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Wisconsin Lawmaker Wants High Schoolers to Pass Civics Test to Graduate

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How well do you know your U.S. history? What if you had to correctly answer dozens questions about government and the founding fathers in order to move on in life?

That’s what a Wisconsin lawmaker wants high school seniors to do in order to graduate – pass the same civics test new U.S. citizens take. The bill is scheduled for a public hearing in Madison Wednesday.

Rep. James Edming, the bill’s sponsor, says too few people understand how government works.

“He’s not on TV anymore, but Jay Leno used to have on his TV shows, ‘Jaywalking.’ And people didn’t have a clue who was the president or who was the vice president and this is part of our heritage,” Edming says.

Under Edming’s bill, Wisconsin students would have to correctly answer 60 of 100 questions on the U.S. citizenship test.

“And when I looked at it without even studying it, I know I can pass it. All you got to get is 60 out of 100 questions and they’re just common sense, and besides that, it’s multiple choice,” he says.

But to pass the test, most high schoolers would likely need to study for it, and they’re already cramming for lots of tests, according to Jon Bales, executive director of the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators.

“We have some fairly legitimate concerns about the number and the types of assessments we’re providing students. Adding one to the mix just because it sounds like a good idea to a segment I don’t think is going to be constructive right now,” Bales says.

Additionally, Bales says, research indicates that high-stakes tests required for graduation actually hurt students, rather than help them.

“It had negative impacts on graduation. It had negative impacts on student outcomes, it had projected impacts on their economic success later on if they’re not going to finish school well. So it had a lot of counter indicators really and no evidence to suggest that it was going to help us accomplish the things we were trying to do,” Bales says.

Rep. Edming counters that the test should only take 20 minutes and students can take it as many times as they need to pass it.

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