In 2012, Xavier University conducted a survey confirming what many feared: American citizens perform poorly on the U.S. Citizenship Test. If a passing score was only a 70 percent, according to the university, half of all citizens taking the test would still fail.
This year, the Renaissance Charter School at Palms West seventh grade civics students took on the daunting challenge of taking and passing this test.
Remarkably, 124 students were given the U.S. Citizenship Test as a way to measure their knowledge of concepts deemed necessary for citizenship. After instruction, the results were phenomenal — 91.4 percent of seventh graders missed 10 questions or less on this 100 question exam. In addition, 16 students scored a perfect 100 percent.
All students passing this exam were rewarded with unique Citizenship Certificates, and the students with perfect scores additionally received a commemorative presidential dollar coin.
 ABOVE: Students Isabella Cuppari, Jake Longobardi, Dylan Bickram and Olivia Soto.
