District Administration - March 2008 - (Page 50)

Social Studies IS IT HISTORY? to social studies education are not gaining essential vocabulary, conceptual and world knowledge. Without the content background about government, economy or geography, by the time students get to middle school, they don’t understand what they are reading when presented with social studies. “It’s extremely shortsighted not to teach social studies in K4,” Roller says. Reading assessments at the upper elementary and middle school levels, which include social studies material, are assessing not just word identiﬁcation but comprehension. A great deal of comprehension is about having the background, vocabulary and conceptual knowledge to interpret the words. For example, if students encounter a passage about the War of 1812 on a reading assessment, they have a greater likelihood of comprehending the passage and scoring higher if they’ve previously studied the topic. Students from low-income families, or those eligible for free or reduced-price school lunch, on average scored lower on the National Assessment of Educational Progress’s (NAEP) U.S. history test in 2006 than those from higher-income families. The gaps between those in the lowest income levels and the highest were 31 points in fourth grade and 28 points in eighth grade. Similarly, on the NAEP civics tests, fourth- and eighthgraders from low-income families had lower scores in 2006 than students from higher-income families—by 28 points and 30 points, respectively. Encouraging Lower Intellectual Skills In most states, social studies tests have primarily multiple-choice questions, and many argue that this has led to lower-level intellectual skills. Students in middle and high school must memorize names and places, not write a historical or a persuasive argument. What’s happening more is that students are learning about individual sub50 March 2008 “What’s really criminal about that is the enriched curriculum that all kids deserve is still taking place in districts with high-achieving kids.” —Gayle Y. Thieman, president, National Council for the Social Studies jects in a vacuum, which detracts from the richness of the curriculum and their understanding of what they are learning and how it applies to their lives. Kidwell urges administrators to consider whether or not students are engaged in learning activities such as debate or mock trials in the classroom, which would help them develop higher-level thinking skills and teach them how to evaluate sources of information and develop the participatory skills they need to be functioning as productive citizens in society. She acknowledges that these modalities are more diﬃcult to measure. “But we’re sophisticated enough in the ﬁeld of education that we should be able to ﬁnd other measures to quantify the impact of high quality instruction and curriculum,” Kidwell says. Democracy Is Not a Given Our students should go into the world feeling that they are part of society and the government process. Many would argue that our country has fallen far short of that goal. The social studies curriculum at the elementary and, increasingly, the middle school level is being squeezed out. “U.S. history will continue to be taught, hopefully at the middle school level and certainly at the high school level, but that’s all you can say,” says Thieman. “Is learning about U.S. history one time enough to ensure that our students know how to be active citizens? Do they have enough understanding of world history and geography to even know where events that have an impact on our global society are occurring around the world?” “Democracy is not a natural state,” Thieman continues. “It has to be taught; it just doesn’t happen. Just because you were born in a democracy doesn’t mean you’re going to die in a democracy.” In the meantime, the federal education budget for 2008 has little or no money for geography and economics classes and includes cuts in fourth-grade civics and U.S. history, Altoﬀ says. However, a recent NCLB reauthorization bill from the House of Representatives includes a provision for assessing other content areas beyond reading, writing, math and science. Altoﬀ is hopeful that advocacy eﬀorts for more social studies in elementary grades are making a wave. DA Lisa Zamosky is a freelance writer based in San Diego. District Administration RESOURCES Colorado Springs School District 11 www.cssd11.k12.co.us International Reading Association www.reading.org Lake Oswego School District www.loswego.k12.or.us Metropolitan Learning Center www.mlc-k12.com National Council for the Social Studies www.ncss.org Partnership for 21st Century Skills wwww.21stcenturyskills.org Southeast Island School District www.sisdschools.org Trinity County Ofﬁce of Education www.tcoek12.org http://www.cssd11.k12.co.us http://www.reading.org http://www.loswego.k12.or.us http://www.mlc-k12.com http://www.ncss.org http://wwww.21stcenturyskills.org http://www.sisdschools.org http://www.tcoek12.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - March 2008

District Administration - March 2008
Contents
Editor’s Letter
Letters
News Update
Technology Update
Curriculum Update
Achievement Today
Security Update
Inside the Law
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Crafting Strategic Plans
Diagnostic Testing
Social Studies: Is it History?
District Buying Power: Spending on Construction and Renovation
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
Speaking Out
Online Edge
New Products
Problem Solution
Leadership Books
Research Corner
Calendar of Events
Products Showcase
Understanding the Times

District Administration - March 2008