Carson High seniors post 99.6% participation and 97.4% pass rate on state-mandated civics test

Carson City 'Carson City School District officials told trustees the district achieved a 99.6% participation rate and a 97.4% pass rate on the civics test required for high-school diplomas under state law. Linda Fields, the district's social-studies coordinator, explained that Nevada statute requires all students seeking a diploma to take the civics test, which uses the civics questions from the U.S. naturalization test. "Section 3 of the statute states that all students must take this test in order to be able to be eligible for graduation," Fields said. The district sets the test at a minimum of 50 questions and a passing rate of 60 percent; the score counts for 10 percent of the course summative grade. Fields said the district administered the test through MasteryConnect this year and that jump-start and online students were enrolled so they could take the same form. Two students did not receive diplomas because they did not meet graduation requirements, officials said. The district will submit aggregated results to the Nevada Department of Education by Dec. 31 as required by recent legislative changes. Ending: Trustees praised the near-universal participation and asked staff to aim for continuing improvement in future administrations.