Hoover Institution
12/17/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 12/17/2024 06:48
State Civics Requirements In 2024
The authors provide a comprehensive list of state requirements for civics education as of 2024. Most states require coursework or testing for civic knowledge, with many assessments based on the US Citizenship and Immigration Services test required for immigrants to obtain American citizenship.
Key Takeaways
- Only 8 states-Alaska, Delaware, Kansas, Maine, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wyoming-require neither a civics course nor a civics test for students to receive a high school diploma.
- Four states-Idaho, Louisiana, Virginia, and West Virginia-require a full-year civics course and the passing of a standard civics test.
- Sixteen states require a half-year civics course and the passing of a standard civics test.
- Sixteen states and the District of Columbia require a half-year or full-year course but no test requirement.
- Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have no course requirement but require students to take a civics assessment-although Pennsylvania does not require students to pass.
About the Authors
Sophia Craiutu is a high school senior in Bloomington, Indiana. She is the cofounder of an educational organization for K-8 students, Global Learners, and the director of NextGen Advocacy, a local government-sponsored program. She aims to pursue a career in international law while also working to advance US policy.
Jed Ngalande is a research assistant for the Hoover Institution's Working Group on Good American Citizenship. He is a graduate of Stanford University, where he studied biology and economics. He expresses a passion for civics and government as a beat reporter for the Stanford Daily and participation in the Intercollegiate Civil Disagreement Partnership Fellowship.
About the Working Group on Good American Citizenship
Within the Hoover Institution's Center for Revitalizing Americans Institutions (RAI), the Working Group on Good American Citizenship seeks to craft and communicate policies and practices that nurture good citizenship in the constitutional democracy Americans inhabit-policies and practices that support the principles, convictions, character traits, and associations upon which liberty depends. Consisting of high-quality, nonpartisan research, analysis, and communications, our work is anchored to what Alexis de Tocqueville called "reflective patriotism" and seeks to cultivate in Americans young and old an affirmative attachment to the nation that Lincoln termed "the last best hope of earth."