As with all the statutes, Chapter 118 for General School Operations is vast and deep and covers topics from reading instruction to human growth and development to school safety patrols to compulsory attendance to teacher contracts to course options. As a new principal, there is so much to know about school operations and the layer of knowledge related to the state statutes is important. As I poured through and skimmed through the very long list, the one topic I found to be most interesting to dig deeper into was 118.33 regarding requirements for high school graduation in relation to Act 55 civics test since my District is working through the implications of the test.
This is a current political issue impacting all Wisconsin graduating seniors and high schools in the state. The Act 55 Wisconsin Civic Graduation Requirement states that “any student graduating from a Wisconsin high school (starting with the class of 2017) takes a civics test comprised of 100 questions that are identical to the 100 questions that may be asked of an individual during the process of applying for U.S. citizenship by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.” (Section 3266R, 118.33(1m)(a)1.) Wisconsin is currently one of nine states to have mandated a civics test and twenty-four other states are currently considering implementation. More specifically, the statute requires students to correctly answer at least 60 of 100 questions identical to the INS citizenship test in order to graduate from a WI public, charter, or private school participating in a parental choice program. IEP teams will determine if the test is appropriate for each individual student with an IEP (Individualized Education Plan). Students who are identified as LEP (Limited English Proficient) may take the test in their language of choice. Each school district can decide what format of the test to use (print or digital) and when to administer the test prior to graduation. Students’ transcripts will need to indicate that they have “passed” the civics test requirement. While this is a mandated requirement, there are no state funds provided to administer this test. Districts are responsible to give the test, score it, and keep records of student scores/passing. The Department of Public Instruction is not involved in the procurement, grading, or gathering of test scores for this test.
The Act 55 Wisconsin Civics Graduation Requirement presents many implications for students and schools. A major implication of this enactment is that it requires students to take yet another test within their K-12 educational career. Given the yearly testing currently mandated in our schools with PALS, Forward, and ACT Aspire, this adds another test for students to endure and potentially impacts their ability to graduate due to the “passing” requirement. For students with IEPs, they will need to take the test, but they do not need to pass the test to graduate. Because there are no state funds provided to administer the tests, schools / districts will need to absorb any cost related to creating, proctoring, scoring, and documenting results within an already tight budget. Because DPI is not involved with the procurement, grading, or collection of the test scores, individual schools / districts will need to create administration and proctoring guidelines, create the format of the test (print or digital), determine methods for scoring and providing feedback for students, and define documentation procedures for student transcripts. Making these decisions and taking action to implement this testing requirement will cost time and money, will create additional tasks and responsibilities for educators and administrators, and will cause a loss in instructional time for preparation and administration of the test.
From a school operations perspective, the lack of involvement of DPI with this mandate provides for a large amount of local control as all schools / districts are able to determine procurement, administration, and scoring guidelines. Students could take the test at home, individually, in small groups, in print, in digital form, or could have the test read to them or not read to them. The possibilities and variations are endless to achieve a passing score as well as to administer and score the test.
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