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Tennessee teachers face new licensure test requirement under proposed bill

Tennessee lawmakers are considering a new bill that could require some Tennessee teachers pass a civics test before getting a state teaching license. (Larry McCormack for Chalkbeat)
Tennessee lawmakers are considering a new bill that could require some Tennessee teachers pass a civics test before getting a state teaching license. (Larry McCormack for Chalkbeat) Tennessee lawmakers are considering a new bill that could require some Tennessee teachers pass a civics test before getting a state teaching license. (Larry McCormack for Chalkbeat)

By Melissa Brown / Chalkbeat Tennessee 2 min read

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters.

Could you pass a 100-question U.S. citizenship test?

Aspiring Tennessee teachers may soon have to do that to earn their state licensure under new legislation currently being considered in the General Assembly.

The Tennessee Civics Education Act would require aspiring Tennessee teachers to score 70% or higher on a 100-question U.S. civics test to earn their practitioner teaching license, adding a new testing prerequisite on top of existing licensure requirements like the Praxis exam.

The bill would require the Tennessee Department of Education to craft the test using 100 questions from the standard U.S. citizenship test, which requires applicants to answer 12 out of 20 questions correctly drawn from a 128-question pool.