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
Monday, October 5, 2009
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.)
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Constitution and Citizenship Day Act of 2009
See below for another new measure in Congress to allow local districts to apply for federal funds for the teaching of civics each September. As commendable as this measure may be, one wonders if the money could better be used to hold the states accountable for how well they are actually doing this. For the want of a mere $8 million when the government is spending trillions, Congress has failed to enact such legislation for the last three Congresses! The NAEP assessment scheduled for this coming January will represent yet another failed opportunity to give 'equity' to our important discipline with respect to comparing states to one another in student achievement in Civics and United States History. Without state accountability Governors will likely continue to ignore the crisis the nation currently faces with regard to all the disciplines in the social studies area. Helping individual school districts through grants such as that being proposed below -- while ignoring the states as a whole -- is NOT the solution. (Editorial comment, JB)
* * *
Constitution and Citizenship Day Act of 2009 (Introduced in House)
HR 3591 IH
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3591
To establish a grant program to enhance existing secondary education programs for the purpose of teaching high school students about the Constitution of the United States and the constitutions of the individual States.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 17, 2009
Mr. CUMMINGS (for himself, Ms. NORTON, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. WATSON, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. MEEK of Florida, Ms. WATERS, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, and Mr. WATT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor
________________________________________
A BILL
To establish a grant program to enhance existing secondary education programs for the purpose of teaching high school students about the Constitution of the United States and the constitutions of the individual States.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Constitution and Citizenship Day Act of 2009'.
SEC. 2. CONSTITUTION DAY AND CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY SYSTEM FOR STUDENTS.
Part C of title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new subpart:
`Subpart 6--Teaching of the Constitution
`SEC. 2371. ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF CONSTITUTION DAY GRANT PROGRAM.
`(a) Grant Program Authorized- The Secretary shall establish and implement a grant program, to be known as the `Constitution Day Grant Program', under which the Secretary shall award grants on a competitive basis to local educational agencies and charter schools for the purposes of enhancing educational programs to teach students about the United States Constitution and the constitution of the State in which the grant recipient is located.
`(b) Grantee Eligibility Requirements- Grants under this section may only be awarded to a local educational agency or charter school with established secondary educational programs to teach students about the United States Constitution and the constitution of the State in which the grant recipient is located.
`(c) Operation of Educational Programs- An educational program funded by a grant under this section shall--
`(1) occur on Constitution Day, September 17, of each calender year (or on the Monday immediately following Constitution Day, if Constitution Day falls on a Saturday or a Sunday);
`(2) include assemblies, discussions, presentations, or events commemorating the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the State in which the grant recipient is located;
`(3) include efforts to reinforce existing Constitutional curricula conducted by the grant recipient; and
`(4) make available to eligible students participating in such program the ability to register to vote.
`(d) Voter Registration Laws- A grant recipient under this section shall abide by all applicable State and Federal voter registration laws.
`SEC. 2372. GRANT APPLICATION PROCESS.
`(a) Secretary Created Process- The Secretary shall develop an application process for the grant program under this subpart, consistent with the requirements of this section.
`(b) Grant Application Requirements- An application for a grant under this subpart shall--
`(1) describe the educational activities to be funded by the grant; and
`(2) provide assurances that the requirements of section 2371(c) will be met, and any additional assurances that the Secretary determines to be necessary to ensure compliance with the requirements of this subpart.
`SEC. 2373. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
`There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary $4,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014 to carry out this subpart.'.
________________________________________
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* * *
Constitution and Citizenship Day Act of 2009 (Introduced in House)
HR 3591 IH
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3591
To establish a grant program to enhance existing secondary education programs for the purpose of teaching high school students about the Constitution of the United States and the constitutions of the individual States.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 17, 2009
Mr. CUMMINGS (for himself, Ms. NORTON, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. WATSON, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. MEEK of Florida, Ms. WATERS, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, and Mr. WATT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor
________________________________________
A BILL
To establish a grant program to enhance existing secondary education programs for the purpose of teaching high school students about the Constitution of the United States and the constitutions of the individual States.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Constitution and Citizenship Day Act of 2009'.
SEC. 2. CONSTITUTION DAY AND CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY SYSTEM FOR STUDENTS.
Part C of title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new subpart:
`Subpart 6--Teaching of the Constitution
`SEC. 2371. ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF CONSTITUTION DAY GRANT PROGRAM.
`(a) Grant Program Authorized- The Secretary shall establish and implement a grant program, to be known as the `Constitution Day Grant Program', under which the Secretary shall award grants on a competitive basis to local educational agencies and charter schools for the purposes of enhancing educational programs to teach students about the United States Constitution and the constitution of the State in which the grant recipient is located.
`(b) Grantee Eligibility Requirements- Grants under this section may only be awarded to a local educational agency or charter school with established secondary educational programs to teach students about the United States Constitution and the constitution of the State in which the grant recipient is located.
`(c) Operation of Educational Programs- An educational program funded by a grant under this section shall--
`(1) occur on Constitution Day, September 17, of each calender year (or on the Monday immediately following Constitution Day, if Constitution Day falls on a Saturday or a Sunday);
`(2) include assemblies, discussions, presentations, or events commemorating the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the State in which the grant recipient is located;
`(3) include efforts to reinforce existing Constitutional curricula conducted by the grant recipient; and
`(4) make available to eligible students participating in such program the ability to register to vote.
`(d) Voter Registration Laws- A grant recipient under this section shall abide by all applicable State and Federal voter registration laws.
`SEC. 2372. GRANT APPLICATION PROCESS.
`(a) Secretary Created Process- The Secretary shall develop an application process for the grant program under this subpart, consistent with the requirements of this section.
`(b) Grant Application Requirements- An application for a grant under this subpart shall--
`(1) describe the educational activities to be funded by the grant; and
`(2) provide assurances that the requirements of section 2371(c) will be met, and any additional assurances that the Secretary determines to be necessary to ensure compliance with the requirements of this subpart.
`SEC. 2373. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
`There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary $4,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014 to carry out this subpart.'.
________________________________________
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Friday, September 18, 2009
LAWMAKER PUSHING FOR MANDATORY CIVICS CLASS
Immediate, Continual Updates at
www.newsserviceflorida.com
By KATHLEEN HAUGHNEY
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, Sept. 16, 2009
A Jacksonville Republican is renewing his push to require all Florida students to take civics.
Rep. Charles McBurney, R-Jacksonville, has filed legislation that has failed for the past two years that would require middle school students to take a civics class and be tested on their knowledge. A testing system would be phased in, so that eventually, students would have to pass a civics assessment exam to be promoted to the next grade.
"We have a real crisis in our institutions when more than 40 percent of Floridians can't correctly identify the three branches of American government," McBurney said. "Or they can't define the concept of checks and balances."
McBurney's bill was not given a hearing in the House's education budget committee this past spring, but he was able to amend it onto three bills that were passed by the entire House. The amendments did not survive the Senate; however, McBurney says he feels more confident about the bill's chances for the upcoming year than ever before.
"I think to do this is just vitally important," McBurney said.
The legislation did get some buzz toward the end of the 2009 legislative session, largely because former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor spoke to a joint session of the Legislature promoting civics education. Former U.S. Senator and Florida Gov. Bob Graham has also been promoting a new book he wrote about civics and touting the benefits of improved civics education.
But it wasn't enough to get McBurney's bill approved by the entire Legislature. In the Senate, a fight ensued over the bill's requirement of an end-of-the-year civics exam and how much it would cost and ultimately affect schools. Given that the bill has gotten a little more attention each year he has proposed it, McBurney said he feels the chances of its passage are getting pretty good.
"Unless children of our state...understand the basics of our democracy, we may not be able to preserve that," McBurney said.
The bill would ultimately phase in the testing component of the bill. At first, the exam grade would simply be part of the final grade, but eventually would become a requirement to move on to the next grade in 2015.
According to the legislation, in the 2012-2013 school year, students entering sixth grade would be required to take a minimum of one semester of civics education that includes "the roles and responsibilities of federal, state, and local governments; the structures and functions of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government; and the meaning and significance of historic documents, such as the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States."
The bill is HB 105.
-END- 9/16/09
Independent and Indispensable
http://www.newsserviceflorida.com
www.newsserviceflorida.com
By KATHLEEN HAUGHNEY
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, Sept. 16, 2009
A Jacksonville Republican is renewing his push to require all Florida students to take civics.
Rep. Charles McBurney, R-Jacksonville, has filed legislation that has failed for the past two years that would require middle school students to take a civics class and be tested on their knowledge. A testing system would be phased in, so that eventually, students would have to pass a civics assessment exam to be promoted to the next grade.
"We have a real crisis in our institutions when more than 40 percent of Floridians can't correctly identify the three branches of American government," McBurney said. "Or they can't define the concept of checks and balances."
McBurney's bill was not given a hearing in the House's education budget committee this past spring, but he was able to amend it onto three bills that were passed by the entire House. The amendments did not survive the Senate; however, McBurney says he feels more confident about the bill's chances for the upcoming year than ever before.
"I think to do this is just vitally important," McBurney said.
The legislation did get some buzz toward the end of the 2009 legislative session, largely because former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor spoke to a joint session of the Legislature promoting civics education. Former U.S. Senator and Florida Gov. Bob Graham has also been promoting a new book he wrote about civics and touting the benefits of improved civics education.
But it wasn't enough to get McBurney's bill approved by the entire Legislature. In the Senate, a fight ensued over the bill's requirement of an end-of-the-year civics exam and how much it would cost and ultimately affect schools. Given that the bill has gotten a little more attention each year he has proposed it, McBurney said he feels the chances of its passage are getting pretty good.
"Unless children of our state...understand the basics of our democracy, we may not be able to preserve that," McBurney said.
The bill would ultimately phase in the testing component of the bill. At first, the exam grade would simply be part of the final grade, but eventually would become a requirement to move on to the next grade in 2015.
According to the legislation, in the 2012-2013 school year, students entering sixth grade would be required to take a minimum of one semester of civics education that includes "the roles and responsibilities of federal, state, and local governments; the structures and functions of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government; and the meaning and significance of historic documents, such as the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States."
The bill is HB 105.
-END- 9/16/09
Independent and Indispensable
http://www.newsserviceflorida.com
Friday, September 11, 2009
Is America Coming Apart?
by Patrick J. Buchanan
09/11/2009 http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=33517#c1
Flying home from London, where the subject of formal debate on the 70th anniversary of World War II had been whether Winston Churchill was a liability or asset to the Free World, one arrives in the middle of a far more acrimonious national debate right here in the United States.
At issue: Should Barack Obama be allowed to address tens of millions of American children, inside their classrooms, during school hours?
Conservative talk-show hosts saw a White House scheme to turn public schools into indoctrination centers where the socialist ideology of Obama would be spoon-fed to captive audiences of children forced to listen to Big Brother -- and then do assignments on his sermon.
Yet Byron York of The Washington Examiner dug back to 1991 to discover that, when George H.W. Bush went to Alice Deal Junior High to speak to America's school kids, the left lost it. "The White House turned a Northwest Washington junior high classroom into a television studio and its students into props," railed The Washington Post. Education Secretary Lamar Alexander was called before a House committee. The National Education Association denounced Bush. And Congress ordered the General Accounting Office to investigate.
Obama's actual speech proved about as controversial as a Nancy Reagan appeal to eighth-graders to "Just say no!" to drugs. Yet, the episode reveals the poisoned character of our politics.
We saw it earlier on display in August, when the crowds that came out for town hall meetings to oppose Obama's health care plans were called "thugs," "fascists," "racists" and "evil-mongers" by national Democrats. We see it as Rep. Joe Wilson shouts, "You lie!" at the president during his address to a joint session of Congress.
We seem not only to disagree with each other more than ever, but to have come almost to detest one another. Politically, culturally, racially, we seem ever ready to go for each others' throats.
One half of America sees abortion as the annual slaughter of a million unborn. The other half regards the right-to-life movement as tyrannical and sexist.
Proponents of gay marriage see its adversaries as homophobic bigots. Opponents see its champions as seeking to elevate unnatural and immoral relationships to the sacred state of traditional marriage.
The question invites itself. In what sense are we one nation and one people anymore? For what is a nation if not a people of a common ancestry, faith, culture and language, who worship the same God, revere the same heroes, cherish the same history, celebrate the same holidays, and share the same music, poetry, art and literature?
Yet, today, Mexican-Americans celebrate Cinco de Mayo, a skirmish in a French-Mexican war about which most Americans know nothing, which took place the same year as two of the bloodiest battles of our own Civil War: Antietam and Fredericksburg.
Christmas and Easter, the great holidays of Christendom, once united Americans in joy. Now we fight over whether they should even be mentioned, let alone celebrated, in our public schools.
Where we used to have classical, pop, country & Western and jazz music, now we have varieties tailored to specific generations, races and ethnic groups. Even our music seems designed to subdivide us.
One part of America loves her history, another reviles it as racist, imperialist and genocidal. Old heroes like Columbus, Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee are replaced by Dr. King and Cesar Chavez.
But the old holidays, heroes and icons endure, as the new have yet to put down roots in a recalcitrant Middle America.
We are not only more divided than ever on politics, faith and morality, but along the lines of class and ethnicity. Those who opposed Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court and stood by Sgt. Crowley in the face-off with Harvard's Henry Louis Gates were called racists. But this time they did not back down. They threw the same vile word right back in the face of their accusers, and Barack Obama.
Consider but a few issues on which Americans have lately been bitterly divided: school prayer, the Ten Commandments, evolution, the death penalty, abortion, homosexuality, assisted suicide, affirmative action, busing, the Confederate battle flag, the Duke rape case, Terri Schiavo, Iraq, amnesty, torture.
Now it is death panels, global warming, "birthers" and socialism. If a married couple disagreed as broadly and deeply as Americans do on such basic issues, they would have divorced and gone their separate ways long ago. What is it that still holds us together?
The European-Christian core of the country that once defined us is shrinking, as Christianity fades, the birth rate falls and Third World immigration surges. Globalism dissolves the economic bonds, while the cacophony of multiculturalism displaces the old American culture.
"E pluribus unum" -- out of many, one -- was the national motto the men of '76 settled upon. One sees the pluribus. But where is the unum? One sees the diversity. But where is the unity?
Is America, too, breaking up?
________________________________________
Mr. Buchanan is a nationally syndicated columnist and author of Churchill, Hitler, and "The Unnecessary War": How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World, "The Death of the West,", "The Great Betrayal," "A Republic, Not an Empire" and "Where the Right Went Wrong."
09/11/2009 http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=33517#c1
Flying home from London, where the subject of formal debate on the 70th anniversary of World War II had been whether Winston Churchill was a liability or asset to the Free World, one arrives in the middle of a far more acrimonious national debate right here in the United States.
At issue: Should Barack Obama be allowed to address tens of millions of American children, inside their classrooms, during school hours?
Conservative talk-show hosts saw a White House scheme to turn public schools into indoctrination centers where the socialist ideology of Obama would be spoon-fed to captive audiences of children forced to listen to Big Brother -- and then do assignments on his sermon.
Yet Byron York of The Washington Examiner dug back to 1991 to discover that, when George H.W. Bush went to Alice Deal Junior High to speak to America's school kids, the left lost it. "The White House turned a Northwest Washington junior high classroom into a television studio and its students into props," railed The Washington Post. Education Secretary Lamar Alexander was called before a House committee. The National Education Association denounced Bush. And Congress ordered the General Accounting Office to investigate.
Obama's actual speech proved about as controversial as a Nancy Reagan appeal to eighth-graders to "Just say no!" to drugs. Yet, the episode reveals the poisoned character of our politics.
We saw it earlier on display in August, when the crowds that came out for town hall meetings to oppose Obama's health care plans were called "thugs," "fascists," "racists" and "evil-mongers" by national Democrats. We see it as Rep. Joe Wilson shouts, "You lie!" at the president during his address to a joint session of Congress.
We seem not only to disagree with each other more than ever, but to have come almost to detest one another. Politically, culturally, racially, we seem ever ready to go for each others' throats.
One half of America sees abortion as the annual slaughter of a million unborn. The other half regards the right-to-life movement as tyrannical and sexist.
Proponents of gay marriage see its adversaries as homophobic bigots. Opponents see its champions as seeking to elevate unnatural and immoral relationships to the sacred state of traditional marriage.
The question invites itself. In what sense are we one nation and one people anymore? For what is a nation if not a people of a common ancestry, faith, culture and language, who worship the same God, revere the same heroes, cherish the same history, celebrate the same holidays, and share the same music, poetry, art and literature?
Yet, today, Mexican-Americans celebrate Cinco de Mayo, a skirmish in a French-Mexican war about which most Americans know nothing, which took place the same year as two of the bloodiest battles of our own Civil War: Antietam and Fredericksburg.
Christmas and Easter, the great holidays of Christendom, once united Americans in joy. Now we fight over whether they should even be mentioned, let alone celebrated, in our public schools.
Where we used to have classical, pop, country & Western and jazz music, now we have varieties tailored to specific generations, races and ethnic groups. Even our music seems designed to subdivide us.
One part of America loves her history, another reviles it as racist, imperialist and genocidal. Old heroes like Columbus, Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee are replaced by Dr. King and Cesar Chavez.
But the old holidays, heroes and icons endure, as the new have yet to put down roots in a recalcitrant Middle America.
We are not only more divided than ever on politics, faith and morality, but along the lines of class and ethnicity. Those who opposed Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court and stood by Sgt. Crowley in the face-off with Harvard's Henry Louis Gates were called racists. But this time they did not back down. They threw the same vile word right back in the face of their accusers, and Barack Obama.
Consider but a few issues on which Americans have lately been bitterly divided: school prayer, the Ten Commandments, evolution, the death penalty, abortion, homosexuality, assisted suicide, affirmative action, busing, the Confederate battle flag, the Duke rape case, Terri Schiavo, Iraq, amnesty, torture.
Now it is death panels, global warming, "birthers" and socialism. If a married couple disagreed as broadly and deeply as Americans do on such basic issues, they would have divorced and gone their separate ways long ago. What is it that still holds us together?
The European-Christian core of the country that once defined us is shrinking, as Christianity fades, the birth rate falls and Third World immigration surges. Globalism dissolves the economic bonds, while the cacophony of multiculturalism displaces the old American culture.
"E pluribus unum" -- out of many, one -- was the national motto the men of '76 settled upon. One sees the pluribus. But where is the unum? One sees the diversity. But where is the unity?
Is America, too, breaking up?
________________________________________
Mr. Buchanan is a nationally syndicated columnist and author of Churchill, Hitler, and "The Unnecessary War": How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World, "The Death of the West,", "The Great Betrayal," "A Republic, Not an Empire" and "Where the Right Went Wrong."
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