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** American Students and the Decline in History  ** ** Generations of Citizens are Ignorant of Basic Civics and US History   ** Students at White House - //Mike Streich// Every few years national polls highlight the low level of history and civics knowledge among American citizens, yet at some point educators need to reform the process. One of the popular songs equated with the 1978 spoof of American college life, //Animal House,// was Sam Cooke’s “Wonderful Life,” which starts out, “Don’t know much about history…” As humorous as the song was, it underlines an on-going problem within every level of American education regarding the teaching of history. Every few years new studies highlight the dearth of history knowledge as well as civics and education. The problems begin in elementary and middle school levels, and are seldom corrected in the high school years. ** Recent Studies on History and Civics Knowledge  ** In a November 25, 2007 //Washington Post// story, Naomi Wolf presented the bleak facts: “…only 47 percent of high school seniors have mastered a minimum level of U.S. history and civics, while only 14 percent performed at or above the ‘proficient’ level…” (“Hey, Young Americans, Here’s a Text for You”). She further writes that middle school students in most states are not even required to take classes in civics and government. // Newsweek // ’s poll of American’s knowledge of history and civics, reported in the September 4, 2007 edition (“Dunce-Cap Nation”) concluded that, “Our understanding of broader global affairs and history is sketchy at best.” The national “What You Need to Know Poll” also documented significant deficiencies in geography. More recently, a January 26th, 2009 piece in the //NBC Los Angeles News// highlighted a study conducted by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute on American History and government. The article quotes Josiah Bunting, Chairman of the ISI’s National Civic Literacy Board who remarked, “There is an epidemic of economic, political, and historical ignorance in our country.” (“Study: Americans Don’t Know Much About History: There’s an epidemic of historical and political arrogance, says report”). ** Reassessing Educational Priorities  ** The 2001 No Child Left Behind Act established a criteria of measurement that has caused states to devise assessment methodologies that rely on standardized tests. This holds true for assessing history, government, and civics studies as well. Yet, ironically, most of the independent studies cited in articles and scholarly essays decrying the dearth of history education //also base their findings on standardized assessment vehicles//. In most cases, these assessments take the form of quiz type questions. They don’t measure the understanding of concepts. In essence, if American students cannot master historical facts, despite the teaching-to-the-test methodologies employed to satisfy state standardized tests, how can they be expected to grasp the concepts that are determined by those facts? Students that cannot state how many justices serve on the Supreme Court cannot possibly relate the overall significance of the high court, particularly in terms of context in American History. ** Reforming History and Civics Education  ** Teachers //can teach// civics and American History within the currently established curricula throughout the various local systems. However, state and local school systems need, ultimately, to reassert their traditional right over education and lobby to end federal NCLB mandates. The ensuing task of reintroducing meaningful history education will be immense, but the future of American democracy, resting in the next generations, may depend on the effort. The late Senator Claiborne Pell, long identified with American education, once stated that, “The strength of the United States is not the gold at Fort Knox or the weapons of mass destruction that we have, but the sum total of the education and the character of our people.” Until Americans realize the futility of NCLB as it affects history and [|civics education], Newsweek and other similar publications will continue to publish the results of polls that show how little Americans really know about their past history

=  Reforming Civics Education in High School   =

Current Methods of Teaching American Government are Ineffective
US Supreme Court - //kconnor/Morguefile// The No Child Left Behind Act has forced high schools to abandon meaningful civics education in favor of teaching to a test that measures sterile facts to be memorized. In February 2006, former Florida Senator Graham, while attending a session of the [|Harvard Model Congress,] asked teacher advisors if civics was still being taught in the high schools. At the time, the Senator was collecting information for a pending book. Civics is still being taught, but not in a way that is meaningful and lasting. The //No Child Left Behind// (NCLB) Act, imposing testing standards, has eradicated any notion of //teaching// civics in favor of programs specifically designed to pass end of grade (EOG) tests.

Few Young Americans Know or Understand Their Government
In far too many cases, college freshmen exhibit an almost complete lack of understanding of basic American “civics.” Unless they were in Advanced Placement Government courses, most of these students have not studied politics, economics, or government since high school freshmen or sophomore years. Given the fact that students today may be the least knowledgeable in terms of current events and contemporary politics, the issue is compounded. Because of the NCLB Act, school systems across the nation have adopted teaching methodologies that are geared solely to improve EOG average scores. In some states, like North Carolina, scores tied to overall school improvement (which is measured strictly by scores) are linked to bonuses or a form of merit pay. Consequently, as in the case of underclass required civics classes, students fill out endless note cards with simple definitions that they are expected to memorize. In addition, students complete stacks of worksheets and are given study guides which are nothing more than possible test questions and answers. Standardized [|power point presentations] accompany the busywork and teachers are tasked with specific deadlines. The so-called Standard Course of Study (SCOS) at least in civics classes, is a sterile guideline that reinforces rote memorization. Critics may quickly point to the tremendous resurgence in political action on the part of high school and college age students during the 2008 Presidential Election. While certainly true, that energy is no indicator that students grappled with or understood the //process// of government. Even an ever increasing number of adult Americans cannot tell you the three branches of government or the most basic elements of a democratic system.

Developing Realistic Civics Curricula
The rote memorization of terms and names will never allow students to understand cause and effect. They will never analyze, trace, discover, or master. Yet all of these terms designed to create the picture of //measurable// instruction can be found in many state standards of study! The reality appears to be that students achieving high scores on EOG civics examinations may fulfill the state outcomes, but leave the school knowing very little about United States government. This insidious policy must be corrected both from the top down and from the bottom up. It will require discarding current methods in favor of a narrative approach that focuses heavily on class room discussion. Curricula that provide challenging alternatives should focus on the development of critical thinking skills, particularly in a civics or government class. Schools need to retrain teachers to move away from sterile power point presentations as the //only// means of instruction. This also necessitates that teachers know their subject area well. The way civics is taught in most American schools today, //anyone// can “teach” the class. The essence of an informed citizenry rests with personal knowledge of how and why the //Constitution// is the supreme law of the land. Students may recall through memorization that “due process” is part of the 5th and the 14th Amendments. But under current instructional methodologies, they cannot tell you what due process actually is or why it is important. An entire class period can be fruitfully spent on this issue, yet all too often this is not possible. Civics instruction must be reformed and the start may be with NCLB.

=  Education Reform Under Obama is Bush's NCLB Recycled   = Jul 31, 2010 [|Joseph Moore] Obama Education Blueprint Champions Charters - //Joyce N. Boghosian// President Obama's educational reform blueprint is simply a repackaging of previous federal initiatives focused on accountability and privatization. On Thursday, July 29, 2010, President Obama gave an hour long speech at the National Urban League's 100th anniversary convention in which he laid out his education reform blueprint for the nation and responded to criticisms of his plan from civil rights groups and teachers' unions.

Test-Based Accountability and Merit Pay
The centerpiece of Obama's reform effort is [|Race to the Top], a national competition between states fighting for limited federal education funding. In order to be eligible to receive Race to the Top funds, states must submit proposals demonstrating adherence to the Obama education agenda of universal standards and assessments, test-based accountability schemes for schools and teachers, and plans to "turn around" under-performing schools. So far, Delaware and Tennessee are the big winners from phase 1 of the competition with rewards of $100 million and $500 million respectively. $3.4 billion remains up for grabs in phase 2 with over 40 states submitting proposals. The Obama blueprint itself is little more than a repackaging of the previous NCLB initiative with a renewed emphasis on test-based accountability and privatization through charter schools and voucher programs. The federally initiated educational reform efforts of the past 20 years had their roots in the efficiency movement of the early 20th century. At that time, business was the ideal model for education and schools were viewed as assembly line factories, mass producing compliant workers to achieve maximum productivity. [|America 2000], George H.W. Bush's initiative, its predecessor the "No Child Left Behind "Act, and now Obama's blueprint have resurrected this business/industrial model with an almost fanatical devotion to standardization and accountability. The results of this emphasis on standardized testing, outlined in Alfie Kohn's //The Case against Standardized Testing: Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools//, have been a dramatic decline in teacher autonomy, curricular creativity and innovation, and substantive critical engagement within the classroom as schools are forced to teach to the test in order to receive desperately needed funds and avoid takeovers by the state. If teacher pay becomes contingent on student performance on standardized tests, as the Obama plan calls for, the teach to the test culture will become even more ingrained in American schools and teachers' livelihoods will become dependent on unreliable test scores which, according to a 2002 study by researchers at Arizona State University, do not accurately reflect student learning.

Privatization Through Charter Schools
Along with test-based accountability schemes, the Obama blueprint would direct more federal dollars towards charter schools and voucher programs, both of which are designed to use public tax dollars to subsidize the profits of private educational institutions, thereby undermining public education while enriching the private sector. A trend closely examined by Kenneth J. Saltman in his 2000 book, //Collateral Damage: Corporatizing Public Schools - A Threat to Democracy//. A recent (2009) nationwide [|study] by education researchers at Stanford University compared learning outcomes of charter schools with those of traditional public schools. The study found that 50% of charter schools nationwide have results no different from the local public school, and 37% of charter schools deliver results that are significantly worse than the student would have realized at the traditional public school. If this is the reality, why does Obama continue to champion charter schools as the solution to America's perceived education crisis while siphoning desperately needed funds away from traditional public schools? Ever since Reagan proposed the abolition of the Department of Education in the 80's, successive administrations have searched for ways to remove education from the public sphere and transfer it into private hands. Education is simply one front in the larger battle for privatization alongside social security, health care, prisons, law enforcement, national security, etc. Privatization and test-based accountability go hand in hand. When under-resourced schools, particularly those in inner cities serving low-income and minority populations, struggle to meet the standards forced on them by the state, politicians point to this as evidence of the failure of public schools to educate America's youth and offer privatization as the only logical remedy. In contrast, true reform would increase funding to America's most vulnerable public schools in order to reduce class sizes, retain essential support staff and attract the most effective teachers. Rather than allow bureaucrats and businesspeople to draft standards and design curricula and assessments, true reform would place teachers, parents and community members at the center of the decision making process. Finally, true educational reform aimed at closing the achievement gap would address the basic, underlying causes of this schism in American schools. Reformers would focus on closing, for example, the poverty gap, or the health care gap, or the nutrition gap, or the gender gap, or the myriad other socioeconomic related gaps which, when taken together, account for the overwhelming disparity in academic achievement in the U.S.