The Essentials of Social Studies, Grades K-8

Effective Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment (Priorities in Practice)

Kathy Checkley

• Publisher: ASCD
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9781416616894
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

In today's climate of accountability and high-stakes testing, many U.S. schools are choosing to focus on the three Rs to the exclusion of other subjects, including social studies. Yet it is more crucial than ever for schools to foster the qualities that will enable students to actively participate in a democratic and global society. The Essentials of Social Studies, Grades K-8 takes a look at how innovative educators are helping students to hone these skills. Readers of this book will learn more about

*The challenges that elementary and middle school teachers face in keeping social studies in the curriculum.
* How to align social studies lessons with curriculum standards.
* Strategies to infuse social studies instruction with passion and purpose.
* Ways to promote students' deep understanding of social studies content.
* Why lessons and assessments should give students opportunities to solve problems, work on projects, and engage in simulations.
* How social studies can prepare students for a lifetime of active civic involvement.
* Professional development that will help teachers bring the social studies curriculum to life in the classroom.

The future of the United States in no small part depends on how well social studies teachers prepare students to assume their responsibilities as citizens. The Essentials of Social Studies, Grades K-8 will help teachers rise to this considerable challenge.

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Chapter 1

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Trends in Social Studies Education

Education, then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men—the balance-wheel of the social machinery.
—Horace Mann

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Fear can be a powerful motivator. Horace Mann, known as the father of public education in the United States, feared that uneducated immigrants, ignorant of their rights and obligations, would fail to support the democratic society to which they flocked. But, he reasoned, a common and free education could be the key to protecting the homeland from such an outcome. He argued that "every wise, humane measure adopted for [the immigrants'] welfare, directly promotes our own security" and observed that "the children of this people will soon possess the rights of men, whether they possess the characters of men or not" (Eakin, 2000). In addition to being the father of public education, then, Mann is the father of civic education: certain that schools could teach future citizens the values essential to democracy and citizenship.

There are few who would dispute Mann's assertion. But a new sort of fear has gripped many a modern educator: that of failing to meet accountability measures established by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

NCLB requires U.S. public schools to test 3rd–8th grade students in reading and math each year. Those schools that fail to bring enough of their students to proficiency in these subjects face escalating sanctions, including the establishment of a new curriculum, the replacement of school staff, and a decrease in managerial authority at the school. A school labeled "in need of improvement" for five consecutive years risks being restructured or taken over by the state (Guilfoyle, 2006). Schools' fear of failure has resulted in a strong emphasis on math and reading instruction, particularly in elementary and middle schools, to the exclusion of nontested subjects. Among the disciplines receiving short shrift is social studies.

Horace Mann is turning over in his grave.

Accountability Run Amok: "Our Hands Are Tied"

Mary Knightly has her own worries. This award-winning, veteran teacher of 35 years once enthusiastically taught social studies to elementary school students of varied ages. But now, to her regret, she can no longer devote as much time to the subject. "I fear for social studies education," says Knightly, a 4th grade teacher at Kensington Elementary School in Kensington, New Hampshire. "What's happened in our school is happening in many. I have talked to my fellow teachers. They're teaching, at the most, two hours of social studies and science a week. I'm teaching three periods a week." With such a dramatic reduction in time, she says, students can't build a foundational knowledge of the subjects. "It's not a healthy balance," says Knightly. "I feel almost guilty sending students on who don't have a background in science and social studies."

Knightly isn't alone. In this era of accountability, many teachers report feeling frustrated and powerless to fight decisions made about curriculum and instruction. Results of a study of 376 elementary and secondary teachers in New Jersey, for example, showed that teachers "tended to teach to the test, often neglected individual students' needs because of the stringent focus on high-stakes testing, had little time to teach creatively, and bored themselves and their students with practice problems as they prepared for standardized testing" (Cawelti, 2006, p. 65).

"We try to give kids different ways to engage with content, but it's gotten to be so challenging," says Joann Winkler, who, like Knightly, has received awards for her creativity in teaching social studies. As a 5th grade teacher at Liberty Elementary School in Port Charlotte, Florida, Winkler finds she is constrained by demands that her instruction produce "certain kinds of data." Such outcomes require a heavy emphasis on test prep, she says. With 32 years of teaching under her belt, Winkler acknowledges that this isn't the best way to teach. Still, although she remains passionate about social studies, and although she and her colleagues would enjoy creating lessons that students find interesting and motivating, Winkler is resigned: "Our hands are tied."

It's not just teachers who find themselves bound by accountability mania, however. School leaders are also held in check. "School boards hold administrators accountable for test scores," says Jeff Passe, an education professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. As a result, these administrators become "increasingly strict about when certain things should be taught."

Or not taught, observes Peggy Altoff, president of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). She notes that subjects such as physical education, art, and music are likely to remain part of the learning program because schedules allow it: teachers are given planning time when their students are off at those classes. It's not as easy to hold social studies time sacred. In fact, says Altoff, since NCLB mandates have been in effect, "only four states report the same amount of time being spent on teaching social studies."

Some administrators who pressure teachers to spend less time teaching social studies may have been "thrust into the curriculum coordinator role" without sufficient professional development, says Roger Wolff, assistant education professor at the University of South Dakota. These administrators don't have a broad enough understanding of why it's important to incorporate social science in the curriculum.

Even administrators who do understand the importance of learning social studies may have compelling reasons for not addressing the topic. "My principal fully believes that social studies is important for students to learn—he was a high school history teacher, after all," says Elizabeth Sinclair, a 4th grade teacher at The New School in Seattle, Washington. Still, when the school was founded in 2002, its goal was to help children of color reverse a legacy of poor academic performance. As a result, the schedule and the curriculum were carefully planned to emphasize critical thinking skills and knowledge of subjects tested on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL).

Sinclair came to The New School in 2006, leaving behind a learning program that integrated social studies into a thematic curriculum. Sinclair, whose innovative social studies lessons were included in Annenberg Media's Social Studies in Action video library, now finds it challenging enough to squeeze science into a day that emphasizes "absolute content blocks" for core subjects. "I miss [social studies] horribly," she says, but it's not on the WASL, and the pressure to help students improve performance on that test "is huge."

The Balance-Wheel: Thrown Out of Kilter

The current curricular focus in U.S. schools may result from the efforts of well-meaning policymakers and sincere educators—but we know where the road paved with good intentions leads. As Marge Scherer noted in "Perspectives: The NCLB Issue," the most positive effect of the federal law has been "the focus of attention and resources on poor and minority students, English language learners, and students with disabilities"—the so-called "invisible children"—yet "the greatest shame of a failed NCLB would be that these students will suffer more from the withholding of a rich curriculum in favor of a test-heavy education" (2006, p. 7).

It would be unfortunate if excluding social studies instruction ultimately disenfranchises the very students whom educators and policymakers are trying to advance. If school is the place where children learn what it means to be citizens in a democracy, as many experts have asserted (see "Civic Virtue in the Schools"), then students who graduate without that basic understanding could well become our future nonvoters. These students may not know that there are systems in place that give them a voice in determining how they will be governed.

Many of the students Joann Winkler teaches, for example, come from "families that aren't involved in civic activities—their parents don't vote." She believes, therefore, that it's up to her—and to public schools in general—to teach students about civic responsibility. "Social studies is such a powerful part of the curriculum—I feel it helps students practice for life," says Winkler. Through social studies, she observes, students learn "about the world they're entering, about the economic system in our country, about voting, about history and why we are what we are."

By the time students reach high school, it's already getting too late to instill these democratic and civic ideals in students, says Margit McGuire, an education professor at Seattle University. It's in elementary school that students need opportunities to practice their roles as citizens, she asserts. In these early years of schooling, teachers can start to channel a child's natural inclination to "care deeply about what is fair and just" into a deeper understanding about how to interact with others in a positive, civic way.

Civic Virtue in the Schools

Like limbs that weaken from lack of use, students' democratic muscles lack vigor if they don't have a chance to use them. To halt an evident decline in civic engagement among youth, an increasing number of educators are urging U.S. schools to reinvigorate their mission to nurture democracy.

Even when civics was widespread as a school course, it generally gave students a textbook acquaintance with the three branches of government and a feeling that voting was a good thing to do. Still, young people rarely exercise the long-anticipated right to vote. U.S. Census statistics show that only 32 percent of people ages 18–24 voted in the 2000 presidential election, compared with 54.7 percent of all voting-age citizens.

"Schools need to reclaim the purpose of public education and the notion that one's education is part of a larger good and can contribute to the betterment of society," says Carl Glickman, an expert on school renewal whose new book, Holding Sacred Ground, examines leadership in democratic schools.

Rather than hold our schools captive with high-stakes testing, Glickman argues, we should require them to provide opportunities for students to put their learning to work in the larger community, whether that means the school or the neighborhood, the city or the state.

Also, although a student's individual goals for higher education and a career are important, schools should consider these plans as part of a larger objective to improve society and allow justice and equality to flourish, stresses Glickman.

But rejuvenating and reforming civic education won't be easy. Denee Mattioli, a past president of the National Council for the Social Studies, laments the apathy toward civic education, saying schools reflect the nation's neglect. For example, she notes, "People don't want to pay taxes for schools if their kids are grown up." Each generation needs to appreciate basic democratic values if the republic is to survive, Mattioli continues. "If people remembered and understood that charge, schools wouldn't be having to have bake sales to make sure they have enough textbooks."

Whole-School Democracy

To send a consistent message about the value of democracy, schools should not reserve its practice for students alone. Teachers, foremost, must "speak truth to power," to borrow a Quaker adage about confronting authority, says Eric Nadelstern, deputy superintendent of new and small schools for New York City's Bronx borough.

"The governance structure of the school is inextricably linked to the methods of the teachers. A 'fiat-and-memorandum' principal will have teachers dictating to kids," which squelches any democratic efforts in the classroom, Nadelstern warns. "You can't do it for kids unless you first do it for teachers."

The democratic practice encourages all teachers to question authority, even that of superintendents and the school board. "We want to empower teachers to collaborate on the curriculum, speak the truth, and question the school board," Nadelstern says. "Democracy is messy, so we're not dictating from the central office how it should be done. As long as rigorous learning connects to kids' lives, we leave it up to the local schools to decide the details."

Democracy may be a messy and complicated process, but teachers can and should teach it, practice it, and pass it on in the schools despite the effort that such a reinvigorated and nuanced civic education would require, these educators say.

"Citizenship is not just what you drop in the ballot box," says George Wood, principal at Federal Hocking High School in Stewart, Ohio. "You have to live and breathe it every single day."

Source: From "Civic Virtue in the Schools: Engaging a New Generation of Citizens," by R. Allen, 2003, Curriculum Update, pp. 1–8. Copyright © 2003 by Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

That won't happen if social studies is "relegated to a third or fourth spot," contends Roger Wolff. Instead, he says, schools will be graduating a "whole decade of students who are not versed in and instilled with dispositions for civic action."

There is concern, too, for older students' academic performance. According to Jeff Passe, "High school teachers are just beginning to see kids—especially children from low-income areas—who have had nominal social studies. Instruction has been minimal and shallow." As a result, these students must work harder to meet tougher demands. It's the nature of schooling to "move from the simple to the more complex, to build from the familiar to the unfamiliar," says Mark Stout, the social studies curriculum coordinator for Maryland's Howard County Public School System. "If kids are missing big chunks [of social studies content], they aren't going to be ready for the rigor that's expected in high school."

This situation has been characterized as "an unintended consequence of NCLB," says Peggy Altoff. If that's true, she maintains, "then someone has to do something intentional about it—now!"

First Amendment Schools

Seventeen First Amendment project schools throughout the United States are exploring ways for students to better understand their roles as citizens in a democracy as they learn a deeper practical appreciation of the five freedoms of the First Amendment (religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition). Projects at these schools, funded through the collaboration of the Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center and ASCD, will serve as models that other schools can adapt to their own communities. For more information about the First Amendment Schools project, visit www.firstamendmentschools.org.

Is Integration the Answer?

It's too late to restore social studies to a prominent place in the curriculum, asserts Alan Haskvitz, a veteran middle school teacher who pens a regular column for EdNews.org. "That war was over the moment NCLB was passed," he writes in "The Disrespecting of Social Studies" (2006). What's needed now, Haskvitz states, is for teachers to address social studies subject matter while teaching other subjects, such as math and language arts. Teachers must also "avoid the pre-fabricated lesson plan in favor of teachable moments and integrated lessons," he maintains.

Although many educators agree with Haskvitz's assertion, effectively integrating the curriculum and incorporating timely issues into lessons is a learned art, and teachers often have few opportunities to develop that ability. According to Roger Wolff, it's a stumbling block that teacher education programs could begin to address.

At the University of South Dakota, for example, Wolff and two colleagues worked together to align social studies standards with those of other content areas. Together, the three education professors—representing social studies, math, and science—taught an integrated unit, and then asked their students to create such a unit of their own. "We asked students to look at the disciplines and find the connections, to see how [the subjects] are all related," Wolff explains. As students go through the process, there is a definite "aha" moment as they discover how rich learning can be when activities intertwine different content areas.

As a result of his integrated unit, Wolff is confident that the students who graduate from his program will know how to infuse social studies into their teaching. Graduates of the program, he says, "have gone out into school systems and have been asked by their administrators to assist faculties in aligning standards and apply that process to curriculum design—in their first year of teaching. We therefore feel ver...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Chapter 1. Trends in Social Studies Education
• Chapter 2. Exploring Standards and Themes in Social Studies
• Chapter 3. Bringing the Curriculum to Life Through Instruction and Assessment
• Chapter 4. Students as Citizens and Activists
• Chapter 5. Implications for Professional Development
• Afterword: Looking Forward
• Web Resources
• References
• Related ASCD Resources
• Copyright