SENATOR LAMAR ALEXANDER'S FLOOR REMARKS on S.659

Floor Remarks of U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) - Restoring American History and Civics to Classroom Prominence

March 20th, 2009 - Mr. President, on a day in a week when there is a lot of news where people are hurting in a serious economy, I have some good news to report, and it will just take me a few minutes to do it. Our senior Senator, Mr. Byrd, Senator Ted Kennedy, who is chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and I introduced legislation today that will help push the teaching of U.S. history in our classrooms. The way I like to describe it is by saying this: that it will help to put the teaching of American history and civics back in its rightful place, in our classrooms, so our children can grow up learning what it means to be an American.

The legislation which we have introduced would expand summer academies for outstanding teachers, authorize new teacher programs, require States to set standards for the teaching and learning of U.S. history, and create new opportunities to compare the tests that students take on U.S. history.

Specifically, the legislation would, No. 1, authorize 100 new summer academies for outstanding students and teachers of U.S. history and align those academies with locations in our national park system, such as the John Adams' House in Massachusetts or the Independence Hall in Philadelphia. I see the pages sitting here today. They are real students of U.S. history because they live it and learn it. I don't know what their scores are on the advanced placement tests for U.S. history, but I know one fact, which the Chair may be interested in learning: The highest scores in any high school in America on the advanced placement test for U.S. history is not from a New England prep school or a Tennessee prep school or an elite school in some rich part of America; it is from the page school of the House of Representatives. They had better scores on U.S. history than any other high school. I don't know what the Senate page scores were, so I won't compare them.

The point is -- and this is an idea David McCullough, a well-known author, had: We would expand the number of presidential and congressional academies for outstanding students and teachers and have them placed in the National Park Service initiative.
Second, the bill we’ve introduced today would double the authorization of funding for the teaching of American history programs in local school districts, which today involve 20,000 students as a part of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Third, it would require States to develop and implement standards for student assessments in U.S. history, although there would be no Federal reporting requirement, as there is now for reading and mathematics.

Finally, it would allow States to compare history and civics student test scores in the 8th and 12th grades by establishing a 10-State pilot program expanding the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), which is also called the "Nation's Report Card." We have a tradition in the Senate where each of us, when we first arrive, make a maiden speech. We still call it that. Most of us pick a subject that is important to us. I made mine almost exactly 6 years ago, on March 4, 2003. The subject was something I cared about then and care about today and on which we have made some progress.

I argued, as I mentioned earlier, it was time to put the teaching of American history and civics back in its rightful place in our schools so as our children grow, they can learn what it means to be an American. On the "Nation's Report Card," our worst scores for our seniors in high school are not in math or science but in U.S. history. It will be very difficult for us as a country to succeed if we don't learn where we came from.

I ask unanimous consent that the speech I made 6 years ago be printed in the Record immediately following my remarks.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that if Senator Byrd and Senator Kennedy make statements today on this legislation, as I believe they will, that our statements be put in the Record in about the same place, with Senator Byrd's first, then Senator Kennedy's, and mine third.

Mr. President, in the speech I made 6 years ago, I called it the American History and Civics Education Act. I suggested we create summer academies for outstanding students and teachers of American history. The idea was to create one of those academies focused on American history and civics for teachers and one for students and to see how they worked and to gradually expand them.

These presidential academies for students and teachers were modeled after the Tennessee Governors School, which I began when I was Governor of Tennessee, which still continue today, after 20 years. They are relatively inexpensive. They are 2-, 3-, or 4-week schools for students, and one for teachers. They held students in a variety of subjects, such as mathematics, science, the arts, international studies. They come together for a while and inspire one another, and then they go back to their schools and inspire their fellow students. They have been a great success in Tennessee and in other States.

Senator Reid, the majority leader, was the whip at that time. He was on the floor when I made my remarks and he asked to be the prime cosponsor of the legislation, and he was. Senator Kennedy, who has had a long interest in U.S. history, takes his family once a year to some an historical part of the United States. A couple years ago, they went into Virginia and saw where Patrick Henry made his famous speech. I kid him and say he cares so much about history because he is a part of it in such a big way. Senator Kennedy heard about the proposal, and he went along the Democratic side and rounded up 20 cosponsors of the legislation. So, Senator Kennedy, Senator Reid and I and several Republican Senators introduced a bill. We had a hearing during which Senator Byrd testified on behalf of my proposal for summer academies. It passed the Senate and the House, and we have had those summer academies now for three summers. One of those is at the Ashland University in Ashland, OH, which has been a great success. I see the students and teachers every summer. I bring them on the Senate floor, and it has been proven that it is good for teachers and good for our country. So that is the reason we want to expand those programs. We also felt we would meet as a group -- those of us who have something to do with U.S. history here -- and we met with the Library of Congress and with other parts of the Federal Government and many of us are involved in helping Americans learn more about our country's history, especially young people. As part of that, we thought it would be wise to try to consolidate in one section of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act -- which we call No Child Left Behind -- the various programs we already have for U.S. history and then to expand those that seemed worthwhile.

That is what this legislation does. There is a great need for it. I mentioned earlier that it is our worst subject for high school, even though some of our pages seem to do pretty well. Very few students score at or above the proficient level on the American history exam conducted by the National Assessment for Education Progress. Twenty percent of fourth graders were proficient in U.S. history, 17 percent of eighth graders were proficient in U.S. history, and 12 percent of high school seniors were proficient in U.S. history.

In addition, the No Child Left Behind Act may have had the unintentional effect of reducing the focus on U.S. history, as some school districts have concentrated their efforts on reading and mathematics. Therefore, it is appropriate and necessary to improve and expand State and local efforts to increase the understanding and awareness of American history and to do it, of course, in a way that doesn't preempt State and local responsibility and authority for elementary and secondary education.

Therefore, what the legislation we are doing today will do is expand the summer academies. We call them presidential academies for teachers and congressional academies for students. Those academies were created in 2004 to the number of 100 in the summer gradually over the years. The priority would be to place those academies in the National Park Service's national centennial parks initiative so the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, and other museums that have innovative programs in U.S. History can be aligned with these academies. David McCullough, for example, suggested we have the academies at locations such as Andrew Jackson's home in Heritage. I think an even better idea would be to have a week for U.S. teachers at John Adams' home in Massachusetts, with Mr. McCullough as the teacher. That is the idea.

Secondly, we would expand the Nation's report card -- we call that NAEP -- so there could be a 10-State pilot program for American history and civics student assessment in grades 8 and 12. Today, our Nation's report card doesn't measure State performance in American history. It gives us a picture of how 8th to 12th graders do nationally. This would permit Colorado, Tennessee, Alaska, and California to compare the seniors and, in doing so, call attention to improvements that might need to be made.

The third thing would be to require all States to develop and implement standards and assessments in American history under the No Child Left Behind Act. But it doesn't require any Federal reporting, as we do in other subjects. Finally, it would take Senator Byrd's program -- called Teaching American History, which he put into the No Child Left Behind Act 6 years ago -- and it would double the authorization for that program from $100 million to $200 million, so it can serve even more than the 20,000 teachers it serves today.

I thank David Cleary and Sarah Rittling of my staff, who have worked hard with the staffs of Senators Byrd and Kennedy to prepare this legislation. We intend to invite all Members of the Senate, and we hope the House will join us in cosponsoring this.

Finally, I wish to tell one short story to conclude my remarks about some of the teachers who have participated. One of the things a Senator can do is to bring someone on the Senate floor who is not a Senator. It has to be done when the Senate is not in session and I have found it is a great privilege for most Americans. Early one morning last summer, I brought onto the Senate floor the 50 teachers who had been selected -- one from each State -- for the presidential academy for outstanding teachers of American history. I showed them Daniel Webster's desk right here, and I showed them Jefferson Davis's desk, which is back there, and where the sword mark is where when the Union soldier came in and started chopping the desk, and the soldier who was stopped by a commander who said, "We came to save the Union, not destroy it." I showed them where the majority and minority leaders speak. They saw "E Pluribus Unum" up there, and "In God We Trust" back there. They learned that we operate by unanimous consent, and we talked about what it would be like to actually try to operate a classroom by unanimous consent, much less the Senate.

As you might expect, they asked a lot of good questions, being outstanding history teachers. I especially remember the final question. I believe it was from the teacher from Oregon who asked: Senator, what would you like for us to take back to our students? I said that what I hope you will take back is that I get up every day, and I believe most of us on either side get up hoping that by the end of the day, we will have done something to make our country look better. It may not look that way on television or read that way in the newspaper because we are sent here to debate great issues. That produces conflict and disagreement a lot of the time. I feel, and I believe all of us feel, we are in a very special place, in a very special country, with a very special tradition. We would like for the students to know that and to know that is how we feel about the job we have.

I am delighted today that Senators Byrd and Kennedy, who have contributed so much to U.S. history over the years, both in their own personalities and by legislation they have introduced, have joined me in this effort to expand the Federal programs that focus on putting U.S. history and civics in a little higher place in the classroom so that our students learn what it means to be an American.

I invite my colleagues to join us, and I invite all Americans to join us in their communities, in their schools and in their States, to make that a priority. I yield the floor.

NCSS Loses another Opportunity to Lobby for NAEP

Since 2004 FCSS has lobbied NCSS on the need to provide equity on NAEP through its periodic, independently tested Civics, U.S. History and Geography assessments. At one time the NCSS Board of Directors actually passed a motion to have the organization lobby in behalf of a bill that would address this inequity and which has been repeatedly introduced in the last four Congresses. The email below represents one of the few times that NCSS members have been alerted to the fact such a bill is in existance or is even desirable.

Although a memo from NCSS lobbying firm "Washington Partners" briefly addressed the general provisions of the bill and members were urged to read the bill in its entirety, there was no separate legislative alert from NCSS calling for members to support the bill. Nor was a rationale as to why the measure might be important included. Nor was it mentioned that the bill has languished in the last three Congresses due to lack of national support for the measure. Equally baffling is how NCCS can continue to ignore attempts to rectify our inferior status on NAEP by not specifically drawing its members attention to the provisions of these bills in Congress. [Incidentally, the bill calls for hundreds of millions of dollars for continued training of social studies teachers -- in addition to the almost half billion Congress has already spent in that area-- but ignores the rather paltry amount of $7 million per year for two years for the NAEP assessment. The NAEP provision may finally pass now that it's strategically included with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of other "pork" and Congress is in the mood to gleefully spend our children's and grandchildren's inheritance.]

Many FCSS members remember that because Florida has never held accountable on NAEP or any other national assessment, former governor Jeb Bush could without fear of consequence sign into a law a measure that eliminated American History and American Govenment as graduation requirements for all Florida students. Again, if Florida is never to be held 'accountable' for students' knowledge of Civics or American History, why continue to require these subjects of all students? As a result, for two years Algebra was the only course that all Florida public school students had to successfully complete for graduation!

If S659 passed Congress this year, it would compare up to ten states on student performance in U.S. History and Civics on the 2010 NAEP assessment, and thus send the message to all governors that these courses are vital and that their state may one day be held accountable for the civic mission of its public schools!

One has to wonder what's going on at NCSS at this time of national crisis not to specifically point this out to its members through every opportunity? When will NCSS finally urge its affiliates to fight for S659?
(editor's comment: Jack Bovee)
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mailto:level.egis@ncss.org
Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 10:18:51 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [Ncss-legis] Advocacy News: Alexander, Byrd, and Kennedy Introduce History and Civics Education Bill!

NCSS is pleased to share the attached brief memo from Washington Partners on the introduction of S.659--a bill to improve the teaching and learning of American history and civics--by Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Robert Byrd (D-WV) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) on Thursday, March 19.

Largely based on the History and Civic Achievement Act that was introduced in the 110th Congress by Representative Betty McCollum (D-MN) in the House and by Senators Alexander and Kennedy in the Senate, the bill connects to NCSS advocacy efforts in the last Congress and is of great interest to the social studies. Please be sure to read the brief report for complete details.

The bill was referred to the Senate HELP Committee after its introduction and has not yet been made publicly available. As the details and future of this legislation become clearer, NCSS will be working with Washington Partners to express our continued support and determine how we can best assert our voice to improve its prospects. (Note the lack of any 'call to action' here?)