Date: August 21, 2003
Subject: Scope and sequence

Yesterday we met to discuss "scope and sequence," essentially whether the whole of our standards from kindergarten through grade 12 cover what we want them to cover, are grade appropriate, and whether there are any omissions or redundancies in the standards. Another way of thinking of it is how the standards "flow" from K-12, and how they will work with a related strand, U.S. History. The room seemed pretty empty at 7:30 am, until we realized that the science committee would not meet until the following day, so our group was half the size of the July 31 group. We got reacquainted with each other over coffee and baked goods, then went to our scope and sequence groups.

Our Government and Civics scope and sequence committee made good progress in the morning, covering K-5 before lunch. During lunch, we reconvened in our grade-level subcommittees. After lunch, we covered grades 6-8, which took most of the afternoon, then finished up with 9-12. We finished about an hour past the target adjourment time of 4:00 pm, but I think that the extra time gave us a very good first draft product.

The various members of our committee presented their grade-level standards (K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12) for Government & Civics, then the whole committee made comments. In some cases members discussed proposed changes with their grade level subcommittee during lunch. We had some lively discussions about U.S. history, the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, Federalist Papers, criteria for good standards, grade-appropriateness, grammar, and word choice. It was a vigorous intellectual workout.

MDE staff will enter our standards into a table format, and post them on the web site for public comment by September 8. Comments will be submitted over the next eight weeks via the MDE web site, public hearings, and comment from national experts. The social studies committee will convene on November 1 to consider the comments and prepare a final draft. Commissioner Yecke will present a final draft to the legislature in February for their approval.

The Commissioner addressed us in the morning, but spent most of the day working in the MDE's State Fair booth, which includes the presentation of their new report cards for every public school in Minnesota (which some insiders call "School on a Stick").

Date: August 14, 2003
Subject: In support of physical geography standards

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS DEMAND WARS IN EASIER-TO-FIND COUNTRIES
"How Come No One Fights in Big Famous Nations Anymore?" They Ask

Washington, D.C. (SatireWire.com) — A delegation of American high school students today demanded the United States stop waging war in obscure nations such as Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and instead attack places they've actually heard of, such as France, Australia, and Austria, unless, they said, those last two are the same country.

"People claim we don't know as much geography as our parents and grandparents, but it's so not our fault," Josh Beldoni, a senior at Fischer High School in Los Angeles, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "Back then they only had wars in, like, Germany and England, but we're supposed to know about places like Somalia and Massachusetts."

"Macedonia," corrected committee Chairman Carl Levin of Michigan.

"See?" said Beldoni.

Beldoni's frustration was shared by nearly three dozen students at the hearing, who blamed the U.S. military for making them look bad.

"I totally support our soldiers and all that, but I am seriously failing both geography and social studies because I keep getting asked to find Croatia or Yemvrekia, or whatever bizarre-o country we send troops to," said Amelia Nash, a junior at Clark High School in Orlando, Fla. "Can't we fight in, like, Italy? It's boot-shaped."

Chairman Levin however, explained that Italy was a U.S. ally, and that intervention is usually in response to a specific threat.

"OK, what about Arulco?" interrupted Tyler Boone, a senior at Bellevue High School in Wisconsin. "That's a country in Jagged Alliance 2 run by the evil Queen Deidranna. I'm totally familiar with that place. She's a major threat."

"Jagged...?" said Levin.

"Alliance. It's a computer game."

"Well, no," Levin answered. "We can't attack a fictional country."

"Yeah right," Boone mumbled. "Like Grenada was real."

The students' testimony was supported by a cross-section of high school geography teachers, who urged the committee to help lay a solid foundation for America's young people by curtailing any intervention abroad.

"Since the anti-terror war began, most of my students can now point to Afghanistan on a map, which is fine, but those same kids still don't know the capitals of Nevada and Ohio," said Richard Gerber, who teaches at Rhymony High School in Atlanta. "I think we need to cut back on our activities overseas and take care of business at home, and if that means invading Tallahassee (Fla.) or Trenton (N.J.) so that students learn where they are, so be it."

"I've always wanted to stick it to Hartford (Conn.)," said Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island. "Oh shit, is my microphone on?"

The hearing adjourned after six hours. An estimated 2,000 more students were expected to hold a march in the nation's capital, but forgot which city it was in.

SatireWire is intended for use by those age 18 and older. All stories are fictional and satirical and should not in any way be construed as fact. Please read our disclaimer. All contents Copyright © 1999-2002, SatireWire, LLC. All rights reserved.

Date: August 14, 2003
Subject: Inspiration

Social Studies Standards Rationale
(Adopted by the Arizona State Board of Education on 3/27/00)

To maintain the Union that supports our freedoms, citizens must rely on the knowledge, skills, and character of its citizens and those they elect to public office. Critical to the preservation and improvement of America’s republican form of government is the study of America’s founding principles, namely the principles as detailed in the United States Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and in The Federalist Papers. The standards include study of the rich and diverse contributions people of many backgrounds have made to American life and institutions, and at the same time, emphasize our shared heritage as citizens and residents of the United States. They require that students acquire both core knowledge and a firm grasp of reasoning and practice in inquiry and research...

Civics/Government

The goal of the civics standards is to develop in all students the requisite knowledge and skills for informed, responsible participation in public life; to ensure, through instruction, that students understand the essentials, sources, and history of the constitutions of the United States and Arizona, American institutions and ideals (ARS 15-710). Through these standards, students will understand the foundations, principles, and institutional practices of the United States as a representative democracy and constitutional republic. They will be aware of their rights as citizens and residents of the United States. They will understand the importance of each person as an individual, the importance of respect for the human and civil rights of all people, and our shared heritage as citizens and residents of the United States. The civics standards also reflect the need to help students develop a basic understanding of politics and government and to practice the skills of good citizenship. Students should be able to obtain, understand, and evaluate information relating to the performance of public officials. Citizenship skills are also required for competent participation in the political process. These include the capacity to influence policies and decisions by working with others, clearly articulating interests and making them known to key decision and policy makers, building coalitions, negotiating, compromising, seeking consensus, and managing conflicts.

Complete text at: http://www.ade.state.az.us/standards/sstudies/rationale.asp

Date: August 13, 2003
Subject: Putting the "public" back into "public education"

There has been some fallout from the Minnesota Data Practices Act notice that was sent to the Academic Standards Committee members. Some individuals at a meeting yesterday were upset about the public access provision (see previous post below), and asked to be exempt. Commissioner Yecke, however, stood by the policy, "rule #4" on the one-page statement that is to be posted at every Academic Standards Committee meeting. By all accounts, the few public observers who have attended have been respectful and have tried not to disrupt the proceedings.

Date: August 12, 2003
Subject: Back to school

I have been hitting the books over the last several days, revising our draft standards in preparation for posting them in our threaded discussion area. It has felt a little like going back to college. At one point I had the following books and materials open next to my computer: Minnesota Legislative Manual, which includes the full text of most of our founding documents, including the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Northwest Ordinance, and even earlier documents such as the Magna Carta; a study guide for Advanced Placement (AP) Government and Politics; and numerous e-mails and other articles. In college, however, we with non-education majors didn't have to worry about a myriad of criteria for writing good standards, in addition to the subject matter.

Speaking of college, due to the apparent convergence of destiny on Saturday, November 1, not only has a Social Studies committee meeting moved to that date, but so has the University of Minnesota Homecoming football game. Thanks to my dedication to the Academic Standards Committee, I will probably miss Gopher Homecoming for the first time since 1982. If you're at the meeting, look for a class of 1982 alum who looks as though he lost his the way to the game.

Beth Aune, Director of Academic Standards & Professional Development, sent us (members of the science and social studies committees) some tips on conducting public meetings that comply with state law, including info on copying and viewing of committee information. The latter is based on legal advice given to MDE regarding the Minnesota Data Practices Act:

In compliance with the MN Data Practices Act, committees will handle requests for copying and viewing of information according to these guidelines—

A. Copies of documents distributed to members of the committees should be made available to the public (citizen observers who ask for them) at the same time. Once distributed, they are public documents.
B. Copies of information such as wall charts or brainstorming charts (that will not be transcribed but are for discussion only) can be requested but do not have to be transcribed. Citizen observers are welcome to make their own notes of the discussions.
C. Members of the public who request documents that committee members do not have at hand should place the request in writing, and copies will be sent within a reasonable time (within two weeks). The law provides that there will be charges for photocopies and staff time for such requests. Requests should be sent to Marsha Davis, MN Dept. of Education, 1500 Highway 36 West, Roseville, MN 55113-4266.

Date: August 8, 2003
Subject: Federalism

Last night I attended the town hall meeting of my Congressman, Jim Ramstad. You should go to your Congressman's town hall meeting. You would probably rub shoulders with a who's who of your local community. Over 100 persons packed a meeting room in the new Wayzata city center last night to see and hear Ramstad. In addition to regular taxpayers and voters, in the audience were state legislators Sen. Gen Olson and Rep. Barb Sykora, Hennepin County Commissioner Linda Koblick, Governor Tim Pawlenty's staffer Paul Anderson, a Wayzata Schools staffer and a school board member, the Wayzata chamber of commerce president, and many others.

Some of the questions from the audience pointed out the alarming lack of effective goverment and citizenship education in this country. These were asked by mature adults who should know better.

One gentleman delivered a fear-mongering rant to repeal the Minnesota Personal Protection Act, also known as the "conceal carry" law, and a general rant against private gun ownership in general. People are even afraid to go to church! We're arming a shadow militia! He claimed to be an NRA member, and asked for a show of hands to find out who favored the new law, and who opposed it (the nays had it overwhelmigly). And he wanted the federal government to do something about it!

Now that I have your attention, this is not going to turn into a debate on conceal-carry, may issue vs. shall issue. This is relevant to us because what this man failed to acknowledge, even after this was repeatedly pointed out by the Congressman, is that gun control laws in general are state laws:

U.S. Constitution, Article X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Of course, the federal Constitution does speak to guns:

Article II

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Others seemed to believe that they were addressing the mayor or a state legislator, rather than a U.S. Congressman. The concepts of the separation of powers, and limitations on the federal government, have been lost on a generation. Large numbers of citizens look to the federal government to solve all of our problems. And this was in Wayzata, not exactly known as a hotbed of liberal thought.

Are you up to a challenge? Try taking this test on the Constitution. I was unpleasantly surprised at how poorly I did: see http://www.federalist.com/histdocs/constitutiontest.htm

The answer to this shortfall in government and civics education, as I was able to point out at the Q&A microphone last night, is not another federal education program. HR 1078 would create "Presidential Academies" to teach history and civics to teachers and students. According to the Tenth Amendment, education is left to the states. If the federal government is that worried about government and civics education in this country, it should repeal the No Child Left Behind Act, and relieve the people of the tax burden to support this dubious program (all but one of the Minnesota Congressional delegation voted No on HR 1, for a variety of reasons). I urged Ramstand to vote No on HR 1078.

Or as Thomas Jefferson said,

If it is believed that... elementary schools will be better managed by the governor and council, the commissioners of the literary fund or any other general authority of the government than by the parents within each ward, it is a belief against all experience. Try the principle one step further, and... commit to the governor and council the management of all our farms, our mills and merchants' stores... No, my friend, the way to have good and safe government is not to trust it all to one, but to divide it among the many, distributing to every one exactly the functions he is competent to.

Date: August 7, 2003
Subject: The 0.5 credit solution

Beth Aune from the MDE advised us today that "In determining how many standards to create for each discipline, you might want to consider the new credit graduation requirements that high schools are required to implement by the 2007-08 school year. The law states that students must complete 3.5 credits in social studies, including at least [emphasis mine] 1 credit of U.S. history, 1 credit of geography, .5 credit of government and citizenship, .5 credit of world history, and .5 credit of economics." So our Government and Citizenship strand will have to keep in mind that the standards we ultimately create will have to be covered in a half-credit. A "credit" is defined in law as "the student's successful completion of an academic year of study or a student's mastery of the applicable subject matter, as determined by the local school district."

Date: August 7, 2003
Subject: "You can't handle the truth(?)"

Yesterday afternoon I was a guest on a talk radio show called "In Focus with Joyce Harley." It's on AM 980 KKMS at 1:00 pm, and every Wednesday the topic is education. I have been on Joyce's show occasionally, and I hope to be her go-to guy on the academic standards process through the next legislative session.

Someone who called into the show referenced David Barton's web site as a possible resource for the history standards. The URL, which we did not cite on the air, is http://www.wallbuilders.com/. David Barton is a historian who knows an awful lot about how Christianity and the Bible in particular influenced the Founders as they were trying to figure out how the government of the new United States should look and work.

I do not favor a state religion or using our government schools to indoctrinate Christianity (our academic standards cannot teach attitudes, values, and beliefs), but our country's Christian heritage should be discussed in public school. This country has a rich Christian heritage, which has influenced it to this day, even more than thinkers like Locke and Montesquieu, and the ancient Greeks and Romans. It is history, and it is the truth. Our kids won't fully understand what America is about without understanding this Christian heritage -- regardless of their personal faith or lack thereof. Check out Barton's web site and you'll see what I am talking about. Or check out your pocket change and you'll see the words "In God We Trust." Why is this motto so important that it appears on our currency? How did it get there? Shouldn't our kids find out the answers to these questions?

What purpose is served by withholding the truth from our youth? To quote Jack Nicholson in the climactic court scene from the movie "A Few Good Men," can't our youth "handle the truth?"

There is legislation that has passed in the Minnesota House that would free schools to explore this heritage. The American Heritage Education in Minnesota Public Schools Act, authored by Rep. Mark Olson, "Precludes school districts from circumscribing instruction on national or state history that includes historical documents with religious content" and "Prohibits using instructional materials with religious content to establish religion." The Senate version has not gained support in that body.

According to the Public Agenda survey cited by Commissioner Yecke, 85% of parents believe that "To graduate from high school, students should be required to understand the common history and ideas that tie all Americans together."

Date: August 5, 2003
Subject: "Look to the greatness of America"

Commisioner Yecke instructed the social studies committee last Thursday as follows. The complete text of her remarks, including instructions to the science committee, will be posted on the MDE web site, I am told by MDE staff. These remarks were largely ignored by the press in their reports of last Thursday's meeting. So you saw it here first!

As a former history teacher, I wanted to learn more about the Minnesota history standards, so again, I went to a primary source. In going through some files on the standards themselves, I came upon a fax dated October 30, 1997. It is a message from former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education, Diane Ravitch. She is writing in response to a request by the Department of Children, Families and Learning to review the Minnesota history standards. She stated:

I will be candid because I don't have time to be diplomatic. In the area of social studies, the Minnesota standards are among the worst in the nation...It is especially disturbing to me that history is almost completely absent from these "standards." ...Students may well graduate knowing nothing about George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, the founding documents, the Federalist Papers, the American Revolution, the abolition movement, Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the New Deal, and other major events, controversies, individuals, and ideas in American history ...[I must tell you how] profoundly disappointed I am with these "standards." They are a missed opportunity to introduce youngsters to the excitement of learning. I advise you to toss them out and start over.

Members of the History and Social Studies committee - this is your task - to start over. We have an obligation to ensure that the children of this state have a firm foundation in the guiding principles of our founding documents and of the sacrifices that earlier generations made to ensure the continuance of our freedoms.

Why is this important? A survey sponsored by the Fordham Foundation, the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Education Association asked American parents to describe what they want the schools to teach about our country. This report is called A Lot to be Thankful For: What Parents Want Children to Learn About America, and it suggests a very interesting perspective about what parents want for their children. For example, 84% of parents surveyed indicted that they believe that the United States "is a unique country that stands for something special in the world" (p. 9). And 85% of the parents surveyed indicated that "to graduate from high school, students should be required to show they understand the common history and ideas that tie all Americans together" (p. 39).

To members of the History and Social Studies Committee, I ask that you look to the greatness of America as you write new standards for the children of Minnesota.

Date: August 5, 2003
Subject: The hard part

Now the hard part begins. Our draft standards have been posted on the Academic Standards Committee web site, and they need work, on style as well as content. We knew that they would, and we have already rolled up our sleeves and begun our rewrites. Notably we need to evaluate each standard and benchmark against the legislative mandate that they be:

• Clear
  
• Concise
  
• Objective
  
• Measurable
  
• Grade-level appropriate

In addition, they must measure academic knowledge and skills, not attitudes, values, and beliefs.

I have asked for a written version of Commissioner Yecke's opening remarks from last Thursday. The press did not report the Commissioner's direction to us to "look to the greatness of America," or the Public Agenda parent survey. Read about both at my home page.

I posted a copy of the Profile of Learning High Standards for grade 9-12 on our Academic Standards Committee web site, for comparison purposes. Our rough standards are headed toward a more rigorous, knowledge-based standard. It's a matter of emphasis, what is included, and what is left out. For example, here is the "meat," slim pickings at that, of the Profile's social studies standards:

Standard: Themes of United States History
Grades: High Grades 9-12

A student shall:

demonstrate understanding of the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and themes related to key events, concepts, and people in the historical development of the United States, including the convergence of people, colonization, settlement, and the American Revolution; expansion, the Civil War, and the Reconstruction; tribal sovereignty and the relationship between American Indian tribal governments and federal and state government; industrialization, the emergence of modern America, and the Great Depression; World War II; and postwar United States to the present; and illustrate the influence of diverse ideas or beliefs on a theme or an event in the historical development of the United States.

Standard: United States Citizenship
Grades: High Grades 9-12

A student shall demonstrate understanding of the foundations, rights, and responsibilities of United States citizenship including how the United States government, as established by the Constitution, embodies the principles and ideals of a democratic republic; the rights and responsibilities of United States citizens, noncitizens, and dual citizens; and the formal and informal structures within which interest groups exercise power, by:

* examining the foundational documents, including the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights relating to citizen rights and responsibilities;

* examining persisting issues involving rights, roles, and status of individuals in relation to the general welfare of society;

* analyzing how citizens can affect public policy; and

* observing, analyzing, and interacting with an actual or simulated governmental process.

The remaining four standards, without detail:

Standard: Diverse Perspectives

Standard: Human Geography

Standard: Institutions and Traditions in Society

Standard: Community Interaction

I will leave it up to you, dear readers, to compare and contrast the Profile of Learning high standards for grade 9-12 social studies with our new standards once we get to the public comment period next month. I will also post excerpts of past critiques of the Profile's social studies standards. I won't be sharing the work-in-progress of the committees, but I will update you on our progress at least weekly this month.

Date: July 31, 2003
Subject: Day 1

Here is my report on the Social Studies committee, grade 9-12 subcommittee, Government & Citizenship strand.

Greetings from the Department of Children, Families, and Learning, which will be renamed tomorrow the "Department of Education." No matter what you call it, it's still a huge bureaucracy. If you ever worked at the headquarters of Control Data, Honeywell, or other large corporation, or studied at the monolithic Wilson Library at the U, you would feel right at home amongst the meeting rooms and cubicles of this huge building just off of Highway 36 and Snelling Avenue in Roseville. When I passed an employee with his head in his hands, sobbing, I asked him what was wrong. He said, "My teacher died."

Seriously, I sat down with my coffee and an obscenely large apple fritter in our large group meeting room before 7:30 am, in The Conference Center (I told you it was big). I was soon speaking with teachers and an associate principal from Wayzata High School. The buzz was upbeat and energetic as strangers met and colleagues were reacquainted ("I saw your name on the list!"). The percentage of K-12 professionals is higher this time than when the math and language arts standards were developed. I think that, at least in my committee, the teachers' expertise and experience had a positive influence. I have never been to a teachers' conference, but I imagine that in the best moments among friends, similar displays of enthusiasm, dedication, and professional expertise must shine.

True to the Commissioner's mission to put the "public" back into the "public schools," the over 80 volunteers who constitute the committee also include parents, college professors, and businesspeople, but no legislators(!).

At 8:00 am we were addressed by Commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke; Mary Anne Nelson, assistant commissioner for the Office of Academic Excellence; and Beth Aune, director of the Division of Academic Standards and Professional Development. They all had different aspects of the day and our task to explain, and all did a fine job doing so. A scheduled appearance during the lunch hour by Gov. Tim Pawlenty was cancelled due to a last-minute scheduling conflict.

The Commissioner mentioned a survey conducted by Public Agenda, "A Lot to be Thankful For," in which parents express what they want their kids to learn in school about their country. She asked the social studies committee to "look to the greatness of America" when composing the U.S. history and social studies standards.

PROCESS

We started with the standards framework (outline) provided by Commissioner Yecke, and examined the exemplar standards for ideas and starting points. The exemplar standards are from: Arizona, Alabama, Kansas, Virginia, and California. We borrowed the most from Arizona, Virginia, and California. We then added our own ideas and changes, almost in a brainstorming fashion, with the knowledge that this is just a rough draft.

National standards were not discussed or referenced. Although we had to use the framework provided, we had complete automony and no direction regarding the creation of our standards and benchmarks ("what the student should know and be able to do").

We made excellent progress, drafting standards and benchmarks for all of our framework categories. Other committees did not make as much progress, and will meet again. This draft will be posted onto a file sharing and message board web site, similar to Yahoo! Groups but with a nicer threaded discussion feature (more like newsgroup readers or groupware applications), hosted at the University of Minnesota. This web site is password protected for Academic Standards Committee members only. We will use this technology over the next few weeks to continue to refine our standards from the comfort of our computers. Based on yesterday's experience, so far I trust my teammates enough to have confidence in this process.

THE FIGHT FOR LIBERTY

All of us seem committed to composing rigorous, knowledge based standards. All were very knowledgeable about U.S. history and civics; I had the weakest knowledge of the group. All spoke disparagingly of the Profile.

Our standards draft so far references natural law and the purpose of government. It's a good start. Refinements that must be made include emphasizing the principles stated in my previous posts to this blog.

THE ROAD AHEAD

On August 20 we will reconvene to work on scope and sequence within each strand. So our subcommittee will meet with the K-2, 3-5, and 6-8 Government and Civics committees to see where the gaps and redundancies are in our standards, and adjust accordingly. So my job will be to stay engaged, communicate with allies, and try to hold it all together in my corner of the world.

After that, we will submit our first drafts to the Commissioner, who will take them on the road and post them on the MDE web site for public comment. The final drafts are due to the Legislature in February when the reconvene.

See the MDE web site for an updated meeting schedule -- it changed from the one published previously. I will post the schedule on my web site this weekend.