[ACENetwork-Instruction] Changes to the Citizenship Test

[Whelan Maureen]

The federal Office of Citizenship is revising the current Citizenship
Test. It would probably be a wise move on our part to understand the
changes and be pro-active in preparing our students to take the test.  

A summary of the intended changes is listed in the email below. When you
get a chance, please review it and send any suggestions on how we can
deal with these changes to this listserv.  By combining all of our
"brainpower" and expertise, we should be able to help our students be
ready for the new test and also help each in preparing preparatory
instruction for the test. 

Let me know what you think! Thanks for all your time and effort, it is
truly appreciated.  
Maureen

Here is the Email I received: 

Greetings!

As many of you may know, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
(USCIS) is currently revising the U.S. history, government and English
tests administered as part of the naturalization process.  

USCIS has placed a renewed emphasis on cultivating awareness and
understanding of American civic values and the commitments associated
with U.S. citizenship. An important part of this objective is ensuring
that the U.S. history, government, and English tests administered to
naturalization applicants are fair, uniform, and meaningful. 

We have contracted with a professional test development company to help
us redesign the tests. We're not planning on making the tests either
more difficult or easier.  We're also not going to allow the new test to
unfairly impact any particular group of applicants. Instead, our focus
is on making the test more meaningful and the process more standardized.
Currently, both the content of the naturalization exam and the process
used to administer the exam can differ from office to office.  We'll
carefully pilot the revised tests before beginning implementation in
2006. Once we finalize the content, our newly created Office of
Citizenship will coordinate the development of educational materials to
help immigrants prepare for the new naturalization test and, more
importantly, ensure they understand the meaning of U.S. citizenship. 

We're planning on implementing a revised test format for the history,
government and reading tests, most likely using multiple-choice items.
However, we are open to your suggestions and feedback.  For the writing
and speaking tests, we will show applicants photographs and ask them to
describe them, some in writing and some orally.  Again, we are open to
exploring other suggested formats.  Finally, we are considering allowing
applicants to take the new test either on paper or on a computer,
depending on their preference. We are still studying these options and
have not yet made any final decisions. 

Through the entire process, we have and will continue to consult with
our stakeholders. We've received feedback from community
representatives, adult educators, ESL instructors, and USCIS officers on
issues ranging from test question format and content, to pilot test
plans and study guide techniques.


As an additional part of our efforts to obtain input and feedback on the
redesign process, we will be presenting information at the TESOL
Convention
in Long Beach, CA, March 31st - April 3, 2004.    We will also be
providing
information at our booth for the duration of the convention, which will
contain additional background on the test, as well as sample test items.
If you will be in attendance, we look forward to seeing you there. 

For more information about the USCIS naturalization test redesign
process, or should you have questions, concerns, or suggestions, please
contact us. We are always willing to share our plans and want to hear
your ideas.

Amy.Baide@dhs.gov
Lynn.L.Thai@dhs.gov
Gerri.Ratliff@dhs.gov

www.uscis.gov