Sunnyside eighth-graders to take civics test early

The Sunnyside Unified School District students will begin taking the civics test, a new high school graduation requirement from the state, in eighth grade.

“We’re really trying to find an opportunity where this test aligns with what’s being taught,” said NJ Utter, director of college readiness at Sunnyside. “All of the concepts are actually taught by the end of eighth grade based on the state standards for social studies.”

That would allow schools to spend less time preparing for the test and straying from high schoolers’ regular curriculum, she said.

The American Civics Act, signed into law in January this year by Gov. Doug Ducey, requires high school students to score 60 percent or higher in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services test to graduate.

The law allows schools to administer it as early as eighth grade.

The test asks questions about U.S. history and government functions. Some of the questions include “Who was the first president of the United States?” and “Who lived in America before the Europeans arrived?”

The class of 2017 — current high school juniors – would be the first to be subject to the requirement.

Sunnyside’s Governing Board voted Wednesday in support of having students take the state-mandated test earlier, when district officials say concepts covered in the test are fresher in the minds of students.

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That way, if students fail, they could be given help to review concepts they are struggling with and can be retested, Utter said.

In high schools, there will be quarterly testing opportunities, though students cannot choose when they want to test, she said. In middle schools, if students fail, they will not retest until they enter high school.

“We’re fairly confident that with some targeted practice, they will be able to pass,” she said.

The first testing window begins in early November for high school students and late November for middle school students, according to Utter.

Sunnyside will administer the civics test online, using the test format provided by the state education department, she said. It will be administered and regulated in the same way as other high-stakes standardized testing.

The district consulted with social studies teachers from middle and high schools to develop preparation programs, she added.

Unlike other state requirements, the civics test has more flexibility, said Charles Tack, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Education. The department does not want to complicate things for administrators and teachers more than it already has to, he added.

“From our perspective, we know that a lot of that content is covered before high school,” he said. “There really is no reason to restrict when schools can administer this test.”