The American Civics Education Initiative requires all Utah students graduating on or after January 1, 2016 to pass a basic civics test, or an alternate assessment, as a condition for receiving a high school diploma or adult education secondary diploma (UCA 53E-4-205).

Requirements of the Civics Test

The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) Administrative Rule R277-700-8 requires a student to pass the basic civics test as a condition of receiving a high school diploma or an adult education secondary diploma, who graduates on or after January 1, 2016.

Students who pass the test in one Local Education Agency (LEA) and transfer to another LEA are not required to retake the test in the new LEA. Students may take either the Standard Test or an Alternate Test, as determined appropriate by the student’s individualized education program (IEP) team (consistent with Board Rule) and documented within the IEP. NOTE: Board Rule permits the use of the alternate for any student within six months of intended graduation who has not yet passed the basic civics test.

The Standard Test

The USBE-created a sample basic civics test, which is a multiple-choice test; a school district can determine the test format which must include 50 of the 100 questions used by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services as part of that agency’s determination that an applicant for U.S. citizenship meets the basic citizenship skills specified in 8 USC §1423. Students must correctly answer a minimum of 35 of the 50 questions to pass the test. Students may take the test at any grade level and as many times as is needed to pass the test.

Parents may ask about “opting” their child out of this assessment. If parent(s) choose to opt their student out of the assessment the student will not graduate with a high school diploma (R277-700-8).

Resources

For more information, refer to American Civics Education Initiative: Frequently Asked Questions on the Utah Education Network’s website.

Questions for the basic civics test and alternate assessment must be taken from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ official list of civics questions and answers for the naturalization test.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offers a variety of study materials for the Civics Test, including the Civics Practice Test.