District Administration - March 2010 - (Page 18)

Curriculum Social Studies Curriculum: In May, the texas state Board of education (sBoe) will hold a final vote on a new social studies curriculum to be used for the next seven to 10 years by texas’ 4.7 million K12 students. Because its textbooks are standardized at the state level rather than by individual school districts, texas has the second-largest market in the nation, and publishers scramble to get their books chosen. The high cost of creating different editions for other states prevents publishers from forming alternate editions; thus, texas’ standards are often replicated for use in other states. The sBoe could, therefore, be deciding what historical names and dates teachers across the country will be focusing on starting in three years. But that would also depend on if the other states don’t adopt upcoming common core standards. over the past year, a panel of history experts, teachers and politicians appointed by the sBoe developed the curriculum standards that were brought before the board in January. The 10 republican and five democratic members of the board then reviewed the material and pro- Br iefings The Eyes of America Are on Texas posed both additions and removals. some of these changes are as radical as wanting “students to know George Washington was saved by a divine miracle,” says dan Quinn, communications director of the texas Freedom network. at a public hearing in January, over 130 members of the texas community voiced their concerns and proposed alterations of content. Groups such as the texas Freedom network and americans United for the separation of Church and state advocated for balanced standards free of religious bias. “The eyes of texas are on this process, and the eyes of america are on texas,” says Lawrence allen, sBoe member and representative of the houston Independent school district, the largest district in texas and seventh-largest in the country. The texas Freedom network is concerned that the changes being made are not being adequately thought out. “over the course of less than two days, the school Board of education made changes that experts have been creating for years—and did it without any further input from experts,” says Quinn. The number of amendments being proposed has many left-wing texans concerned that a conservative agenda is being pushed. republican board member Pat hardy criticized some other members for their proposed amendments, saying, “Guys, you’re rewriting history now!” a final vote approving the curriculum will take place in May. The publishers will use the approved social studies curriculum to write the textbooks, which will be submitted in 2012 to the state. The books would appear in classrooms in 2013. —KeriLee Horan Study Finds Impact of NCLB on Art Ed Generally Negative A report conDucteD by F. robert SAbol oF the nAtionAl Art eDucAtion ASSociAtion and funded by a grant from the national Art education Foundation concluded that the no child left behind Act has “created a number of negative effects on art education,” and that art educators “generally have negative attitudes about the overall impact” of the legislation. the February report comes after a 2009 survey by the organization of some 3,412 randomly selected K12 visual art educators from all 50 states. responses regarding the effects of nclb varied significantly, depending upon which aspect of art education was discussed. but, in areas of overall impact, the impression was much more negative. Sixty-seven percent believe the bill has not helped their students become better learners; 75 percent felt that nclb has not improved the quality of student work; and some 89 percent claimed that the bill has had a negative effect on faculty morale. not all conclusions were negative, however. in fact, many respondents claimed some aspects of art education have been affected positively by nclb. Forty-three percent reported spending increased time building or revising their curriculum and 51 percent said that they are more reflective about the effectiveness of their instructional practices. the full report is available at www.arteducators.org. —Kurt Eisele-Dyrli 18 March 2010 District Administration http://www.arteducators.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - March 2010

District Administration - March 2010
Contents
From the Editor
News Update
Curriculum Update
Conversations
Administrator Profile
District Profile
Toward a More Perfect Union
The Moxie of Kathy Cox
Logging On to Learn
Battling Sexual Abuse
Supervisor’s Opinion
Problem/Solution
Crisis Response
Product Focus
New Products
Tech Disruptions

District Administration - March 2010