Monday, October 26, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
FCSS Urges CCSSO to Implement Social Studies Standards
October 26, 2009
Gene Wilhoit
Executive Director
Council of Chief State School Officers
One Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 700
Washington, D.C. 20001-1431
Dear Mr. Wilhoit,
The Florida Council for the Social Studies is a leading voice for curriculum development and assessment within the state of Florida. For several decades our members have been immersed in discussions with both state and national leaders regarding the vital need to promote high quality curriculum performance standards and assessment instruments related to our vital academic discipline. We firmly believe the primary reason of a public school system is development of responsible citizens who possess the knowledge, skills and dispositions to sustain our nation’s ability to meet future challenges. It is with this in mind that we strongly urge the CCSSO to consider the inclusion of social studies in your deliberations regarding the proposed establishment of common core standards for the nation’s public schools. Most state constitutions reference the basic purpose of public education as one to equip students with the requisite skills, knowledge and dispositions for effective citizenship. Unfortunately, numerous studies reveal the sad truth that – to the ultimate future detriment of our nation – current American educational leaders are not sustaining that civic mission.
At no time in the history of NAEP periodic assessments have any states ever been held accountable for how well they fulfill the civil and historical mission of their schools. Repeated attempts by FCSS in the last three Congresses to pass such reform legislation have failed. Moreover, continued research reveals the reduction in instructional time devoted to social studies – particularly at the elementary level. Unless we change course, leading economic forecasters, political pundits and even our former enemies are predicting the imminent collapse of our nation. Leading civic educators and historians have long argued that it is the commitment of our citizens to the cherished beliefs and core democratic values of our forefathers which serves as the adhesive glue which binds our nation together. Quite frankly, without needed changes in national priorities, it is possible these ominous predictions will bear fruit.
The lack of state accountability in the area of social studies has already led one Florida governor to temporarily eliminate American History and American Government as graduation requirements for all Florida high school students. Although this measure has since been overturned, it gives additional evidence to the charge that social studies education has been less than a priority in state and national educational initiatives.
The NCSS Common Core Standards for Social Studies may well serve as the frame for which national standards for social studies may be discussed and hopefully approved. These standards include critical thinking, problem solving and communication skills in the context of civic and historical literacy, economic/financial literacy, and global awareness. Students well versed in this content should have the requisite skills and dispositions to be effective citizens and productive members of the domestic and global workforce.
The future of America and our democratic institutions depend on effective social studies teachers who provide each new generation with knowledge of our history and government, skills to make informed decisions about complex public issues, attitudes that support democratic practices, and commitment to engage in civic life. With the development and adoption of Common Core Standards in Social Studies, our nation can achieve this goal.
Respectfully,
Kristine Scola
President, Florida Council for the Social Studies
Gene Wilhoit
Executive Director
Council of Chief State School Officers
One Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 700
Washington, D.C. 20001-1431
Dear Mr. Wilhoit,
The Florida Council for the Social Studies is a leading voice for curriculum development and assessment within the state of Florida. For several decades our members have been immersed in discussions with both state and national leaders regarding the vital need to promote high quality curriculum performance standards and assessment instruments related to our vital academic discipline. We firmly believe the primary reason of a public school system is development of responsible citizens who possess the knowledge, skills and dispositions to sustain our nation’s ability to meet future challenges. It is with this in mind that we strongly urge the CCSSO to consider the inclusion of social studies in your deliberations regarding the proposed establishment of common core standards for the nation’s public schools. Most state constitutions reference the basic purpose of public education as one to equip students with the requisite skills, knowledge and dispositions for effective citizenship. Unfortunately, numerous studies reveal the sad truth that – to the ultimate future detriment of our nation – current American educational leaders are not sustaining that civic mission.
At no time in the history of NAEP periodic assessments have any states ever been held accountable for how well they fulfill the civil and historical mission of their schools. Repeated attempts by FCSS in the last three Congresses to pass such reform legislation have failed. Moreover, continued research reveals the reduction in instructional time devoted to social studies – particularly at the elementary level. Unless we change course, leading economic forecasters, political pundits and even our former enemies are predicting the imminent collapse of our nation. Leading civic educators and historians have long argued that it is the commitment of our citizens to the cherished beliefs and core democratic values of our forefathers which serves as the adhesive glue which binds our nation together. Quite frankly, without needed changes in national priorities, it is possible these ominous predictions will bear fruit.
The lack of state accountability in the area of social studies has already led one Florida governor to temporarily eliminate American History and American Government as graduation requirements for all Florida high school students. Although this measure has since been overturned, it gives additional evidence to the charge that social studies education has been less than a priority in state and national educational initiatives.
The NCSS Common Core Standards for Social Studies may well serve as the frame for which national standards for social studies may be discussed and hopefully approved. These standards include critical thinking, problem solving and communication skills in the context of civic and historical literacy, economic/financial literacy, and global awareness. Students well versed in this content should have the requisite skills and dispositions to be effective citizens and productive members of the domestic and global workforce.
The future of America and our democratic institutions depend on effective social studies teachers who provide each new generation with knowledge of our history and government, skills to make informed decisions about complex public issues, attitudes that support democratic practices, and commitment to engage in civic life. With the development and adoption of Common Core Standards in Social Studies, our nation can achieve this goal.
Respectfully,
Kristine Scola
President, Florida Council for the Social Studies
Friday, October 9, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
Reading Is Not a Skill--And Why This Is a Problem for the Draft National Standards
Today's guest is Psychology Professor Daniel Willingham of the University of Virginia, who researches learning and the brain.
A draft of the voluntary national standards for reading was just released, and at first glance the 18 standards sound quite sensible: students should be able to determine what a text says, make inferences from it, discern the most important ideas, and so forth.
Many of the standards boil down to this notion: "The student will be able to comprehend the text.” For the others, comprehension is a prerequisite. The problem is that teachers and administrators are likely to read those 18 standards and to try to teach to them. But reading comprehension is not a “skill” that can be taught directly.
We tend to teach comprehension as a series of “reading strategies” that can be practiced and mastered. Unfortunately it really doesn’t work that way. The mainspring of comprehension is prior knowledge—the stuff readers already know that enables them to create understanding as they read.
Prior knowledge is vital to comprehension because writers omit information. For example, suppose you read “He just got a new puppy. His landlord is angry.” You easily understand the logical connection between those sentences because you know things about puppies (they aren’t housebroken), carpets (urine stains them) and landlords (they are protective of their property.)
The writer could have included all that information. The writer gambled that the reader would know about puppies, carpets and landlords. A writer who doesn’t assume some prior knowledge on the part of her readers will write very boring prose. What happens if the reader doesn’t have the prior knowledge the writer assumed she had? The reader will be confused and comprehension breaks down.
This is exactly what happens for millions of poor readers. They can “read” (they can sound out the words on the page) but they can’t consistently comprehend. They read it, but they don’t “get it.”
Remarkably, if you take kids who score poorly on a reading test and ask them to read on a topic they know something about (baseball, say, or dinosaurs) all of a sudden their comprehension is terrific—better than kids who score well on reading tests but who don’t know a lot about baseball or dinosaurs.
In other words, kids who score well on reading tests are not really kids with good “reading skills.”
The kids who score well on reading tests are ones who know a lot about the world—they have a lot of prior knowledge about a wide range of things--and so that whatever they are asked to read about on the test, they likely know something about it. (This is only true once kids have cracked the code of letters and sounds and can apply that translation fluently-- say, 5th grade and after.)
Can’t you teach kids how to reason about texts, and thereby wring the meaning out of it even if they don’t have the right prior knowledge?
To some extent, but it doesn’t seem to help as much as you might expect. For one thing, this sort of reasoning is difficult mental work. For another, it’s slow, and so it breaks up the flow of the story you’re reading, and the fun of the story is lost. Hoping that students without relevant prior knowledge will reason their way through a story is a recipe for creating a student who doesn’t like reading.
Oftentimes, knowledge gaps can’t be filled by a strategy. For example, suppose you read this: “The Obama administration will announce a new policy Wednesday making it much more difficult for the government to claim that it is protecting state secrets when it hides details of sensitive national security strategies such as rendition and warrantless eavesdropping, according to two senior Justice Department officials.”
In this instance, the writer assumed that the reader knew the definitions of “rendition,” “warrantless wiretaps,” what a state secret might be, and the significance of the announcement coming from the executive branch of the government, at the least.
If you know those things, comprehension is effortless. What strategy is going to lead you to correct guesses?
I didn’t pick that sentence randomly. It was the first sentence of the lead story of The Washington Post on the day I’m writing this post. If we want students to be able to read a serious newspaper, they need prior knowledge.
How do students get prior knowledge? It accumulates through years of exposure to newspapers, serious magazines, books, conversations with knowledgeable people. It should also come from a content-rich curriculum in school.
Oddly enough, the new national standards actually say that. The standards documents lists “have a strong content base” as one of the things that college-ready readers tend to have.
But the standards themselves don’t recommend that we ensure that students “have a strong content base” as a way to ensure that they are good readers! (A few months ago, I created a video called “Teaching Content Is Teaching Reading” that explains this. You can see it here on YouTube.
Instead, the standards document lists things that students ought to be able to do (summarize, find the main idea, etc.) that invite states, districts, and teachers to design curricula emphasizing practice in those skills.
The mistaken idea that reading is a skill—learn to crack the code, practice comprehension strategies and you can read anything—may be the single biggest factor holding back reading achievement in the country.
Students will not meet standards that way. The knowledge base problem must be solved.
By Valerie Strauss | September 28, 2009; 7:30 AM ET
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/daniel-willingham/willingham-reading-is-not-a-sk.html
A draft of the voluntary national standards for reading was just released, and at first glance the 18 standards sound quite sensible: students should be able to determine what a text says, make inferences from it, discern the most important ideas, and so forth.
Many of the standards boil down to this notion: "The student will be able to comprehend the text.” For the others, comprehension is a prerequisite. The problem is that teachers and administrators are likely to read those 18 standards and to try to teach to them. But reading comprehension is not a “skill” that can be taught directly.
We tend to teach comprehension as a series of “reading strategies” that can be practiced and mastered. Unfortunately it really doesn’t work that way. The mainspring of comprehension is prior knowledge—the stuff readers already know that enables them to create understanding as they read.
Prior knowledge is vital to comprehension because writers omit information. For example, suppose you read “He just got a new puppy. His landlord is angry.” You easily understand the logical connection between those sentences because you know things about puppies (they aren’t housebroken), carpets (urine stains them) and landlords (they are protective of their property.)
The writer could have included all that information. The writer gambled that the reader would know about puppies, carpets and landlords. A writer who doesn’t assume some prior knowledge on the part of her readers will write very boring prose. What happens if the reader doesn’t have the prior knowledge the writer assumed she had? The reader will be confused and comprehension breaks down.
This is exactly what happens for millions of poor readers. They can “read” (they can sound out the words on the page) but they can’t consistently comprehend. They read it, but they don’t “get it.”
Remarkably, if you take kids who score poorly on a reading test and ask them to read on a topic they know something about (baseball, say, or dinosaurs) all of a sudden their comprehension is terrific—better than kids who score well on reading tests but who don’t know a lot about baseball or dinosaurs.
In other words, kids who score well on reading tests are not really kids with good “reading skills.”
The kids who score well on reading tests are ones who know a lot about the world—they have a lot of prior knowledge about a wide range of things--and so that whatever they are asked to read about on the test, they likely know something about it. (This is only true once kids have cracked the code of letters and sounds and can apply that translation fluently-- say, 5th grade and after.)
Can’t you teach kids how to reason about texts, and thereby wring the meaning out of it even if they don’t have the right prior knowledge?
To some extent, but it doesn’t seem to help as much as you might expect. For one thing, this sort of reasoning is difficult mental work. For another, it’s slow, and so it breaks up the flow of the story you’re reading, and the fun of the story is lost. Hoping that students without relevant prior knowledge will reason their way through a story is a recipe for creating a student who doesn’t like reading.
Oftentimes, knowledge gaps can’t be filled by a strategy. For example, suppose you read this: “The Obama administration will announce a new policy Wednesday making it much more difficult for the government to claim that it is protecting state secrets when it hides details of sensitive national security strategies such as rendition and warrantless eavesdropping, according to two senior Justice Department officials.”
In this instance, the writer assumed that the reader knew the definitions of “rendition,” “warrantless wiretaps,” what a state secret might be, and the significance of the announcement coming from the executive branch of the government, at the least.
If you know those things, comprehension is effortless. What strategy is going to lead you to correct guesses?
I didn’t pick that sentence randomly. It was the first sentence of the lead story of The Washington Post on the day I’m writing this post. If we want students to be able to read a serious newspaper, they need prior knowledge.
How do students get prior knowledge? It accumulates through years of exposure to newspapers, serious magazines, books, conversations with knowledgeable people. It should also come from a content-rich curriculum in school.
Oddly enough, the new national standards actually say that. The standards documents lists “have a strong content base” as one of the things that college-ready readers tend to have.
But the standards themselves don’t recommend that we ensure that students “have a strong content base” as a way to ensure that they are good readers! (A few months ago, I created a video called “Teaching Content Is Teaching Reading” that explains this. You can see it here on YouTube.
Instead, the standards document lists things that students ought to be able to do (summarize, find the main idea, etc.) that invite states, districts, and teachers to design curricula emphasizing practice in those skills.
The mistaken idea that reading is a skill—learn to crack the code, practice comprehension strategies and you can read anything—may be the single biggest factor holding back reading achievement in the country.
Students will not meet standards that way. The knowledge base problem must be solved.
By Valerie Strauss | September 28, 2009; 7:30 AM ET
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/daniel-willingham/willingham-reading-is-not-a-sk.html
Friday, October 2, 2009
FCSS - FASSS Legislative Goals
(For the most part, all goals continue to be 'secondary' to the implementation of a state-wide assessment program in social studies. These goals from the previous year reflect an update which took place at the Sept. 2009 FASSS-FCSS Board meetings.)
FCSS / FASSS
Position Paper on 2008-09 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 other issues when addressing the main priority of the organization.
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 be open to a strictly electronic assessment format to reduce fiscal impact, a sufficient percentage sampling of students in each district as opposed to census testing, and other reasonable compromises. Since the Legislature and Commissioner of Education have both called for rigorous end-of-course assessments similar to those for the N.Y. State Regent’s Diploma, we have lobbied key legislative leaders and D.O.E. officials for the purpose of making the American History high school course the next schedule assessment for high school students in Florida. (Since this time, the Commissioner has moved forward in the development of an End-of-Course high school exam for American History. The state still lacks accountability for social studies in grades K-8.)
Priority Level: One
THE FCSS BOARD OF DIRECTORS VOTED TO IMPLEMENT A SINGLE FOCUS FOR THE ACTIVITIES OF THE ADVOCACY COMMITTEE – PASSAGE OF A STATE-WIDE ASSESSMENT PROGRAM FOR SOCIAL STUDIES. As a result, the goals which follow are presented here as secondary issues which teachers may also wish to support.
RECOMMENDATION TWO: FCSS should work with other civic-minded organizations to conduct a statewide campaign to incorporate social studies as part of the FCAT.
Current Status: As a result of efforts by former Governor Bob Graham, Congressman Lou Frey, Chief Justice Lewis and numerous others bills were introduced in the legislature by House and Senate leaders calling for social studies to become part of FCAT.
Priority Level: Two
RECOMMENDATION THREE: FCSS should work with other civic-minded organizations to conduct a statewide survey of student civic and historical knowledge at the elementary and secondary levels, the results of which should be released to the public and the Commissioner of Education.
Current Status: No such survey or assessment has ever been done with large numbers of students in Florida. Sample questions should be based upon N.A.E.P. assessment items and other previously known surveys so that some comparison might be made. Consideration should be given to institutionalizing such a survey for the purpose of annually bringing civic literacy to the state’s attention each September. When possible, the data should be disaggregated by region, gender, grade level, and race/ethnicity. Results should be shared with the Florida’s legislators, various media outlets and the Florida Association of Educational Writers.
Priority Level: Two
RECOMMENDATION FOUR: 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: There are now several organizations with state-wide reach that promote civic understanding – The Florida Law Related Education Association and the Florida Joint Center for Citizenship – which make this priority less critical than in the past.
Priority Level: Deleted in Sept. 2009
RECOMMENDATION FIVE: 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 for the third time filed legislation (S860, S2721, & S1414) to provide for a pilot assessment of up to ten states to be compared to the national profile which will be obtained from periodic NAEP History and Civics assessments. NCSS during the 110th Congress was able to have Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) introduce an identical measure (H6525) in the House of Representatives for which she is securing co-sponsors. As no action was taken on these measures during both sessions of the last Congress, they will have to be reintroduced for a FOURTH time in the 111th Congress when it convenes in 2009. (Since this time, S659 has been filed for the FOURTH time to underwhelming national fanfare.)
Priorit Level: One
RECOMMENDATION SIX: 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 elementary 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. Students must complete three years of successful Social Studies instruction in the Middle Grades and must be remediated before being promoted to the next grade.
Priority Level: Two
RECOMMENDATION SEVEN: The Legislature should require that the Florida Department of Education complete a comprehensive survey on the Status of Social Studies Education in Florida.
Current Status: Due to the lack of data pertaining to student performance in the area of Social Studies and with regard to how districts implement the many legislative mandates under Florida Statute: 1003.42 (Required instruction.), it is imperative that the Florida legislature require the Department of Education to undertake a district analysis of the status of social studies. Two years ago the legislature pass a measure to complete a study on Physical Education throughout the state.
Priority Level: Tabled in Sept. 2009
RECOMMENDATION EIGHT: 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 in the past although supported by FASSS ) Research states that it takes six or seven years for a student whose native language is different from English to be proficient in reading and writing in our language. Federal guidelines for No Child Left Behind use a three year period of time before such scores are factored into accountability measurements. Florida’s accountability provisions should not be more punitive than federal standards.
Priority Level: Two
RECOMMENDATION NINE: We urge the repeal of the Special Teachers Are Recognized Program.
Current Status: By another statute, Districts must provide differentiated salaries to instructional personal. The S.T.A.R. program was hastily devised and there are not enough reliable or valid measures of student performance to implement it. Through its enactment the legislature has added to the burdens of districts.
Priority Level: Deleted in Sept. 2009
Other:
Possibly Recommend the Establishment of a Veteran’s Curriculum Taskforce to consolidate, develop and promote instructional resources related to Florida Statute 1003,42.
(Since this time, FASSS and FCSS Boards have approved the concept of expressing our official concern with the Florida Department of Education on the Middle School Integrated Certification requirements.)
FCSS / FASSS
Position Paper on 2008-09 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 other issues when addressing the main priority of the organization.
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 be open to a strictly electronic assessment format to reduce fiscal impact, a sufficient percentage sampling of students in each district as opposed to census testing, and other reasonable compromises. Since the Legislature and Commissioner of Education have both called for rigorous end-of-course assessments similar to those for the N.Y. State Regent’s Diploma, we have lobbied key legislative leaders and D.O.E. officials for the purpose of making the American History high school course the next schedule assessment for high school students in Florida. (Since this time, the Commissioner has moved forward in the development of an End-of-Course high school exam for American History. The state still lacks accountability for social studies in grades K-8.)
Priority Level: One
THE FCSS BOARD OF DIRECTORS VOTED TO IMPLEMENT A SINGLE FOCUS FOR THE ACTIVITIES OF THE ADVOCACY COMMITTEE – PASSAGE OF A STATE-WIDE ASSESSMENT PROGRAM FOR SOCIAL STUDIES. As a result, the goals which follow are presented here as secondary issues which teachers may also wish to support.
RECOMMENDATION TWO: FCSS should work with other civic-minded organizations to conduct a statewide campaign to incorporate social studies as part of the FCAT.
Current Status: As a result of efforts by former Governor Bob Graham, Congressman Lou Frey, Chief Justice Lewis and numerous others bills were introduced in the legislature by House and Senate leaders calling for social studies to become part of FCAT.
Priority Level: Two
RECOMMENDATION THREE: FCSS should work with other civic-minded organizations to conduct a statewide survey of student civic and historical knowledge at the elementary and secondary levels, the results of which should be released to the public and the Commissioner of Education.
Current Status: No such survey or assessment has ever been done with large numbers of students in Florida. Sample questions should be based upon N.A.E.P. assessment items and other previously known surveys so that some comparison might be made. Consideration should be given to institutionalizing such a survey for the purpose of annually bringing civic literacy to the state’s attention each September. When possible, the data should be disaggregated by region, gender, grade level, and race/ethnicity. Results should be shared with the Florida’s legislators, various media outlets and the Florida Association of Educational Writers.
Priority Level: Two
RECOMMENDATION FOUR: 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: There are now several organizations with state-wide reach that promote civic understanding – The Florida Law Related Education Association and the Florida Joint Center for Citizenship – which make this priority less critical than in the past.
Priority Level: Deleted in Sept. 2009
RECOMMENDATION FIVE: 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 for the third time filed legislation (S860, S2721, & S1414) to provide for a pilot assessment of up to ten states to be compared to the national profile which will be obtained from periodic NAEP History and Civics assessments. NCSS during the 110th Congress was able to have Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) introduce an identical measure (H6525) in the House of Representatives for which she is securing co-sponsors. As no action was taken on these measures during both sessions of the last Congress, they will have to be reintroduced for a FOURTH time in the 111th Congress when it convenes in 2009. (Since this time, S659 has been filed for the FOURTH time to underwhelming national fanfare.)
Priorit Level: One
RECOMMENDATION SIX: 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 elementary 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. Students must complete three years of successful Social Studies instruction in the Middle Grades and must be remediated before being promoted to the next grade.
Priority Level: Two
RECOMMENDATION SEVEN: The Legislature should require that the Florida Department of Education complete a comprehensive survey on the Status of Social Studies Education in Florida.
Current Status: Due to the lack of data pertaining to student performance in the area of Social Studies and with regard to how districts implement the many legislative mandates under Florida Statute: 1003.42 (Required instruction.), it is imperative that the Florida legislature require the Department of Education to undertake a district analysis of the status of social studies. Two years ago the legislature pass a measure to complete a study on Physical Education throughout the state.
Priority Level: Tabled in Sept. 2009
RECOMMENDATION EIGHT: 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 in the past although supported by FASSS ) Research states that it takes six or seven years for a student whose native language is different from English to be proficient in reading and writing in our language. Federal guidelines for No Child Left Behind use a three year period of time before such scores are factored into accountability measurements. Florida’s accountability provisions should not be more punitive than federal standards.
Priority Level: Two
RECOMMENDATION NINE: We urge the repeal of the Special Teachers Are Recognized Program.
Current Status: By another statute, Districts must provide differentiated salaries to instructional personal. The S.T.A.R. program was hastily devised and there are not enough reliable or valid measures of student performance to implement it. Through its enactment the legislature has added to the burdens of districts.
Priority Level: Deleted in Sept. 2009
Other:
Possibly Recommend the Establishment of a Veteran’s Curriculum Taskforce to consolidate, develop and promote instructional resources related to Florida Statute 1003,42.
(Since this time, FASSS and FCSS Boards have approved the concept of expressing our official concern with the Florida Department of Education on the Middle School Integrated Certification requirements.)
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