By Kristin
The New York Times reveals the concern some feel about how little American students know about civics. On a test given by the Department of Education, students did a pretty poor job of demonstrating mastery of "how government is financed, what rights are protected by the Constitution and how laws are passed." Sandra Day O'Connor calls this a "crisis."
I call it a crisis too, but for different reasons.
First, there is an increasing gap between the skill sets of privileged and unprivileged kingergarteners – a gap that increases every year. I call that a crisis. Given a short school day and a nine-month school year, schools are having to triage teaching for our under-prepared students. If we have 8th graders who can't read because no one at home is helping them learn to do so, they started kindergarten five years behind their more privileged peers and fall behind even more with every break from school, then I don't think understanding "the checks and balances among the legislative, executive and judicial branches" is the most pressing issue – for an eighth grader.
And if it is a pressing issue – if that's a critical understanding for eighth graders – then why isn't someone helping schools add the task to the already too-full school day by finding the money to lengthen the school day and the school year? In fact, let me suggest something that will help close the "achievement gap," - provide free summer school / childcare for low-income families. Instead of falling behind their more affluent classmates who attend summer camp or travel to France in July, low-income students would be given the extra instruction many of them need.
Another crisis is that this generation of children is being test-prepped at the expense of other life enhancing educational opportunities. If the directive is to test well in reading, writing, math and science and no one demands that schools support a child's physical activity, art, music and history, then we're bound to start seeing a "crisis" in those areas as well. In fact, we already are, despite the fact the Department of Education itself argues for how important art and music is to college and adult success. Many elementary schools are depending on PTAs to fund art and music, and I know some schools that have cut art, music and recess from the day entirely in order to increase seat time. No recess for a third grader? No art for a first grader? That's a crisis.
And while O'Connor might think it's a crisis to have 4th graders who can't explain the impact of U.S. Foreign Policy on Malaysia, I think it's far worse that the parents of most 4th graders couldn't explain it either. My guess would be that most adults wouldn't score very well on this civics examination, and that's a crisis schools can do little about.
In recent years, my district has adopted more scripted curriculums and stringent pacing guides. Due to the increased pressure to meet AYP as the “BAR” continues to go up, we are teaching more and more to the test. Reading, Writing, and Math are the priorities. We are no longer teaching the “whole child”. Science still gets squeezed in because it is tested but social studies falls by the wayside. We are fortunate to have PE and Music for our kids because we are guaranteed our planning periods and that is when these content areas can be addressed. Within the scripted curriculums there is no room for differentiation because you have to turn the page every day, regardless if the students are ready for you to turn the page.
As more and more schools fail to meet AYP, I am left wondering when all schools will fail to meet AYP. What then? I believe that all students are capable of making progress, of learning, and of academic growth. However, I do not believe that 100% of children are capable of meeting the same standard. I believe standards and learning targets are vital components of a quality education, but each child is different. I can prove that every one of my students has made progress but the way NCLB assesses progress makes no sense to me. Test scores are compared year to year to evaluate progress but the same kids are not being compared to the same kids so this is not an authentic or accurate measure of progress. If our students do not perform better than our previous set of students we are faced with punitive measures instead of additional support.
Dare I say, sometimes I think underfunding education is an intentional perpetuation of the classes? Could you imagine if education were funded adequately? The benefits to our community and our society would be countless but they are too far off in the future for people to recognize or value. And perhaps some people do recognize the impact of fully funding education and perhaps they fear it.
I fear social studies is being left out on purpose. Social studies teaches our students to think and to be active in their government. We also learn from our past mistakes. If students are not being taught how to think critically, and how they can participate in their community and their government, then they probably won’t participate. The fewer people who participate, the fewer people in control. Can you see where this is going?
I believe social studies, art, science, social skills, and teaching the whole child are vital to creating a sustainable society. We need to find a way to make the time necessary to teach them. A society values the things it is willing to pay for. Our society clearly doesn’t value a quality education for the general public.
After next year, we won’t be teaching history in the 9th grade. That requirement was cut by the school board in order to make room for a second math class for kids who aren’t on track to meet the math requirement. A good number of students have to have two math classes in their schedule because of the push to get everyone passing math.
Rob D., in my district our curriculum is being made standard along grade level – at least in LA we’re being given book lists, which we didn’t used to have. History has gotten crazy! Instead of teaching regions, for example, ninth grade world history gets to teach the dawn of civilization to the Civil War. That’s too much for ninth graders to grasp in one year.
But, we don’t have packaged curriculum.
My husband teaches elementary and he also finds it hard to fit history in the day. Math is moving along very quickly, with daily lessons mandated. Reading is time-intensive. He makes science a priority, and creative writing.
My daughters watch schoolhouse rock every chance they get. Sometimes I think it’s why I know how a bill becomes a law, what a conjunction is, what the Bill of Rights includes and why cheese is so satisfying a snack.
Remember the holistic unit. You know the one where perhaps you analyzed an event from history or a problem currently facing our community. Maybe you assigned students to groups who researched the event from different perspectives. You had the opportunity to use some primary sources. Students had to apply some of the math and science they used to expand the context of the unit. The students then had to write letters to the city council or present their positions in a debate. Oh, and the best part were the reports where students had to write: nonfiction informative pieces with sources cited. Also they had to complete a piece of art to complement their learning. Oh how I enjoyed the dioramas and poetry the students created.
9 years ago I had a few of these units I taught- Salmon Habitat, the Klondike Gold Rush, & Traveling the Oregon Trail. 8 years ago we adopted a comprehensive standards based curriculum with common assessments and mandatory pacing. There was only time for one of those units. Now I’ve got nothing that resembles an authentic history / civics lesson. Our latest social studies curriculum has been transformed into nonfiction reading exercises & we’re encouraged not to devote much class time to social studies.
What I would give to have control of my curriculum, a healthy field trip budget, and a manageable class size.
Wow. It’s just one crisis after another. And I couldn’t agree more. It calls to mind the school in my district that’s farthest along the AYP-penalty-continuum. They serve the highest-need students, the kids who live two miles from Puget Sound yet have never been to the beach. And because of their school’s apparent “failure” they get nothing next year but math and reading, with one (one!) science unit thrown in after the state test.
Imagine being a kid in that school.
And by the way, I’m not entirely sure what the impact of our foreign policy is on Malaysia, but I have to assume it’s bad.