Rocio Villalobos 
Mission- On January 31, Trent Ashby, a State Representative from Lufkin filed House Bill 1244 — a bill that would replace the U.S. history end of course assessment with the civics test administered by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Fifteen U.S. states currently have this law. But unlike the civics test administered during the naturalization exam, the high school test is multiple choice.
Pioneer High School social studies teacher Cristobal Carrizales explains how the material taught for the EOC differs from what is tested in the citizenship exam.
“The U.S. History EOC is going to cover the history of the United States, while a civics course is going to cover the governmental side of everything,” said Carrizales.
Carrizales said he believes there would be an advantage to having the bill passed, and he incorporates civics, as well as history, into his classroom.
“Me and the other government teachers make our students take the test at the beginning of the year to see what they know about the government as opposed to just the history portion,” continued Carrizales. “And then we frame our coursework based on what they know and what they don’t know, and try to show them the importance of that actual test.”
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