EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - November 2006
In September 2006, the Florida Association of Social Studies Supervisors piloted a student poll to obtain information about students' knowledge and attitudes toward civic and historical understanding within the state of Florida. Despite intense lobbying for almost 30 years to be added to statewide assessment programs, Florida citizens still have no idea how well school districts are fulfilling their civic mission. The results of the draft survey of high school students included responses from 749 high school students. Teachers were to explain to students the need to be honest in light of the total darkness in which the state operates regarding civic knowledge among our youth. Some attitudinal questions were deliberately included because it was thought this might be revealing as opposed to the typical headline getting "Kids Can Identify the Long Dead 3 Stooges Better than Our 3 Branches of Government" material that other national surveys have resorted to. For this reason and to help eliminate 'guessing', the survey also included "I Don't Know" as an option for many of the questions. Moreover, in order to gauge the extent to which students might have been making light of the survey, two open-ended questions were utilized to which students could respond with any comment. These techniques helped to ensure that almost all students took the poll seriously.
The demographics of the Sample are not too far out of line with Florida's demographics at the high school level. Several indicators among the data give the impression that these were above average students. A summary of the results revealed that
• Whereas approximately 45% of the high school respondents said they themselves were knowledgeable and interested in history and politics only about 12% felt their peers were. (This may lead us to assume mostly academically rigorous or 'Honors' classes took the survey.)
• Less than half the students knew Condoleeza Rice was Secretary of State, despite her almost daily being in the news last fall before the national election.
• Only 16% of the students knew the U.S. House has 435 members.
• Only one-fifth knew the term of office for U.S. Senators.
• Only one-fourth could identify 'Roe vs Wade'.
• Less than one-fourth could identify the purpose of the Electoral College.
• Only about one in ten could identify the source of the phrase, "Government of the People, by the People, for the People".
• Almost one half thought Lincoln is best remembered for "promising as a Presidential Candidate to eliminate slavery." ( Less than 14% selected that he had "preserved the union" - the only true statement among those given.)
• Only about one-fourth knew FDR was President during WWII - about the same who thought T.R. was the correct response.
• Almost four fifths thought the philosophy "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need" came from a sacred American document such as the Bill of Rights, the Mayflower Compact or the Declaration of Independence.
• Less than one-fourth could correctly identify the Emancipation Proclamation.
• Only one-fourth knew the correct quarter-century when the Civil War took place.
• Only 17 of 747 (2%) students could name BOTH of Florida's two U.S. Senators. (This was only days before Senator Bill Nelson stood for reelection.)
• Only 9 of 749 (1%) students could name, in any way, two U.S. Supreme Court Justices.
FASSS urges accountability for the civic mission of Florida's Public Schools!
(For more information contact Jack Bovee at boveeja@collier.k12.fl.us )
Monday, November 20, 2006
Thursday, August 3, 2006
U.S. Comptroller General Warns the Nation of Economic Calamity
Dave Eberhart, NewsMax.com Thursday, Aug. 3, 2006
The Comptroller General of the United States warns the nation will go broke within a generation - unless it takes radical steps now to rein in out-of-control federal spending. In an exclusive interview with NewsMax, Comptroller David M. Walker, explained his mission: Save America from the brink of financial disaster. Walker has revealed America's collision course in computer simulations that show balancing the budget in 2040 (under the status quo of spending like there's no tomorrow) could require cutting total federal spending by an incredible 60 percent - or raising federal taxes 200 percent over today's level.
Serving a 15-year appointed term that began when he took his oath of office on Nov. 9, 1998, this no-nonsense certified public accountant is the nation's chief accountability officer and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). Walker has won plaudits from both Republicans and Democrats for his no-nonsense straight talk about the nation's growing long-term fiscal challenge.
In his wide-ranging interview with NewsMax, Walker offered a candid assessment of the problems and risks facing Americans over the next several decades.
Among his key assessments:
· Prescription Drugs:: Walker says that the prescription drug plan is the "poster case for what is wrong with Washington."
He notes that when Congress first took up the matter of Medicare prescription drugs, estimates placed the cost at $300 billion.
But he argues that both Congress and the administration simply downplayed or ignored the true costs of the program. Today, the nation will have to pay out for the program $8 trillion-plus in current dollar terms.
Walker also detailed that when the Medicare actuary of the Center for Medicare/Medicaid Services calculated the true costs of the program, he "was told he could not tell the Congress or else he might lose his job."
"That not only was unethical but it was illegal, and nobody has been held accountable for it," an angry Walker said.
· Defense Budget: Walker argues that Defense Department simply is out of control and that basic rules of accountability don't apply.
He said that although it received a whopping $500 billion in appropriations, the Defense Department "is the only agency in the federal government that cannot adequately account for its assets and its expenditures - and cannot withstand an outside financial statement audit."
Walker grades the agency with a "D" on "economy, efficiency, transparency, and accountability." He added, "And it has not been held accountable."
· The Nation's Debt: Walker says the United States risks losing its pre-eminence around the globe because of its growing status as a debtor nation.
He ominously notes that "last year was the first year since 1933 that Americans spent more money than they took home and, as you probably recall, 1933 was not a good year for the United States."
Because the United States has to rely on foreign central banks to finance its deficits, it places itself in a high-risk situation. "It means that other players hold an increasing percentage of our nation's mortgage; and it means the debt service is going to go overseas rather than domestic; and it means that we will have less leverage on them with regard to economic, foreign policy and national security issues - and they will have more leverage on us."
· Entitlements: The United States must rein in entitlement programs or face economic woes, he argues.
Walker says that today the United States is "about 3 percent short of the GDP between what we are taking in and what we are spending, and it is going to get worse when the [baby] boomers start to retire - primarily because of entitlement programs.
"You can't solve the problem without fundamental reform of the entitlement programs. Medicare is going to require much more dramatic and fundamental reforms than Social Security because the problem is six to seven times greater than Social Security.
"It is going to take entitlement reform; it is going to take spend constraint; and it is going to take some revenue enhancements."
Walker's Mission
Walker's frequent refrain is simply, "The status quo is not an option!" He's been telling his story to Congress, the media, and anyone else who will listen.
His globetrotting has included speaking appearances at Gresham College London, England; the London School of Economics; the Atlanta Rotary Club; the National Press Foundation; and the National Conference of State Legislatures - just to name a few.
Walker likes slide shows – to better facilitate the ominous graphs and charts that highlight his message.
The long-term modeling that is at the heart of his warning is adapted from work done at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the various new estimates that become available from the Congressional Budget Office and from the Social Security and Medicare Trustees.
Walker is not overly impressed with the recently touted spurt of economic growth and its accompanying windfall of unexpected federal revenues.
"Faster economic growth can help, but it cannot solve the problem," the straight-shooting former public trustee for Social Security and Medicare emphasizes.
Here's where Walker typically clicks on one of his attention-grabbing slides on the subject.
The audience digests as the GAO chief reads from the screen:
· Closing the current long-term fiscal gap based on reasonable assumptions would require real average annual economic growth in the double-digit range every year for the next 75 years.
· During the 1990s, the economy grew at an average 3.2 percent per year.
"We cannot simply grow our way out of this problem," he announces somberly.
When playing to a home crowd of working stiffs, Walker follows with another body blow that penetrates the reality world of mom and pop: It's called, benignly enough, "Our Total Fiscal Burden." But when broken down as to show the impact on every man, woman, and child in the country, it can knock the wind from the collective lungs.
Up pops another eye-widening slide:
· Total fiscal exposures: $46.4 trillion.
· Total household net worth: $51.1 trillion.
· Burden/net worth ratio: 91 percent.
Forget the accounting jargon; what's my personal bill for my government's runaway spending?
As if to say "Glad you asked that," there follows the grim tally:
· Per person: $156,000.
· Per full-time worker: $375,000.
· Per household: $411,000.
Gee, that sounds a bit extreme. Can our pocketbooks handle that tab?
Just how extreme is explained by the next slide:
· Median U.S. household income: $44,389.
· Disposable personal income per capita: $30,431.
After learning that we are a wee bit short on the greenbacks, Walker switches back to the macro-picture, revealing yet another disturbing picture:
"The United States may be the only superpower, but compared to most other OECD countries [countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development] on selected key economic, social, and environmental indicators, on average, the U.S. ranks 16 out of 28," announces Walker to an accompanying slide.
Included in those OECD indicators are such down-to-earth items as quality of life, education, and prices.
Walker, the author of "Retirement Security: Understanding and Planning Your Financial Future," is for sure no administration spinner.
He will tell you that he is only following a grand tradition of the non-partisan GAO, which for more than a decade has published the results of its long-term budget simulations in reports and testimonies.
Well, at least some of the states are doing well these days - those increased property values and all . . .
Don't get too wound up on that front, warns Walker. States are reeling under their own fiscal challenges, including unsustainable Medicaid cost increases; unfunded liabilities of state retirement systems; education funding squeezed by competing demands; infrastructure maintenance and expansion needs given unparalleled sprawl and congestion; and - lest we forget - emergency preparedness response and recovery needs.
The bottom line, according to Walker: "We must make tough choices, and the sooner the better."
The chief financial overseer advises that a multipronged approach is needed:
· Revise existing budget processes and financial reporting requirements.
· Restructure existing entitlement programs.
· Re-examine the base of discretionary and other spending.
· Review and revise tax policy and enforcement programs - including tax expenditures.
"Everything must be on the table," says Walker.
While not pleased with the pace of action to date, Walker does see some progress. He happily points out that the White House now "readily acknowledge now that we face a huge long-range structural deficit that has to be addressed."
Meanwhile, beating the drum for fiscal reform is but one facet of the immense GAO workload.
Walker's agency must advise not only Congress, but the heads of executive agencies -- such as Homeland Security, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Defense, and Health and Human Services -- about making government more effective and responsive.
To do the job, Walker heads up some 3,200 employees and manages a budget of $474.5 million.
At the end of fiscal 2005, 85 percent of the 1,752 recommendations the GAO made in fiscal year 2001 had been implemented, notes the agency. But is the all-important keeper of the federal purse strings, the Congress, reacting to Walker's big-picture warnings of fiscal crisis ahead?
For the answer to that, see the NewsMax interview with U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker.
For more on David Walker see this 60 Minutes segment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS2fI2p9iVs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-16u9x3tfE - Glen Beck's interview with former Comptroller General David Walker
The Comptroller General of the United States warns the nation will go broke within a generation - unless it takes radical steps now to rein in out-of-control federal spending. In an exclusive interview with NewsMax, Comptroller David M. Walker, explained his mission: Save America from the brink of financial disaster. Walker has revealed America's collision course in computer simulations that show balancing the budget in 2040 (under the status quo of spending like there's no tomorrow) could require cutting total federal spending by an incredible 60 percent - or raising federal taxes 200 percent over today's level.
Serving a 15-year appointed term that began when he took his oath of office on Nov. 9, 1998, this no-nonsense certified public accountant is the nation's chief accountability officer and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). Walker has won plaudits from both Republicans and Democrats for his no-nonsense straight talk about the nation's growing long-term fiscal challenge.
In his wide-ranging interview with NewsMax, Walker offered a candid assessment of the problems and risks facing Americans over the next several decades.
Among his key assessments:
· Prescription Drugs:: Walker says that the prescription drug plan is the "poster case for what is wrong with Washington."
He notes that when Congress first took up the matter of Medicare prescription drugs, estimates placed the cost at $300 billion.
But he argues that both Congress and the administration simply downplayed or ignored the true costs of the program. Today, the nation will have to pay out for the program $8 trillion-plus in current dollar terms.
Walker also detailed that when the Medicare actuary of the Center for Medicare/Medicaid Services calculated the true costs of the program, he "was told he could not tell the Congress or else he might lose his job."
"That not only was unethical but it was illegal, and nobody has been held accountable for it," an angry Walker said.
· Defense Budget: Walker argues that Defense Department simply is out of control and that basic rules of accountability don't apply.
He said that although it received a whopping $500 billion in appropriations, the Defense Department "is the only agency in the federal government that cannot adequately account for its assets and its expenditures - and cannot withstand an outside financial statement audit."
Walker grades the agency with a "D" on "economy, efficiency, transparency, and accountability." He added, "And it has not been held accountable."
· The Nation's Debt: Walker says the United States risks losing its pre-eminence around the globe because of its growing status as a debtor nation.
He ominously notes that "last year was the first year since 1933 that Americans spent more money than they took home and, as you probably recall, 1933 was not a good year for the United States."
Because the United States has to rely on foreign central banks to finance its deficits, it places itself in a high-risk situation. "It means that other players hold an increasing percentage of our nation's mortgage; and it means the debt service is going to go overseas rather than domestic; and it means that we will have less leverage on them with regard to economic, foreign policy and national security issues - and they will have more leverage on us."
· Entitlements: The United States must rein in entitlement programs or face economic woes, he argues.
Walker says that today the United States is "about 3 percent short of the GDP between what we are taking in and what we are spending, and it is going to get worse when the [baby] boomers start to retire - primarily because of entitlement programs.
"You can't solve the problem without fundamental reform of the entitlement programs. Medicare is going to require much more dramatic and fundamental reforms than Social Security because the problem is six to seven times greater than Social Security.
"It is going to take entitlement reform; it is going to take spend constraint; and it is going to take some revenue enhancements."
Walker's Mission
Walker's frequent refrain is simply, "The status quo is not an option!" He's been telling his story to Congress, the media, and anyone else who will listen.
His globetrotting has included speaking appearances at Gresham College London, England; the London School of Economics; the Atlanta Rotary Club; the National Press Foundation; and the National Conference of State Legislatures - just to name a few.
Walker likes slide shows – to better facilitate the ominous graphs and charts that highlight his message.
The long-term modeling that is at the heart of his warning is adapted from work done at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the various new estimates that become available from the Congressional Budget Office and from the Social Security and Medicare Trustees.
Walker is not overly impressed with the recently touted spurt of economic growth and its accompanying windfall of unexpected federal revenues.
"Faster economic growth can help, but it cannot solve the problem," the straight-shooting former public trustee for Social Security and Medicare emphasizes.
Here's where Walker typically clicks on one of his attention-grabbing slides on the subject.
The audience digests as the GAO chief reads from the screen:
· Closing the current long-term fiscal gap based on reasonable assumptions would require real average annual economic growth in the double-digit range every year for the next 75 years.
· During the 1990s, the economy grew at an average 3.2 percent per year.
"We cannot simply grow our way out of this problem," he announces somberly.
When playing to a home crowd of working stiffs, Walker follows with another body blow that penetrates the reality world of mom and pop: It's called, benignly enough, "Our Total Fiscal Burden." But when broken down as to show the impact on every man, woman, and child in the country, it can knock the wind from the collective lungs.
Up pops another eye-widening slide:
· Total fiscal exposures: $46.4 trillion.
· Total household net worth: $51.1 trillion.
· Burden/net worth ratio: 91 percent.
Forget the accounting jargon; what's my personal bill for my government's runaway spending?
As if to say "Glad you asked that," there follows the grim tally:
· Per person: $156,000.
· Per full-time worker: $375,000.
· Per household: $411,000.
Gee, that sounds a bit extreme. Can our pocketbooks handle that tab?
Just how extreme is explained by the next slide:
· Median U.S. household income: $44,389.
· Disposable personal income per capita: $30,431.
After learning that we are a wee bit short on the greenbacks, Walker switches back to the macro-picture, revealing yet another disturbing picture:
"The United States may be the only superpower, but compared to most other OECD countries [countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development] on selected key economic, social, and environmental indicators, on average, the U.S. ranks 16 out of 28," announces Walker to an accompanying slide.
Included in those OECD indicators are such down-to-earth items as quality of life, education, and prices.
Walker, the author of "Retirement Security: Understanding and Planning Your Financial Future," is for sure no administration spinner.
He will tell you that he is only following a grand tradition of the non-partisan GAO, which for more than a decade has published the results of its long-term budget simulations in reports and testimonies.
Well, at least some of the states are doing well these days - those increased property values and all . . .
Don't get too wound up on that front, warns Walker. States are reeling under their own fiscal challenges, including unsustainable Medicaid cost increases; unfunded liabilities of state retirement systems; education funding squeezed by competing demands; infrastructure maintenance and expansion needs given unparalleled sprawl and congestion; and - lest we forget - emergency preparedness response and recovery needs.
The bottom line, according to Walker: "We must make tough choices, and the sooner the better."
The chief financial overseer advises that a multipronged approach is needed:
· Revise existing budget processes and financial reporting requirements.
· Restructure existing entitlement programs.
· Re-examine the base of discretionary and other spending.
· Review and revise tax policy and enforcement programs - including tax expenditures.
"Everything must be on the table," says Walker.
While not pleased with the pace of action to date, Walker does see some progress. He happily points out that the White House now "readily acknowledge now that we face a huge long-range structural deficit that has to be addressed."
Meanwhile, beating the drum for fiscal reform is but one facet of the immense GAO workload.
Walker's agency must advise not only Congress, but the heads of executive agencies -- such as Homeland Security, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Defense, and Health and Human Services -- about making government more effective and responsive.
To do the job, Walker heads up some 3,200 employees and manages a budget of $474.5 million.
At the end of fiscal 2005, 85 percent of the 1,752 recommendations the GAO made in fiscal year 2001 had been implemented, notes the agency. But is the all-important keeper of the federal purse strings, the Congress, reacting to Walker's big-picture warnings of fiscal crisis ahead?
For the answer to that, see the NewsMax interview with U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker.
For more on David Walker see this 60 Minutes segment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS2fI2p9iVs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-16u9x3tfE - Glen Beck's interview with former Comptroller General David Walker
Saturday, June 3, 2006
Florida's World History Standards Rated "F" by Fordham
For many years Florida's Social Studies teachers lobbied Tallahassee to revise our state's curriculum for this vital subject. After several damaging reports such as the one below, this finally happened in 2007-2008. The process was flawed once again with changing leadership in D.O.E., unrealistic deadlines and needlessly hurried timelines. After refusing to allow more time for the editing process due to the need to meet the proposed deadline for the Course Descriptions for these subjects, the DOE is at this writing more than five months behind schedule on the project. Whether the new curriculum will fare any better than the old when reviewed by professional educational associations remains to be seen.
The State of State
World History Standards - 2006
by Walter Russell Mead
the Thomas B. Fordham Institute
For the full report, go to: http://www.edexcellence.net/doc/State%20of%20State%20World%20History%20Standards%202006.pdf
Florida's World History Standards
Scoring Breakdown
Curriculum ………………….. 18
Instructional ………………... 13
Total ………………………..…. 31
GRADE ……………...........….. F
The Sunshine State standards claim to “identify what students should know and be able to do [sic] for the 21st century.” That vague goal, unfortunately, is largely unrealized when it comes to world history. The state addresses the entirety of world history in 21 bullet points on a single page. It should come as no surprise that it is impossible to cover world history from the “beginning of time” to “Western and Eastern civilizations since the Renaissance” in that brief write-up.
The list includes a number of important cultures, events, and themes, but nothing is addressed with any depth or sincerity. Atop this fundamental failure, there is no attempt to supply any grade specificity in the high school years. Florida’s approach is so superficial that it is, for all intents and purposes, worthless.
There’s nothing glowing in the Sunshine State’s standards, and little worth redeeming. At the very least, the state should supply some actual content to the standards themselves and specify at the high school level what material should be learned in which grades. But the best course of action would most likely be to dispense with what the state has and adopt another state’s standards—Floridians could hardly do worse.
The State of State
World History Standards - 2006
by Walter Russell Mead
the Thomas B. Fordham Institute
For the full report, go to: http://www.edexcellence.net/doc/State%20of%20State%20World%20History%20Standards%202006.pdf
Florida's World History Standards
Scoring Breakdown
Curriculum ………………….. 18
Instructional ………………... 13
Total ………………………..…. 31
GRADE ……………...........….. F
The Sunshine State standards claim to “identify what students should know and be able to do [sic] for the 21st century.” That vague goal, unfortunately, is largely unrealized when it comes to world history. The state addresses the entirety of world history in 21 bullet points on a single page. It should come as no surprise that it is impossible to cover world history from the “beginning of time” to “Western and Eastern civilizations since the Renaissance” in that brief write-up.
The list includes a number of important cultures, events, and themes, but nothing is addressed with any depth or sincerity. Atop this fundamental failure, there is no attempt to supply any grade specificity in the high school years. Florida’s approach is so superficial that it is, for all intents and purposes, worthless.
There’s nothing glowing in the Sunshine State’s standards, and little worth redeeming. At the very least, the state should supply some actual content to the standards themselves and specify at the high school level what material should be learned in which grades. But the best course of action would most likely be to dispense with what the state has and adopt another state’s standards—Floridians could hardly do worse.
State of Florida's Social Studies Program - 2006
The following exchange of emails concerned a request from D.O.E. leadership to then Social Studies Specialist Levon Terrell on the status of Florida's Social Studies Program. A response from Jack Bovee explains then existing conditions in Florida at the time.
_______________________________________________
June 8, 2006
Jack,
Hope you are having a great summer and getting a well deserved rest. I need your input on a project I have been asked to complete.
I am preparing a report on the state of social studies in the state of Florida. I could use your assistance in preparing this document. Any documentation / stats you have on social studies education in Florida and comparing Florida with other states would be useful.
Thanks for any assistance you may be able to provide.
Levon Terrell
Social Studies Curriculum Specialist
Florida Department of Education
Bureau of School Improvement
850-245-0760 Direct
850-245-0820 Fax
___________________________________________
Levon —
This is quite 'the assignment'. I urge that you make the most of it. I would paint a pretty dark picture using only cold, hard facts. I would avoid all editorializing and individualized commentary, of course.
I'd start back in 1974 with an historical approach, maybe even before that. In 1974, the ONLY state-wide assessment was that which was required under the Free Enterprise and Economics Act of that year. It lasted for a few years, perhaps a decade. Earlier though, Florida's two flagship universities required students to demonstrate some sort of proficiency in American History as part of their college entrance criteria. ( I'm not sure if the data was used only as part of the entrance selection criteria overall or if, as a result of poor performance, they were required to take survey courses to remediate them. Regardless, we knew more in the 1950s than we do now and I'd make that the point of your 'status report'. Basically, Florida's role in this is similar to that of Col. Kink in Hogan's Heroes, "I know NOTHING!") As evidence of that old college requirement, look at first two files below from around the 1950s and 60s.
Then, there's a letter in 1986 from Warren Tracey (file #3) asking for our discipline to be included in the statewide testing program after the state added us to the then existing minimum proficiency standards. (FCAT caused this to never occur, of course, and eliminated all such plans to assess social studies right after that.)
You could mention the 1996 James Madison Institute report titled, "What Florida's University Students Don't Know About History and Government" and point out that this is the ONLY data we have on the subject. It represents data from our best COLLEGES - UF and FSU. We have absolutely NO IDEA, of course, how well the state fulfills its K-12 civic education mission. That's not surprising, of course, due to something else you could point out. I'd urge that you point out to them that neither in the preamble of the Florida state Constitution nor in the section which establishes a public school system is there a clearly delineated "civic mission" to our public schools. (And this obviously doesn't seem important from the actions of the state in the last few years!) Go to Online Sunshine for more, but a quick reference to this is below.
Article IX of the Florida Constitution -- The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida. It is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders. Adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education and for the establishment, maintenance, and operation of institutions of higher learning and other public education programs that the needs of the people may require.
You could move on to attempts by Florida social studies professional groups to seek DOE support to rectify the crisis and mention these efforts met with mixed results. You could mention former Chancelor Warford's support for us to be added to the State's Pupil Progression Plan while Dr. Cornelia Orr stated the exact opposite in her written letter to the President of the Florida League of Women Voters. (I have the copies of both letters if you want them.)
You could move on to the legislature and mention that Florida has for years supported with state appropriations a Holocaust Education Commission and an African American History Task Force, yet we have never had a commission on Civic Literacy in the state, something which other states have found useful, nor have we any idea on how well the state fulfills it's 'non-mentioned' Constitutional civic mission in the public schools.
You could discuss how the state legislature prefers to tinker with the "required instruction statute" -- language which is basically impossible to assess. You could point out that the state collects more data from school districts on the drinking and drug habits of school children than it does about their knowledge of the Constitution, their understanding of our nation's past, our economic system or the world in which they live. (See file 6)
You could mention some of the particulars of the much more recent never-ending saga of our attempt to add 'social studies' to the state's pupil progression law (See file #4 titled "An Example of How an Eminently Worthy Measure Repeatedly Fails to Become Law") If you need any documentation of all the 'facts' contained therein, don't hesitate to ask.)
You might point out that national pundits like Phyllis Schlafly and Congressional leaders such as former Secretary of Education and now TN Senator Lamar Alexander and Florida Congressman Jim Davis (file #7) have blasted Florida Jeb Bush and the state legislature for once eliminating American History and American Government as graduation requirements for all Florida students a few years ago. You'll recall that Tampa Congressman Davis, who's now running for Jeb's office, went so far as to seek to withhold needed federal funds from our own state for this anti-civic education measure.
You could wrap up by discussing the lack of DISTRICT accountability to determine how well students master the sunshine state standards. Your survey from some months ago might shed light on how rapidly districts have moved in to fill this void. (That would be worth a few chuckles.)
You might include mention that a renown educational think tank, the Fordham Institute, has just recently called Florida's teaching of World History and in particular Latin American History not just bad, but "worthless". (One has to wonder about the deliberate choice of that word, eh? Does it seem as if someone has an axe to grind perhaps?)
In short, Levon, I'd make the most of this opportunity. Good luck.
Ps. Did you not get the 'mini-CD Rom' which I gave out at the last FCSS meeting as part of the legislative report? It contained all these files and many, many more. Finally, some of the statements from noted national leaders in the last file, for example, might be used to lace your report with the 'wisdom' of national political and educational leaders.
Jack
_______________________________________________
June 8, 2006
Jack,
Hope you are having a great summer and getting a well deserved rest. I need your input on a project I have been asked to complete.
I am preparing a report on the state of social studies in the state of Florida. I could use your assistance in preparing this document. Any documentation / stats you have on social studies education in Florida and comparing Florida with other states would be useful.
Thanks for any assistance you may be able to provide.
Levon Terrell
Social Studies Curriculum Specialist
Florida Department of Education
Bureau of School Improvement
850-245-0760 Direct
850-245-0820 Fax
___________________________________________
Levon —
This is quite 'the assignment'. I urge that you make the most of it. I would paint a pretty dark picture using only cold, hard facts. I would avoid all editorializing and individualized commentary, of course.
I'd start back in 1974 with an historical approach, maybe even before that. In 1974, the ONLY state-wide assessment was that which was required under the Free Enterprise and Economics Act of that year. It lasted for a few years, perhaps a decade. Earlier though, Florida's two flagship universities required students to demonstrate some sort of proficiency in American History as part of their college entrance criteria. ( I'm not sure if the data was used only as part of the entrance selection criteria overall or if, as a result of poor performance, they were required to take survey courses to remediate them. Regardless, we knew more in the 1950s than we do now and I'd make that the point of your 'status report'. Basically, Florida's role in this is similar to that of Col. Kink in Hogan's Heroes, "I know NOTHING!") As evidence of that old college requirement, look at first two files below from around the 1950s and 60s.
Then, there's a letter in 1986 from Warren Tracey (file #3) asking for our discipline to be included in the statewide testing program after the state added us to the then existing minimum proficiency standards. (FCAT caused this to never occur, of course, and eliminated all such plans to assess social studies right after that.)
You could mention the 1996 James Madison Institute report titled, "What Florida's University Students Don't Know About History and Government" and point out that this is the ONLY data we have on the subject. It represents data from our best COLLEGES - UF and FSU. We have absolutely NO IDEA, of course, how well the state fulfills its K-12 civic education mission. That's not surprising, of course, due to something else you could point out. I'd urge that you point out to them that neither in the preamble of the Florida state Constitution nor in the section which establishes a public school system is there a clearly delineated "civic mission" to our public schools. (And this obviously doesn't seem important from the actions of the state in the last few years!) Go to Online Sunshine for more, but a quick reference to this is below.
Article IX of the Florida Constitution -- The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida. It is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders. Adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education and for the establishment, maintenance, and operation of institutions of higher learning and other public education programs that the needs of the people may require.
You could move on to attempts by Florida social studies professional groups to seek DOE support to rectify the crisis and mention these efforts met with mixed results. You could mention former Chancelor Warford's support for us to be added to the State's Pupil Progression Plan while Dr. Cornelia Orr stated the exact opposite in her written letter to the President of the Florida League of Women Voters. (I have the copies of both letters if you want them.)
You could move on to the legislature and mention that Florida has for years supported with state appropriations a Holocaust Education Commission and an African American History Task Force, yet we have never had a commission on Civic Literacy in the state, something which other states have found useful, nor have we any idea on how well the state fulfills it's 'non-mentioned' Constitutional civic mission in the public schools.
You could discuss how the state legislature prefers to tinker with the "required instruction statute" -- language which is basically impossible to assess. You could point out that the state collects more data from school districts on the drinking and drug habits of school children than it does about their knowledge of the Constitution, their understanding of our nation's past, our economic system or the world in which they live. (See file 6)
You could mention some of the particulars of the much more recent never-ending saga of our attempt to add 'social studies' to the state's pupil progression law (See file #4 titled "An Example of How an Eminently Worthy Measure Repeatedly Fails to Become Law") If you need any documentation of all the 'facts' contained therein, don't hesitate to ask.)
You might point out that national pundits like Phyllis Schlafly and Congressional leaders such as former Secretary of Education and now TN Senator Lamar Alexander and Florida Congressman Jim Davis (file #7) have blasted Florida Jeb Bush and the state legislature for once eliminating American History and American Government as graduation requirements for all Florida students a few years ago. You'll recall that Tampa Congressman Davis, who's now running for Jeb's office, went so far as to seek to withhold needed federal funds from our own state for this anti-civic education measure.
You could wrap up by discussing the lack of DISTRICT accountability to determine how well students master the sunshine state standards. Your survey from some months ago might shed light on how rapidly districts have moved in to fill this void. (That would be worth a few chuckles.)
You might include mention that a renown educational think tank, the Fordham Institute, has just recently called Florida's teaching of World History and in particular Latin American History not just bad, but "worthless". (One has to wonder about the deliberate choice of that word, eh? Does it seem as if someone has an axe to grind perhaps?)
In short, Levon, I'd make the most of this opportunity. Good luck.
Ps. Did you not get the 'mini-CD Rom' which I gave out at the last FCSS meeting as part of the legislative report? It contained all these files and many, many more. Finally, some of the statements from noted national leaders in the last file, for example, might be used to lace your report with the 'wisdom' of national political and educational leaders.
Jack
Wednesday, May 3, 2006
FCSS Members Support Testing!
FCSS members at the 2001 State Conference in Tampa were asked whether they supported testing in our area. Overwhelmingly the survey results showed that they did. A copy of the survey, conducted by the FCSS Legislative Committee is shown below.
NCHE Review of Florida's History Standards - 2006
1
Review of the Florida History Standards and Grade Level Expectations
John Pyne
“The Sunshine State Standards,” according to the Introduction: Development of Grade Level Expectations,
“are the centerpiece of a reform effort in Florida to align curriculum, instruction and
assessment. They identify what students should know and be able to do for the 21st century and
are thus both content standards and performance standards.” The Florida Social Studies Standards
are divided into four content area strands: “Time, Continuity, and Change” includes the world,
United States, and Florida history standards; “People, Places, and Environments” list the geography
standards; “Government and the Citizen” includes the Civics and Government Standards,
while the economic standards are listed under the heading “Economics,” but sometimes included
under the heading “Production, Distribution, Consumption” as in the Grade Level Expectations
for individual grades K-8.
The six history standards are listed under the “Time, Continuity, and Change” strand and read as
follows:
Standard 1: The student understands historical chronology and the historical perspective.
Standard 2: The student understands the world from its beginnings to the time of the
Renaissance.
Standard 3: The student understands Western and Eastern civilization since the Renaissance.
Standard 4: The student understands U.S. history to 1880.
Standard 5: The student understands U.S. history from 1880 to the present day.
Standard 6: The student understands the history of Florida and its people.
With the exception of Standard 1 which deals with historical chronology and historical perspective
the remaining history standards refer to the general historical periods covered at particular
grade levels and are not really standards at all. The history standards are so vague and open-ended
as to provide little assistance to teachers, students, and parents about what precisely should be
learned or how much time ought to be devoted to specific topics, periods, and events. Standard 6
applies only to grades 4 and 8 and does not appear in the grades Pre-K-12 or grades 9-12 listings.
Under each of the standards are a listing of Benchmarks separated into four grade clusters comprising
Pre-K-2, grades 3-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12. The benchmarks included under each of
the standards are equally vague and unpromising. For example, under Standard 2, Benchmark 2
for grades Pre-K-2, we find “understands the differences in the methods of travel from various
times in human history and the advantages and disadvantages of each.” Under Standard 5 (dealing
with U.S. history from 1880 to the present), Benchmark 1 states “knows significant individuals
in United States history since 1880.” For the Grades 3-5 cluster, under Standard 3 (Western
and Eastern civilization since the Renaissance), Benchmark 1 declares “knows significant people
and their contributions in the field of communication and technology.” Under the same standard,
Benchmark 3 states “understands the types of laws and government systems that have developed
since the Renaissance.” For grades 6-8, under Standard 4 (United States history to 1880), Benchmark
3 declares: ‘understands the impact of significant people and ideas on the development of
values and traditions in the United States prior to 1880.” Under Standard 6, Benchmark 3 asks
students to “know how the environment of Florida has been modified by the values, traditions,
and actions of various groups who have inhabited the state.” And for grades 9-12 under Standard
5 (United States history since 1880), Benchmark 3 states: “understands significant events leading
up to the United States involvement in World War I and the political, social, and economic results
of that conflict in Europe and the United States.” Presumably, the political, social, and economic
results on other parts of the world, including Asia, the Middle East, and Africa go unstudied.
2
Benchmarks such as these are devoid of meaning and impossible to assess and evaluate. Nor do
they outline important historical content to be studied and learned by students in clear and precise
language that is comprehensible to students and teachers.
There is little correlation or coordination of the four content area strands and accompanying
benchmarks. For example, there are a total of 44 Civics and Government Benchmarks in the four
grade clusters, yet only one refers to history (in the grades 6-8 cluster under Standard 2, Benchmark
1). Moreover, the standards and benchmarks are so amorphous as to provide little direction
or guidance to teachers, students, and parents about precisely what is to be taught and expected to
be learned. Presently, Florida does not test the social studies standards and the accompanying
Grade Level Expectations are voluntary rather than mandated. There is little chance that students’
knowledge and skills in the four content strands will be assessed or evaluated in comparison with
other students and schools across the state. Moreover, we know from past experience that what is
tested is taught and schools and teachers will naturally focus on areas such as reading. Language
Arts, and math which are presently tested.
In addition to the Standards and Benchmarks, the Florida Social Studies Framework includes
Grade Level Expectations for each grade K-8. They are listed under each benchmark and are designed
to provide greater specificity as to what students need to know in order to meet the
benchmark. According to the General Guidelines heading under the Introduction: Development
of Grade Level Expectations [p. iii] the following goals are listed: The Grade Level Expectations
statements will (1) be based on current, accepted, and essential academic knowledge; (3) require
academic rigor of all students; (6) be understandable by all education stakeholders; (7) provide
the basis for further local curriculum development; and, (8) provide the basis for state, district,
school, teacher, and student accountability. According to the Specific Guidelines heading [p. iii],
the Grade Level Expectations will (1) “be new or more specific statements when appropriate, of
what students need to know and be able to do at each grade level to achieve the grade-cluster
benchmark and ultimately the exit standard. . . ." Understands and knows are the primary operative
terms in both the benchmarks and grade level expectations because they are “higher order
thinking terms.” [Introduction: Development of Grade Level Expectations, p. v] A review of the
benchmarks and grade level expectations for the various grade clusters as well as grades K-8
clearly demonstrate that the benchmarks and expectations have not met the goals established in
the General and Specific Guidelines.
The Pre-K to Grade 5 benchmarks and grade level expectations follow the “Expanding Environments”
approach and a decidedly social studies orientation emphasizing a “near to far” curricula
emphasis. The Grades 3-5 cluster is especially problematic because of the wide-ranging benchmarks
and expectations for students. In those three grades the students study world history (ancient
world to present) in grade 3, state history in grade 4, and United States history (Exploration
to Present) in grade 5. There is little continuity in the grades 3-5 and 6-8 clusters, since students
study world history in grade 3, state history in grade 4, U.S. history in grade 5, eastern civilization
in grade 6, western civilization in grade 7 and U.S. history and state history again in grade 8.
Many of the benchmarks listed under the various standards do not apply at specific grade levels
because the students are not studying that particular time period or region. For example, Standards
2 and 3 and their included benchmarks pertain only to world history and therefore are not
applicable or studied in grades 4, 5, or 8. Standards 4 and 5 and their benchmarks pertain to
United States history and are not applicable to students at the grades 3, 4, 6, and 7 years. Standard
6 relates to state history that is covered in grades 4 and 8, but not in the other grades.
Sometimes, at a particular grade level, the expectation is the same as the benchmark. For example,
in the grades 3-5 cluster, under Standard 1, Benchmark 1 reads: “The student understands
3
how individuals, ideas, decisions, and events can influence history.” The Grade Level Expectation
for grade 3 students states that the student “understands ways selected individuals, ideas, and
decisions influenced historical events (for example, in ancient times).” The Grade Level Expectation
for Grade 5 states that the student “extends and refines understanding of the effects of individuals,
ideas, and decisions on historical events (for example, in the United States).” Under
Standard 3, Benchmark 3 reads: “The student understands the types of laws and government systems
that have developed since the Renaissance (e.g., the development of democracy, the rise of
totalitarian governments and dictatorships, communism and absolutism).” The Grade Level Expectation
for Grade 3 students states the student “understands types of laws and government systems
that have developed since the Renaissance (for example, the development of democracy, the
rise of totalitarian governments and dictatorships, communism and absolutism).” The examples,
themselves, appear almost randomly selected and are optional—not necessarily to be studied. At
each grade level repeated examples of the pattern can be cited. Thus, instead of the expectation
statements providing more specificity to teachers and students as to what is to be learned, they
often merely repeat the vacuous and ambiguous language of the benchmark. In addition, repeated
examples can be found throughout the documents where the standard and benchmark do not apply
to a particular grade. Often a benchmark is covered in one grade in a particular cluster alone.
Additionally, although world, state, and national history are included in the three grade clusters
(Pre-K-2, 3-5, and 6-8), historical themes and topics, as presented in the benchmarks and grade
level expectations are oriented toward social studies and the expanding environments approach.
Thus, students study the family, communities, transportation and communication, technological
changes over time, art and architecture, and changes in work and leisure. Seldom do they address
traditional historical topics. At the grades 3-5 level, for example, under Standard 2 there are 7
benchmarks, one dealing with “significant scientific and technological achievements,” a second
with “developments in transportation and communication in various societies,” a third focusing
on “various aspects of family life, structures and roles in different cultures,” a fourth on “the
emergence of different laws and systems of government,” a fifth on “significant achievements in
the humanities,” a sixth on “how trade led to exploration in other regions of the world,” and the
seventh on “how developments in the Middle Ages contributed to modern life.” Under Standard 3
in the grades 9-12 cluster, there are 10 benchmarks, but only one deals specifically with history
(#9 “analyzes major historical events of the first half of the 20th century.”)
Students in Grade 6 study Eastern Civilization, while grade 7 students study Western Civilization.
Grade 8 students study United States history from beginnings to the present and state history. The
grades 6-7 social studies program is centered on a world cultures orientation rather than a world
history focus. Despite the attempt under Standard 1 to focus on chronology and historical perspective,
the world cultures approach rarely provides students with a historical context or an understanding
and knowledge of how events in one part of the world affect people and conditions in
other parts of the world. Rather, students tend to participate in a kind of “travelogue” through particular
regions with little context or perspective.
Although the history benchmarks and expectations are the most numerous in the Social Studies
Standards’ document (see chart below), many of them are general social studies statements providing
little real assistance for teachers and students in terms of significant historical content to be
learned. Nor are many of them easily assessed or evaluated to determine what students know and
understand. For example, a grade 7 student “extends and refines knowledge of ways major historical
developments have influenced selected groups over time (for example, the components
essential for the development of civilization, such as division of labor, technology, government,
writing, calendar in the Western hemisphere, the spread of humanism during the Renaissance).”
The same student “extends and refines understanding of ways technological factors have influ4
enced selected groups over time (for example, transportation in the Western hemisphere.)” A
grade 6 student “knows significant aspects of the lives and accomplishments of selected men and
women in the historical period of ancient civilizations to the present day (for example, Confucius,
Buddha to Gandhi [sic], Mao Zedong, Mother Theresa.)” The same student “understands selected
aspects of political, economic, and social institutions in selected cultures in Eastern civilizations
(for example, governments, social traditions and customs, economic systems, religious institutions).”
A fifth grade student “understands selected aspects of everyday life in Colonial America
(for example, impact of religions, types of work, use of land, leisure activities, relations with Native
Americans, slavery).” An abundance of similar examples can be cited at each grade level.
How can students be assessed or evaluated on their knowledge and understanding of such vacuous statements?
The following chart provides a breakdown of the number of expectations in each of the four content
area strands.
Grade History Geography Civics/Govt. Economics Total
KG 19 7 6 4 36
1 19 11 10 6 46
2 19 10 11 10 50
3 18 7 3 5 33
4 18 2 8 5 33
5 28 6 13 10 57
6 15 17 1 1 34
7 14 15 1 2 32
8 16 4 12 5 37
Totals 166 79 65 48 358
The amorphous and fragmented nature of the standards, benchmarks, and expectations provide
little help for developing curriculum or assessing and evaluating student learning. The standards
should outline what is the most important content and skills for students to know. They should
include performance indicators (benchmarks) that clearly specify for students and teachers what
needs to be learned and they must include specific grade level expectations that are clearly written,
precise, and “teachable” in the standard school year. Abstract concepts and the inability or
unwillingness to distinguish the important from the unimportant plague the Florida social studies
standards. What do we want our students to know? What level of proficiency do we want them to
display to indicate they have learned what we deem most important and substantive?
The present Social Studies Standards, Benchmarks, and Grade Level Expectations provide little
assistance for organizing a coherent, well-articulated social studies program. History and geography
provide the essential core of the social studies program. They should emphasize vital themes,
topics, and habits of mind with meaningful links to civics and government, economics, and political
science. By organizing the social studies program in historical time and geographic place, by
presenting the content as a journey as to how we got to where we are today, and by centering the
narrative around the lives of ordinary and extraordinary individuals, the students will be provided
with a historical context, an understanding of how geography impacts human affairs and the environment,
how society and institutions evolved over time, as well as a more coherent and interesting
program.
5
The late Paul Gagnon reminds us that “[t]he values that sustain democracy are not natural habits; we are not born with them. Devotion to human equality and freedom, to social and economic justice,
to truth and the rule of law, to acceptance of diversity and mutual aid, to personal selfrestraint
and self-respect—all these need teaching, learning, and practice.”
Review of the Florida History Standards and Grade Level Expectations
John Pyne
“The Sunshine State Standards,” according to the Introduction: Development of Grade Level Expectations,
“are the centerpiece of a reform effort in Florida to align curriculum, instruction and
assessment. They identify what students should know and be able to do for the 21st century and
are thus both content standards and performance standards.” The Florida Social Studies Standards
are divided into four content area strands: “Time, Continuity, and Change” includes the world,
United States, and Florida history standards; “People, Places, and Environments” list the geography
standards; “Government and the Citizen” includes the Civics and Government Standards,
while the economic standards are listed under the heading “Economics,” but sometimes included
under the heading “Production, Distribution, Consumption” as in the Grade Level Expectations
for individual grades K-8.
The six history standards are listed under the “Time, Continuity, and Change” strand and read as
follows:
Standard 1: The student understands historical chronology and the historical perspective.
Standard 2: The student understands the world from its beginnings to the time of the
Renaissance.
Standard 3: The student understands Western and Eastern civilization since the Renaissance.
Standard 4: The student understands U.S. history to 1880.
Standard 5: The student understands U.S. history from 1880 to the present day.
Standard 6: The student understands the history of Florida and its people.
With the exception of Standard 1 which deals with historical chronology and historical perspective
the remaining history standards refer to the general historical periods covered at particular
grade levels and are not really standards at all. The history standards are so vague and open-ended
as to provide little assistance to teachers, students, and parents about what precisely should be
learned or how much time ought to be devoted to specific topics, periods, and events. Standard 6
applies only to grades 4 and 8 and does not appear in the grades Pre-K-12 or grades 9-12 listings.
Under each of the standards are a listing of Benchmarks separated into four grade clusters comprising
Pre-K-2, grades 3-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12. The benchmarks included under each of
the standards are equally vague and unpromising. For example, under Standard 2, Benchmark 2
for grades Pre-K-2, we find “understands the differences in the methods of travel from various
times in human history and the advantages and disadvantages of each.” Under Standard 5 (dealing
with U.S. history from 1880 to the present), Benchmark 1 states “knows significant individuals
in United States history since 1880.” For the Grades 3-5 cluster, under Standard 3 (Western
and Eastern civilization since the Renaissance), Benchmark 1 declares “knows significant people
and their contributions in the field of communication and technology.” Under the same standard,
Benchmark 3 states “understands the types of laws and government systems that have developed
since the Renaissance.” For grades 6-8, under Standard 4 (United States history to 1880), Benchmark
3 declares: ‘understands the impact of significant people and ideas on the development of
values and traditions in the United States prior to 1880.” Under Standard 6, Benchmark 3 asks
students to “know how the environment of Florida has been modified by the values, traditions,
and actions of various groups who have inhabited the state.” And for grades 9-12 under Standard
5 (United States history since 1880), Benchmark 3 states: “understands significant events leading
up to the United States involvement in World War I and the political, social, and economic results
of that conflict in Europe and the United States.” Presumably, the political, social, and economic
results on other parts of the world, including Asia, the Middle East, and Africa go unstudied.
2
Benchmarks such as these are devoid of meaning and impossible to assess and evaluate. Nor do
they outline important historical content to be studied and learned by students in clear and precise
language that is comprehensible to students and teachers.
There is little correlation or coordination of the four content area strands and accompanying
benchmarks. For example, there are a total of 44 Civics and Government Benchmarks in the four
grade clusters, yet only one refers to history (in the grades 6-8 cluster under Standard 2, Benchmark
1). Moreover, the standards and benchmarks are so amorphous as to provide little direction
or guidance to teachers, students, and parents about precisely what is to be taught and expected to
be learned. Presently, Florida does not test the social studies standards and the accompanying
Grade Level Expectations are voluntary rather than mandated. There is little chance that students’
knowledge and skills in the four content strands will be assessed or evaluated in comparison with
other students and schools across the state. Moreover, we know from past experience that what is
tested is taught and schools and teachers will naturally focus on areas such as reading. Language
Arts, and math which are presently tested.
In addition to the Standards and Benchmarks, the Florida Social Studies Framework includes
Grade Level Expectations for each grade K-8. They are listed under each benchmark and are designed
to provide greater specificity as to what students need to know in order to meet the
benchmark. According to the General Guidelines heading under the Introduction: Development
of Grade Level Expectations [p. iii] the following goals are listed: The Grade Level Expectations
statements will (1) be based on current, accepted, and essential academic knowledge; (3) require
academic rigor of all students; (6) be understandable by all education stakeholders; (7) provide
the basis for further local curriculum development; and, (8) provide the basis for state, district,
school, teacher, and student accountability. According to the Specific Guidelines heading [p. iii],
the Grade Level Expectations will (1) “be new or more specific statements when appropriate, of
what students need to know and be able to do at each grade level to achieve the grade-cluster
benchmark and ultimately the exit standard. . . ." Understands and knows are the primary operative
terms in both the benchmarks and grade level expectations because they are “higher order
thinking terms.” [Introduction: Development of Grade Level Expectations, p. v] A review of the
benchmarks and grade level expectations for the various grade clusters as well as grades K-8
clearly demonstrate that the benchmarks and expectations have not met the goals established in
the General and Specific Guidelines.
The Pre-K to Grade 5 benchmarks and grade level expectations follow the “Expanding Environments”
approach and a decidedly social studies orientation emphasizing a “near to far” curricula
emphasis. The Grades 3-5 cluster is especially problematic because of the wide-ranging benchmarks
and expectations for students. In those three grades the students study world history (ancient
world to present) in grade 3, state history in grade 4, and United States history (Exploration
to Present) in grade 5. There is little continuity in the grades 3-5 and 6-8 clusters, since students
study world history in grade 3, state history in grade 4, U.S. history in grade 5, eastern civilization
in grade 6, western civilization in grade 7 and U.S. history and state history again in grade 8.
Many of the benchmarks listed under the various standards do not apply at specific grade levels
because the students are not studying that particular time period or region. For example, Standards
2 and 3 and their included benchmarks pertain only to world history and therefore are not
applicable or studied in grades 4, 5, or 8. Standards 4 and 5 and their benchmarks pertain to
United States history and are not applicable to students at the grades 3, 4, 6, and 7 years. Standard
6 relates to state history that is covered in grades 4 and 8, but not in the other grades.
Sometimes, at a particular grade level, the expectation is the same as the benchmark. For example,
in the grades 3-5 cluster, under Standard 1, Benchmark 1 reads: “The student understands
3
how individuals, ideas, decisions, and events can influence history.” The Grade Level Expectation
for grade 3 students states that the student “understands ways selected individuals, ideas, and
decisions influenced historical events (for example, in ancient times).” The Grade Level Expectation
for Grade 5 states that the student “extends and refines understanding of the effects of individuals,
ideas, and decisions on historical events (for example, in the United States).” Under
Standard 3, Benchmark 3 reads: “The student understands the types of laws and government systems
that have developed since the Renaissance (e.g., the development of democracy, the rise of
totalitarian governments and dictatorships, communism and absolutism).” The Grade Level Expectation
for Grade 3 students states the student “understands types of laws and government systems
that have developed since the Renaissance (for example, the development of democracy, the
rise of totalitarian governments and dictatorships, communism and absolutism).” The examples,
themselves, appear almost randomly selected and are optional—not necessarily to be studied. At
each grade level repeated examples of the pattern can be cited. Thus, instead of the expectation
statements providing more specificity to teachers and students as to what is to be learned, they
often merely repeat the vacuous and ambiguous language of the benchmark. In addition, repeated
examples can be found throughout the documents where the standard and benchmark do not apply
to a particular grade. Often a benchmark is covered in one grade in a particular cluster alone.
Additionally, although world, state, and national history are included in the three grade clusters
(Pre-K-2, 3-5, and 6-8), historical themes and topics, as presented in the benchmarks and grade
level expectations are oriented toward social studies and the expanding environments approach.
Thus, students study the family, communities, transportation and communication, technological
changes over time, art and architecture, and changes in work and leisure. Seldom do they address
traditional historical topics. At the grades 3-5 level, for example, under Standard 2 there are 7
benchmarks, one dealing with “significant scientific and technological achievements,” a second
with “developments in transportation and communication in various societies,” a third focusing
on “various aspects of family life, structures and roles in different cultures,” a fourth on “the
emergence of different laws and systems of government,” a fifth on “significant achievements in
the humanities,” a sixth on “how trade led to exploration in other regions of the world,” and the
seventh on “how developments in the Middle Ages contributed to modern life.” Under Standard 3
in the grades 9-12 cluster, there are 10 benchmarks, but only one deals specifically with history
(#9 “analyzes major historical events of the first half of the 20th century.”)
Students in Grade 6 study Eastern Civilization, while grade 7 students study Western Civilization.
Grade 8 students study United States history from beginnings to the present and state history. The
grades 6-7 social studies program is centered on a world cultures orientation rather than a world
history focus. Despite the attempt under Standard 1 to focus on chronology and historical perspective,
the world cultures approach rarely provides students with a historical context or an understanding
and knowledge of how events in one part of the world affect people and conditions in
other parts of the world. Rather, students tend to participate in a kind of “travelogue” through particular
regions with little context or perspective.
Although the history benchmarks and expectations are the most numerous in the Social Studies
Standards’ document (see chart below), many of them are general social studies statements providing
little real assistance for teachers and students in terms of significant historical content to be
learned. Nor are many of them easily assessed or evaluated to determine what students know and
understand. For example, a grade 7 student “extends and refines knowledge of ways major historical
developments have influenced selected groups over time (for example, the components
essential for the development of civilization, such as division of labor, technology, government,
writing, calendar in the Western hemisphere, the spread of humanism during the Renaissance).”
The same student “extends and refines understanding of ways technological factors have influ4
enced selected groups over time (for example, transportation in the Western hemisphere.)” A
grade 6 student “knows significant aspects of the lives and accomplishments of selected men and
women in the historical period of ancient civilizations to the present day (for example, Confucius,
Buddha to Gandhi [sic], Mao Zedong, Mother Theresa.)” The same student “understands selected
aspects of political, economic, and social institutions in selected cultures in Eastern civilizations
(for example, governments, social traditions and customs, economic systems, religious institutions).”
A fifth grade student “understands selected aspects of everyday life in Colonial America
(for example, impact of religions, types of work, use of land, leisure activities, relations with Native
Americans, slavery).” An abundance of similar examples can be cited at each grade level.
How can students be assessed or evaluated on their knowledge and understanding of such vacuous statements?
The following chart provides a breakdown of the number of expectations in each of the four content
area strands.
Grade History Geography Civics/Govt. Economics Total
KG 19 7 6 4 36
1 19 11 10 6 46
2 19 10 11 10 50
3 18 7 3 5 33
4 18 2 8 5 33
5 28 6 13 10 57
6 15 17 1 1 34
7 14 15 1 2 32
8 16 4 12 5 37
Totals 166 79 65 48 358
The amorphous and fragmented nature of the standards, benchmarks, and expectations provide
little help for developing curriculum or assessing and evaluating student learning. The standards
should outline what is the most important content and skills for students to know. They should
include performance indicators (benchmarks) that clearly specify for students and teachers what
needs to be learned and they must include specific grade level expectations that are clearly written,
precise, and “teachable” in the standard school year. Abstract concepts and the inability or
unwillingness to distinguish the important from the unimportant plague the Florida social studies
standards. What do we want our students to know? What level of proficiency do we want them to
display to indicate they have learned what we deem most important and substantive?
The present Social Studies Standards, Benchmarks, and Grade Level Expectations provide little
assistance for organizing a coherent, well-articulated social studies program. History and geography
provide the essential core of the social studies program. They should emphasize vital themes,
topics, and habits of mind with meaningful links to civics and government, economics, and political
science. By organizing the social studies program in historical time and geographic place, by
presenting the content as a journey as to how we got to where we are today, and by centering the
narrative around the lives of ordinary and extraordinary individuals, the students will be provided
with a historical context, an understanding of how geography impacts human affairs and the environment,
how society and institutions evolved over time, as well as a more coherent and interesting
program.
5
The late Paul Gagnon reminds us that “[t]he values that sustain democracy are not natural habits; we are not born with them. Devotion to human equality and freedom, to social and economic justice,
to truth and the rule of law, to acceptance of diversity and mutual aid, to personal selfrestraint
and self-respect—all these need teaching, learning, and practice.”
Monday, May 1, 2006
FCSS / FASSS Legislative Goals 2006-2007
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 wider array of issues regarding social studies education and help give direction to individual Councils and FCSS members. These in turn may wish to become personally more involved in advocating passage of these goals.
RECOMMENDATION ONE: 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 prefer to have a similar format to that established now for science, but we would be open to a strictly electronic assessment format to reduce fiscal impact, and would be willing to negotiate on other reasonable compromises.
APPROVED by both FASSS and FCSS
Priority Level: One
RECOMMENDATION TWO: 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.
APPROVED by FASSS; temporarily tabled by FCSS
Priority Level: One
RECOMMENDATION THREE: 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.
APPROVED by FASSS; temporarily tabled by FCSS
Priority Level: One
RECOMMENDATION FOUR: 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.
APPROVED by FASSS; temporarily tabled by FCSS
Priority Level: One
RECOMMENDATION FIVE: 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.
APPROVED by FASSS; temporarily tabled by FCSS
Priority Level: Two
NOTE: The assumption is that should Recommendation One on FCAT be achieved, this goal will automatically be achieved as well. The addition of Social Studies as part of the State's Assessment Statute will require changes to the Student Progression Law.
RECOMMENDATION SIX: 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.
APPROVED by FASSS; temporarily tabled by FCSS
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.
APPROVED by FASSS; temporarily tabled by FCSS
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. THIS PROGRAM HAS BEEN REPLACED BY LEGISLATIVE STATUTE.
APPROVED by FASSS; temporarily tabled by FCSS
Priority Level: Two
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 wider array of issues regarding social studies education and help give direction to individual Councils and FCSS members. These in turn may wish to become personally more involved in advocating passage of these goals.
RECOMMENDATION ONE: 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 prefer to have a similar format to that established now for science, but we would be open to a strictly electronic assessment format to reduce fiscal impact, and would be willing to negotiate on other reasonable compromises.
APPROVED by both FASSS and FCSS
Priority Level: One
RECOMMENDATION TWO: 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.
APPROVED by FASSS; temporarily tabled by FCSS
Priority Level: One
RECOMMENDATION THREE: 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.
APPROVED by FASSS; temporarily tabled by FCSS
Priority Level: One
RECOMMENDATION FOUR: 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.
APPROVED by FASSS; temporarily tabled by FCSS
Priority Level: One
RECOMMENDATION FIVE: 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.
APPROVED by FASSS; temporarily tabled by FCSS
Priority Level: Two
NOTE: The assumption is that should Recommendation One on FCAT be achieved, this goal will automatically be achieved as well. The addition of Social Studies as part of the State's Assessment Statute will require changes to the Student Progression Law.
RECOMMENDATION SIX: 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.
APPROVED by FASSS; temporarily tabled by FCSS
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.
APPROVED by FASSS; temporarily tabled by FCSS
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. THIS PROGRAM HAS BEEN REPLACED BY LEGISLATIVE STATUTE.
APPROVED by FASSS; temporarily tabled by FCSS
Priority Level: Two
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
POLL SHOWS NEED FOR MORE CIVIC EDUCATION FOR FLORIDA ADULTS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 11, 2006
CONTACT: Francine Andia Walker,
The Florida Barwww.FloridaBar.org
TELEPHONE: 850/561-5666
Ninety percent or more of Florida adult residents say the constitutional concepts of separation of powers and checks and balances are important principles in the federal government, according to a new poll conducted by Harris Interactive® for The Florida Bar.
But when asked “What are the three branches of government?” only 59 percent of the Florida adults surveyed chose the correct answer: legislative, executive and judicial. The second most frequent answer was “local, state and federal” (18 percent), followed by “Republican, Democrat and Independent” (16 percent). Questions about the meaning of the terms “separation of powers” and “checks and balances” also yielded low percentages of correct answers (46 percent and 61 percent respectively).
The results of the Florida poll (see poll questions) are similar to those of a national poll that asked the same questions done by the American Bar Association in July 2005. The national poll report is available at www.abaconstitution.org.
“After seeing the national results, The Florida Bar became very concerned about our own citizens’ knowledge of these vital principles of democracy, Alan B. Bookman, President of The Florida Bar, said. “We discovered that Floridians score an A on recognizing the importance of the constitutional concepts, but get an F on defining separation of powers and checks and balances, and a D on identifying the three government branches.”
The American Bar Association came to the same conclusion after conducting its poll -- that the majority of Americans could use a civics refresher course.
With this report card in hand, The Florida Bar is setting out to advocate for more public awareness and education on civics. For example, the organization will use its statewide Speakers Bureau and its Citizens Forum, a non-lawyer advisory group, to go out to civic and community groups with presentations on civics. Throughout the state, local bar associations will support many community-based educational activities, particularly during national Law Week in May which is themed “Liberty Under Law: Separate Branches, Balanced Powers.” In addition, the Bar is asking the media to become involved in civic education, especially in coverage leading up to the 2006 elections.
At the same time, The Florida Bar is targeting a revitalization of civic education for the state's youth.
“As we questioned the civic knowledge of adults, we also looked at the state of civic education in Florida. Although civic education has historically been a primary mission of American public education, it appears that this commitment is fading,” Bookman said.
According to the Florida Law Related Education Association, less than 10 percent of Florida’s 67 counties require the teaching of civics in middle school. High school students are required only to take a one semester government course, usually in the senior year, but law-related education experts say that requirement is too little, too late.Bookman said that the Bar is concerned about giving young people the knowledge they need to value and participate in democracy. “We’d like to see 100 percent of Florida middle schools providing a mandatory yearlong course in applied civics,” Bookman said.
“As we speak to adults and the media about civics and civic education, we are asking that they assess their own school districts’ civics offerings and talk to local superintendents and school boards about providing required yearlong civics courses,” he added.
The Florida Law Related Education Association created the Florida Civic Alliance to promote civic education in Florida’s K-12 public school system through a broad-based plan addressing curriculum reform, state and local policy, public awareness and coalition building. A complete middle school course has been developed for local districts, based on Miami-Dade’s required civics course, and Palm Beach County adopted and implemented that curriculum in the 2005-6 school year according to the law related education association.
The bottom line for The Florida Bar is that if citizens don’t understand what makes democracy work, they are just as likely not to understand the essential components of an independent judiciary – that the judiciary be fair and impartial.
“America’s enduring strength flows from our Constitution and its mandate that there be three separate but equal branches of government. We must educate the public and remind them that without a strong and vibrant rule of law, our democracy will simply cease to exist,” Bookman said.
Harris Interactive® conducted a telephone survey on behalf of The Florida Bar between December 27 and 29, 2005, among 400 adults from Florida aged 18 and over. Figures for age, sex, race, education, number of adults and number of voice/telephone lines in the household were weighted where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the population. In theory, with a probability sample of this size, one could say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a sampling error of plus or minus five percentage points of what they would be if the entire Florida adult population had been polled with complete accuracy.
The Florida Bar is the statewide professional and regulatory organization for all lawyers licensed to practice in Florida.About Harris Interactive®Harris Interactive Inc.
(www.harrisinteractive.com), based in Rochester, New York, is the 13th largest and the fastest-growing market research firm in the world, most widely known for The Harris Poll® and for its pioneering leadership in the online market research industry. Long recognized by its clients for delivering insights that enable confident business decisions, the Company blends the science of innovative research with the art of strategic consulting to deliver knowledge that leads to measurable and enduring value.Harris Interactive serves clients worldwide through its United States, Europe (www.harrisinteractive.com/europe) and Asia offices, its wholly-owned subsidiary Novatris in Paris, France (www.novatris.com), and through an independent global network of affiliate market research companies.
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EDITORS: Please note The Florida Bar is not an association and "Association" is not part of our name. Proper reference is "The Florida Bar." Local bar organizations are properly termed "associations."
[Updated: 02-02-2006 ]
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