Legislative Goals 2006-2007

FCSS / FASSS
Position Paper on 2006-07 Legislative Issues

Level One Priorities are those immediately pressing needs that the organization is aggressively seeking to secure legislative support for in the coming session. Level Two Priorities represent longer range goals. These allow FCSS / FASSS to take positions supporting a wide arrange of issues.
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RECOMMENDATION ONE: FCSS should work with other civic-minded organizations to conduct a statewide survey of student civic and historical knowledge at the elementary and secondary levels, the results of which should be released to the public and the Commissioner of Education.

Current Status: No such survey or assessment has ever been done with large numbers of students in Florida. Sample questions should be based upon N.A.E.P. assessment items and other previously known surveys so that some comparison might be made. Consideration should be given to institutionalizing such a survey for the purpose of annually bringing civic literacy to the state’s attention each September. When possible, the data should be disaggregated by region, gender, grade level, and race/ethnicity. Results should be shared with the Florida’s legislators, various media outlets and the Florida Association of Educational Writers.

Priority Level: One


RECOMMENDATION TWO: The state should establish the Florida Commission on Civic Education for the purpose of (1) educating students on the importance of citizen involvement in a representative democracy, and for (2) promoting communication and collaboration among organizations in the state that conduct civic education programs.

Current Status: Although Florida has many taxpayer-supported advisory bodies, including a Holocaust Commission and an African American Task Force, there is no educational advisory group to ensure the success of one of the most primary purposes of public education. Many other states have established such advisory panels to enhance and strengthen the civic mission of our schools. This omission may not be so surprising as Florida’s Constitution itself, when establishing the purposes of a public supported educational system, does not speak to its civic mission.

Priority Level: One


RECOMMENDATION THREE: FCSS should continue to take the appropriate steps to communicate with NCSS and other national organizations as well as individual members of Congress on the urgent need for state comparative data regarding this year’s NAEP Civics and US History assessments.
Current Status: Senator Lamar Alexander has once again filed S860 to provide for a pilot assessment of up to ten states to be compared to the national profile which will be obtained from last January’s History and Civics assessments. The reasons in favor of state by state comparisons and some basic facts about NAEP are described briefly below. There are no current plans to include social studies as part of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) although science will be required according to current language.
Priorit Level: One


RECOMMENDATION FOUR: We recommend inclusion of “social studies” in the state Student Progression Law (F.S. 1008.25).

Current Status:
- Current law requires educators to review a student’s performance in Reading, Writing, Math, and Science when being promoted from one grade level to the next. Moreover, should a student be found to be deficient in his/her performance in of these core subject areas, parents must be notified and an opportunity for remediation of that content needs to be made available to the student.
- To permit the current law to state that students’ performance in social studies need not even be considered for promotion purposes – when reading, writing, math and science must be – is an intolerable and ominous development for the future civic health of our state and nation.

Priority Level: Two


RECOMMENDATION FIVE: The Legislature should require that the Florida Department of Education complete a comprehensive survey on the Status of Social Studies Education in Florida.

Current Status: Due to the lack of data pertaining to student performance in the area of Social Studies and with regard to how districts implement the many legislative mandates under Florida Statute: 1003.42 (Required instruction.), it is imperative that the Florida legislature require the Department of Education to undertake a district analysis of the status of social studies. Two years ago the legislature pass a measure to complete a study on Physical Education throughout the state.

Priority Level: Two


RECOMMENDATION SIX: Florida Statute 1008.22 should be amended so as to add social studies as an area for statewide assessment. This law should go into effect no later than 2009.
Current status: The case for this is well known. We would be open to a strictly electronic assessment format to reduce fiscal impact, a percentage sampling of students in each district as opposed to census testing, and other reasonable compromises.
Priority Level: Two


RECOMMENDATION SEVEN: The length of time for which an ESOL student’s F.C.A.T. score should be used for accountability purposes. should be extended from two to three years.
Current Status: (TABLED by FCSS last year although supported by FASSS ) Research states that it takes six or seven years for a student whose native language is different from English to be proficient in reading and writing in our language. Federal guidelines for No Child Left Behind use a three year period of time before such scores are factored into accountability measurements. Florida’s accountability provisions should not be more punitive than federal standards.
Priority Level: Two


RECOMMENDATION EIGHT: We urge the repeal of the Special Teachers Are Recognized Program.
Current Status: By another statute, Districts must provide differentiated salaries to instructional personal. The S.T.A.R. program was hastily devised and there are not enough reliable or valid measures of student performance to implement it. Through its enactment the legislature has added to the burdens of districts.
Priority Level: Two


Other: