give students new avenues to graduate, such as demonstration of technical skills.

The board granted an extension to the emergency waiver on Thursday.

Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter

State lawmakers established an emergency waiver program in 2021 to prevent delays in graduating for students impacted by “unforeseen disruptions to coursework and assessments that are beyond the student’s control.”

The waiver originally allowed districts to waive up to two credits and the graduation pathway requirement for individual students until the 2022-2023 school year. In the 2023-2024 school year, districts could waive up to one credit.

In 2022, nearly 13% of students used a waiver and 8% used the pathway waiver,

In a School Counselor Association survey of members from over 70 districts in the state, 94% said they had students who would not graduate without the pathway requirement waiver.

Board members initially expressed hesitation about extending the waiver, suggesting that it was difficult to figure out the right balance between academic excellence and student wellbeing.

New limitations developed for the 2024 waiver extension are meant to address some of these concerns by attempting to ensure students show competency in math or English either through earning credits or meeting a graduation pathway requirement.

, a student can receive an emergency waiver of up to one math credit only if the student meets a graduation pathway option in math — and vice versa. The same goes for English credits. A student can only have the pathway requirement waived in both English and math if no credits in English or math are waived.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Washington State Standard maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Bill Lucia for questions: info@washingtonstatestandard.com. Follow Washington State Standard on and .

Concerned about lowering standards in Florida’s public high schools, the state House on Thursday voted to stick with the original requirements: Teens must pass statewide Algebra 1 and 10th grade English Language Arts exams to be able to get their diplomas.

The Senate would have to vote on the legislation.

During the first week of this year’s legislative session, the Senate passed a package of bills aimed at “deregulating” Florida public schools through measures such as removing Algebra I and 10th grade ELA exams from the graduation requirements in Florida.

Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter

That became controversial, with House Speaker Paul Renner vehemently opposed to easing the graduation requirements. Republican Rep. Dana Trabulsy of Port St. Lucie, who sponsored the education deregulation bill in the House, took the same stance as Renner, meaning, leaving Algebra 1 and ELA 10 graduation requirements intact.

Maintaining standards

“I feel like lowering the standards can disproportionately affect students from disadvantaged backgrounds and all students as it may lessen the pressure on schools to provide high-quality education to all students regardless of their socio-economic status,” Trabulsy said on the House floor. “In Florida, high standards of education help ensure that students will be adequately prepared for their future, so lowering our standards here is just absolutely not an option, in my opinion.”

Although the bill received bipartisan support, Democratic Rep. Robin Bartleman of Broward County said she hoped some of the provisions, such as removing the graduation requirements, get added back to the bill.

“The Senate removes the barrier to high school graduation from passing a standardized test in ELA and math. This is really important because a lot of kids have testing anxiety and are not good test takers,” Bartleman said. “I personally know one girl who struggled and struggled, ruined her whole senior year … seeing someone to deal with her anxiety, and it was just to pass up high stakes tests.”

Other opponents — such as the Foundation for Excellence in Education (ExcelinEd), the education think tank founded by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush — say allowing students to graduate, even if they don’t pass the Algebra I and 10th grade ELA exams, would decrease the value of high school diplomas.

“Florida has long been a leader in maintaining high standards, strong accountability and robust choice in education. That’s why copying states like Oregon, New York and New Jersey in rolling back student expectations would have been the wrong way for Florida to go. We’re happy the House rejected these elements of the Senate’s proposal,” wrote Patricia Levesque, CEO of ExcelinEd and executive director of the Foundation for Florida’s Future, in a statement.

On the other hand, people in favor of removing high-stakes tests say a single exam doesn’t reflect students’ knowledge.

“We should be focused on teacher and learning and not high-stakes testing. Testing had a role in helping inform teachers in their instructions, but using tests in a punitive way does not help student learning,” Florida Education Association president Andrew Spar wrote to the Florida Phoenix.

Book challenge fees

Originally, Trabulsy’s education deregulation bill included a $100 “processing fee” on subsequent challenges filed by anyone who’s already filed five unmerited challenges in a district where he or she doesn’t have a child enrolled. She wiped the fee or any other restriction on book bans from the bill because another bill () the House passed last week included the same fee. HB 1285 is still pending Senate approval.

Renner and told reporters on Wednesday that they supported efforts to reduce book challenges.

Additionally, parents of students in kindergarten through 2nd grade must have an opportunity to provide input about the decision to retain their kids at their current grade level if they are not proficient in ELA and math.

The deregulation bills have been largely watered down from when lawmakers started talking about the proposals in November. Previously, senators wanted to allow parents to decide whether their 3rd grade student would be held back if they couldn’t read and to allow schools to provide 100 minutes of recess over a week rather than the existing mandate of 20 minutes every day.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Diane Rado for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on and .

The State Board of Education discussed the implications of several items from the at its meeting earlier this month, including , known as the “Parents’ Bill of Rights.”

SL 2023-106 became law on Aug. 16, after the General Assembly overrode Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of the bill. At the time, state Superintendent Catherine Truitt said school districts needed more time to meet requirements of the new law, asking lawmakers to bump the effective date from Sept. 15 to Jan. 1.

The new budget, passed on Sept. 22, granted that extension for much of the law. The budget also clarified that parents will not need to be notified or provide consent when school personnel act in a medical emergency.

Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter

“From the beginning, I’ve supported the Parents’ Bill of Rights law, and I want it to be implemented successfully and enacted fully,” Truitt previously . “I am very pleased to see that the General Assembly addressed provisions in the conference budget to ensure a smoother process for parents to be fully protected under the Parents’ Bill of Rights.”

The law seeks to “enumerate the rights of parents to direct the upbringing, education, health care, and mental health of their minor children.”

While most Republicans and Democrats agree that the law outlines rights parents already have, Republican bill sponsors said the law safeguards the integral role of parents in their children’s lives. Opponents, including many educators, have said the law will damage the relationship between educators and students, while also threatening the safety of LGBTQ+ students.

The law bans curriculum on gender identity, sexual activity, or sexuality in kindergarten through fourth grade. It also requires schools to notify a parent about their child’s physical and mental health, including any school health care services they use, changes to their well-being, or requests to change a student’s pronouns.

The law also allows parents to review all curriculum and establishes remedies and timelines for parental concerns. Under that provision, the law mandates that school governing bodies adopt procedures for parents to notify principals regarding concerns about curriculum. A process to resolve concerns should take place within seven days of the date of notification by the parent.

After 30 days, “the public school unit shall provide a statement of the reasons for not resolving the concern.” At that point, parents can also request a “parental concerning hearing” with the State Board of Education.

Board leaders about the provision, saying the hearings “will likely be a frustrating exercise in futility for all involved” and a “significant expenditure of resources.”

On Thursday, the Board discussed a regarding such hearings.

Under the policy, parents can only request a hearing with the Board under limited circumstances. One set of circumstances include the failure of a child’s school to adopt and implement policies to notify parents about the following items:

• Health care services at the child’s school and how parents can provide consent for services.
• The procedures available to parents to remedy concerns.
• A copy of student well-being questionnaires or health screening forms for students in K-3, and how parents can consent to the form.
• Changes in services or monitoring related to “their child’s mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being and the school’s ability to provide a safe and supportive learning environment for that child.”
• Changes in the name or pronoun used for a student “in school records or by school personnel.”

Parents can also also seeks hearings with the Board about the existence of the following procedures or practices at their child’s school:

• Procedures that “do not include a requirement that school personnel either encourage a child to discuss issues related to the child’s well-being with his or her parents or facilitate a discussion of the issues with the child’s parents,” or that encourage a child “to withhold information from that child’s parents about his or her mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being.”
• Procedures that prohibit parents from accessing their children’s school education and health records, except in investigations of abuse.
• Procedures that “result in instruction on gender identity, sexual activity, or sexuality” in K-4.

Notably, that list does not include book challenges, which must be handled at the local level.

Parents can request a hearing about the above items after notifying the principal of their child’s school, if the school has not resolved the concerns within 30 days.

Under the new policy, the Board will appoint a hearing officer for each case who is a member of the North Carolina State Bar and has experience in education and administrative law in the last five years. The public school must pay for the costs of that hearing officer, who would then hold a hearing and submit a recommended decision to the Board within 30 days after their appointment.

“At the next regularly scheduled State Board meeting, held more than seven days after receipt of the recommended decision, the State Board shall vote to either approve, reject, or amend the hearing officer’s recommended decision,” the draft policy says.

Graduation requirements

The new budget also requires the State Board of Education to create a three-year graduation track for high school students by Nov. 1. That track will consist of 22 credits, and must receive parental consent.

The budget currently states that “local boards of education shall offer a sequence of courses in accordance” with that minimum requirement. Many schools already allow early graduation pathways for some students, but most schools typically require 28 credits for graduation.

Many education leaders worried the budget’s provision would prevent them from requiring more than 22 credits for any students.

“That of course, caused a lot of outcry from our school districts,” said Sneha Shah-Coltrane, director of advanced learning and gifted education at the Department of Public Instruction (DPI). “As a result, we are very grateful that we are working with the General Assembly on some technical corrections, to be able to move forward with a reasonable, different approach.”

In anticipation of such technical corrections, the Board discussed . That policy will come to the Board for approval next month, pending the corrections.

The proposed amendment, “Authority for Local School Boards to Exceed Minimum Graduation Requirements,” outlines a process for students who wish to graduate after three years to “request that local board waive the additional local requirements.”

The student must complete and sign a waiver from the local board. That waiver must also be signed by the student’s parent or legal guardian, unless the student is 18 years or older, or has been emancipated. An administrator from the student’s high school must also then meet with the student and their parent “to discuss the implications of graduating in three years.”

Students who successfully opt to graduate early — and who also seek a degree, diploma, or certificate at an eligible postsecondary institution — will be eligible for “early graduate scholarships” based on financial need. Read more starting on 

“This is just another step toward recognizing that the nature of school and work is changing before our very eyes,” Truitt said. “I think it is a very small percentage of students for who it is right to stop at 22 (credits) — this may continue to grow as more and more options become available to students — but what I really like is that this policy requires parent buy-in for this happen.”

Teacher pay

Truitt also spoke about the budget’s raises for school employees — which included a 7% raise over two year for most school employees, and a 3.6-10.8% raise for teachers.

Earlier this long session, Truitt and the Board asked lawmakers for at least a 10% raise for employees.

“As a former educator, I’ve been vocal that North Carolina’s teachers deserve a raise, and I’m disappointed that we did not see the double digit pay increase for educators that we hoped for in this Conference budget,” she said in . “Salaries in other professions have kept pace with inflation, however that is not the case with education.”

Truitt highlighted her disappointment with the raises again during her report on Thursday. Board members also spoke about disappointment in the budget’s provisions for teacher raises.

Board Chair Alan Duncan said he hopes lawmakers will readdress teacher pay in the short session.

“I cannot help but express some disappointment that there was not a better response to the request,” he said. “And I’m sorry for the educators that there was not.”

You can view the updated salary schedules for 2023-24 . You can also read about the budget’s supplements outlined for educators at

Truitt said DPI’s requests for the short session will include funding for professional development for middle school teachers, with a focus on improving math proficiency.

Truitt also highlighted the budget’s provision of nearly $13 million into the Advanced Teaching Roles (ATR) initiative — the first directed state funding for the program.

Under that program, adult leadership teachers in participating districts will receive a $10,000 supplement. Classroom excellence teachers will receive a $3,000 supplement.

The Board heard a presentation on the Friday Institute’s The Board opted to send a partial version of the report, due Oct. 15, to the General Assembly, and will submit the full report in November after it is approved with additional information requested by Board members.

Truitt also highlighted the following items from the budget during her report:

Reports on students with disabilities and low-performing schools

The Board heard several important reports on Wednesday regarding student success.

First, the Board discussed a .

Per the report, a federal view found several things that “need assistance” within the state’s Exceptional Children (EC) department. The priority areas identified in the report include:

• Participation and performance on statewide assessments
• Suspension and expulsion
• Preschool outcomes
• Child Find/Early Childhood Transition
• Secondary Transition/Post-School Outcomes

The Board also received from the Council on Educational Services for Exceptional Children, which advises the State Board of Education “on unmet needs of children with special needs and the development and implementation of policies related to the coordination of services for students with disabilities.”

The council made the following recommendations in its 2022-23 report:

• “Hear from the ground.” Invite organizations which provide support to families navigating the education system to speak about best practices and challenges at least once a year.
• Do a survey of other organizations that also serve families with disabilities along with mental health concerns.
• Incorporate “A New Wave of Evidence,” showing that connections between school, family, and community lead to student success.

The Board also discussed its annual report to lawmakers

State law defines low-performing schools as those that receive a school performance grade of a D or F and a school growth score of “met expected growth” or “not met expected growth.” A low-performing school district is defined as a district in which the majority of the schools are low-performing.

Here is some data from that report.

On Thursday, the Board also approved two policies related to low-performing schools.

First, the Board approved a policy allowing the Board “to assign an assistance team to any school identified as low-performing or to any other school that requests an assistance team and that the State Board determines would benefit from an assistance team.”

Second, the Board approved a new policy that allows them to appoint an interim district superintendent when more than half the schools in that district are designated as low-performing and the assistance team assigned to a school “recommends the superintendent has failed to cooperate with the assistance team or has otherwise hindered that school’s ability to improve.”

Finally, the Board also saw a preview of its annual report to the General Assembly The Board will vote on that report next month.

Updates to parental leave policy

The State Board of Education gave final approval to its temporary , as mandated by . That section requires a paid parental leave policy for all state agency, public school, UNC, and community college employees.

Originally, the policy — based on state law — said that employees must have been employed by the public school unit without a break in service “for at least 1,040 hours within the previous 12-month period” to be eligible for paid parental leave.

In other words, employees who moved school districts would not have been eligible for the benefits, even if they had worked in North Carolina public schools for 10 years.

Following pushback, lawmakers made technical corrections to the law. The Board’s new policy will now cover employees who recently switched districts, as long as they have an aggregate 1,040 hours without a break of service at a North Carolina school or state agency.

The policy provides up to eight weeks of paid parental leave after giving birth to a child on or after July 1, 2023, or up to four weeks after any other qualifying event, like adoption or legal guardianship.

The revisions to the rule will be effective on Nov. 7.

Other things to know

• The Board approved a report to the General Assembly on the The goal for 2022–23 was set at 89.5%. The statewide rate, 86.5%, did not meet this year’s target, though 31 individual school districts did.
• The Charter Schools Review Board (CSRB) presented in light of new state laws regarding charter schools in the budget. There are currently 15 applications for 2023.
• The Board also approved a new policy, . That policy is in response to a new state law that allows “an applicant for a charter school, a charter school, or the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (to) appeal to the State Board of Education from a final decision by the Charter Schools Review Board on whether to grant, renew, revoke, or amend a charter.”
• Thursday marked the last Board meeting for Dr. Maria Pitre-Martin, the director of Board operations and policy.
• The Board offered initial approval two additional community colleges to offer the Elementary Education Residency Licensure Certificate Program: Pitt Community College and Robeson Community College. Those colleges join many other community colleges to receive initial authorization for the program

The full State Board of Education meets next Oct. 31 through Nov. 2 at East Carolina University in Greenville for its planning and work session.

This first appeared on and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

was among the first states to adopt such a measure in 2015. , signed into law by the governor in 2018, took effect two years later amid a flurry of conservative-led education initiatives, many aimed at curtailing classroom discussions about the history of racism in America.

While some states allow schools to develop their own assessments around civics, others use the . Several states do not require schools to report their results, and the mandate often carries with it no additional funding. That’s led critics to wonder if the push is largely symbolic — and some civics experts to find the movement wanting.

Donna Phillips, vice president and chief program officer for the California-based , questioned the use of the citizenship test as a means to impart civics lessons. 

“The naturalization test, for someone who is not in education, social studies or civics, is an easy grab,” she said, but it’s incomplete. 

While it might be better than nothing for those states that do not offer civics in other courses, it’s minimal on its own, requiring only rote memorization rather than critical thinking, she said. 

Data shows nearly 109,000 Pennsylvania students were assessed in the subject in 2020-21, the last school year for which data was available, and nearly 92,000 passed.

The state, a in the upcoming midterm elections, has 500 school districts ranging in size from 200 students to more than 140,000. Some reported the results for the entire district in one pass/fail number while others sent individual outcomes for each school. 

In some cases — as seen in Allegheny Valley, Interboro and South Fayette Township school districts — nearly all children passed. In others — including Annville Cleona, Southwest Leadership Academy, and some 9th graders within the School District of Lancaster — half failed. 

Nearly 18,000 students earned a perfect score.

Taking civics to heart in central Pennsylvania 

Todd Cammarata, a social studies teacher at Tyrone Area High School in central Pennsylvania, said all citizens — not just those who go through the naturalization process — should have a basic understanding of government, history, culture and geography. 

“It’s easier to get buy-in from students on the importance of civic education when I ask them, ‘Do you think every natural-born U.S. citizen should know what we expect naturalized citizens to know?’” he said. “Their answer is almost always ‘Yes.”

No test is perfect, Cammarata said, which leads to other important lessons. 

“The only woman specifically mentioned on the (U.S. citizenship) test is Susan B. Anthony and the only civil rights leader or person of color specifically mentioned is Martin Luther King, Jr.,” he said. “So we discuss what they think might be missing from the test or things that are there that are not necessary. This usually leads to a lively discussion of what’s important for citizens to know.”

Less than 10% of Cammarata’s students pass the test on their first try — that initial attempt is a practice test meant to assess their civics knowledge — but nearly all sail through the exam months later, he said.

Some score exceptionally high: Roughly 15 of 45 students last year answered all 100 questions correctly, exempting them from Cammarata’s final exam as per the teacher’s promise. 

Austin Lucas, 15 and a 10th grader, was among the few who passed the test on the first try. 

“It was stuff I learned in school years before,” he said. “I have a pretty good memory.”

Logan Rumberger, 16,  also in the 10th grade, didn’t know enough about the House of Representatives to earn a passing mark on the first go-round but is confident he’ll score higher on the actual test. Like many of Cammarata’s students, he believes all those who live in the United States should have this basic knowledge. 

“Other people have to take it to become U.S. citizens,” he said of the naturalization test. “If we are born here, I feel we should know about our country.” 

Phillips, of the Center for Civic Education, said educators are wise to go deeper than the exam itself. 

“State-level social studies specialists and their district-level counterparts can really do a lot to move beyond the nature of the test,” she said, particularly when results are reported to the state and passage is mandatory for graduation. 

In that case, she said, the topic gains importance and those who work in social studies acquire influence. 

“A lot of times, when assessments are offered only in ELA, math and, in some cases, science, social studies is left behind,” she said. “Getting a seat at the table at the state level is an advantage.” 

Required, but not reported

Arizona, which mandated a civics requirement in 2015, and now requires schools to report the results to the state — and make them .

adopted the civics requirement in 2015 and it went into effect the following year. State officials don’t keep track of test results because it is not a state-administered exam. But a spokesman for the state department of education said Utah’s graduation rate last year was 88.1%, so “it is safe to assume that it (the statewide passage rate) is at least that high.”

law also passed in 2015, but didn’t take effect until the . Since that time, students must correctly answer 65 of 100 civics questions to graduate and may retake the test until they reach that goal. Results are not reported to the state: They are kept at the district level. 

civics requirement began with students in grade 9 in the 2017-18 school year. Since that time, they’ve been required to correctly answer 30 of 50 questions pulled from the country’s naturalization exam to pass the test. Passage, though, is not a graduation requirement and results are not reported to the state. has a similar policy. 

Kentucky’s policy, which requires students to pass a 100-question civics test, took effect July 1, 2018. The exam was

Some state’s requirements have not yet gone into effect. 

July 1, 2023, when students will be required to pass a locally developed civics exam covering the structure, function, and history of the United States government; the rights and responsibilities of citizens, and noteworthy government and civic leaders. Aspiring graduates must also correctly answer 70 percent  of 128 naturalization test questions.

Educators look for their knowledge to extend well beyond high school. 

“I am hopeful that my students retain some of what the citizenship test teaches them, but I am even more hopeful that students take their rights and responsibilities as citizens seriously as they become adults,” Cammarata said.