2003 NCSS Resolutions

03-01 Social Studies in No Child Left Behind (NCLB)

Supported: California, Ohio, New Mexico, Missouri, New York, Kentucky, Illinois, New Hampshire, Colorado, Florida, Nebraska, Oregon, Florida, Wisconsin, Iowa, Tennessee, ATSS/UFT

Rationale: NCLB requires that secondary teachers be "highly qualified" in a "core academic" area, which does not currently include social studies.

Whereas: The NCSS definition of social studies is: Social Studies is the integrated study of the Social Sciences and the Humanities to promote civic competence.

Whereas: NCLB requires that secondary teachers be "highly qualified" in " core academic area" .

Whereas some states and districts are interpreting the NCLB to exclude "social studies" certification, experience, and/or acquired expertise

Whereas: NCATE standards for accreditation of teacher education programs specifically includes the NCSS content standards

Be it resolved that: \x{2028}1. NCSS publications should summarize NCLB requirements and communicate the implications of NCLB to NCSS members and state and national educational policy makers.\x{2028}2. NCSS work to assure that NCLB is interpreted to include social studies as a "core academic area."\x{2028}3. NCSS work to assure that the states’ definition of highly qualified social studies teachers include those who have been licensed and certified through NCATE/NCSS accredited programs

HOD Passed

BOD Passed---ACCEPTED #1 AND #3 ONLY.The board discussed whether #3 would be be too exclusive. There are many well regarded universities that are not covered under NCSS standards. It also discussed the highly qualified definition.

The board discussed what this would mean. The board discussed what " work to assure" would mean and what implementation would look like. NCSS should be realistic about what is possible for NCSS to accomplish. It noted that it does not say that staff would do this, but that NCSS work. The board also noted that there is a lot of confusion about NCLB.

The board noted that the advocacy portion of this is being addressed through SLI, NCSS publications and NCSS work through NCATE, and through normal communications with press and government. There are two summer workshops on literacy are being presented as well.

03-02 Publication of Governance Task Force Report

Supported by Oregon, Illinois, Iowa, Colorado, Connecticut

The Governance Task Force final report needs to be published so that NCSS members can read and discuss the report's recommendations.

Whereas: The NCSS BOD voted in May, 2003 to accept the final report of the Governance Task Force and use it as a basis for restructuring NCSS

Whereas: A transition team is being appointed to evaluate the recommendations of the Governance Task Force report

Whereas: The transition team will make recommendations to the BOD regarding a timeline for implementing selected suggestions in the Governance Task Force report

Whereas: NCSS members should be able to communicate openly with the transition team and the BOD regarding implementing of the Governance Task Force report

Be it resolved that:

The entire report of the Governance Task Force be published electronically and NCSS will indicate the electronic address of said cocuments in their publication along with the BOD motion accepting the report and the names of the Transition Team members.

HOD Passed

BOD Passed

The Governance Task Force Report is available at http://www.socialstudies.org/about and http://downloads.ncss.org/about/GovTF22003.pdf.

03-04 Reinforce state-level monitoring of NCLB and promoting an exchange of information between state councils and NCSS

Supported by: California, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Washington, ATSS/UFT

Rationale: The ramifications of NCLB have the potential to negatively impact social studies education at the state and national level

Whereas: NCLB has an impact on assessment, certification, preferential treatment, and prioritization of curriculum

Whereas: State councils need to network for legislative lobbying for grassroots as well as professional support.

Whereas: Social studies education is a critical component in maintaining and supporting a democratic society of civic participation and responsibility

Whereas: the federal government requires each state education agency to formulate policy to meet the demands of NCLB

Be it resolved that: NCSS and state councils take a sustained, proactive role in monitoring and disseminating information regarding NCLB\x{2028} \x{2028}Be it further resolved that each state council provide NCSS with annual updates regarding legislation, policy implementation, and advocacy regarding NCLB in their states for analysis and dissemination by NCSS\x{2028} \x{2028}Be it further resolved NCSS provide a forum at the national convention for the discussion of these issues and an annual report from NCSS regarding the federal impact and status of NCLB for social studies.

HOD Passed

BOD Passed--the board discussed implementation of this. Legislative liaisons with states can assist with monitoring. The board questioned how to accomplish the annual impact and status report. One suggestion was to bring in persons from the states and DOE to speak each year at the annual conference. What was meant by Federal Impact? The impact would be at the state level. The board felt that the resolution meant that the states were looking for as much information as possible. NCSS would create a response that it felt would be most helpful and best address state councils concerns. The board considered whether a subcommittee of the board could work to address the issue and work at carrying out some of these tasks. A suggestion was to collect a list of the types of activities that state councils are undertaking and to share this list among the councils.

NCSS provides Legislative Updates, including NCLB, to the NCSS Legislative Network on a weekly basis. At this year's annual conference in Baltimore, there is a session on Saturday, 10:30-12:30 p.m., Convention Center, Rm. 307 "Has NCLB Left Social Studies Behind?" \x{2028}

03-05 Legislative Advocacy for Training to Promote Social Studies Education

Supported by South Carolina, New York, California, Louisiana, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, ATSS/UFT

Rationale: Social studies is being minimized through legislative mandates, and local councils need to play a greater role in the legislative process

Whereas; Schools in this country were established to produce a literate citizenry prepared to function in a participatory democracy

Whereas: Social studies is being minimized in recent federal, state, and local mandates

Whereas: Some state governments are eliminating social studies instruction from the core curriculum

Whereas: Educators are advocates for their profession and for their students

Be it resolved that: NCSS provide legislative advocacy training through presentations at state/local affiliate, regional and national conferences

Be it further resolved that NCSS provide training materials on the web

Be it further resolved that NCSS increase such training at summer leadership institutes

HOD Passed

BOD Passed

Accepted

NCSS reduced staff in May 2003, eliminating the Director of Council Services position and placing Al Frascella, Director of Communications and Government Relations, on 3/5 time. Both of these reductions in force are still in effect, making it impossible for us to travel to state/local affiliates for training. Advocacy training did occur at the NCSS Summer Leadership Institute and packets of the materials presented during the legislative briefing were mailed to all councils. In addition, there is an article in the November/December Social Education devoted to one of the advocacy issues presented during SLI.

03-06 Social Studies Assessments and Instructional Time

Supported by: Middle States Council, Nebraska, South Carolina, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, ATSS/UFT

Rationale: All states need to address student achievement in social studies at the elementary, middle, and high school levels and appropriate instructional time and resources for social studies must be provided to prepare students for these assessments.

Whereas: Social studies is an important part of every student's education toward developing into an effective citizen in a modern, democratic society

Whereas; States are at varying levels of implementation of social studies assessment

Whereas: NCLB makes no reference to social studies as a core academic curriculum subject and many states have followed NCLB by omitting or removing social studies instruction and assessment in the elementary and middle grades as they adopt only those state assessments mandated by NCLB

Whereas: Social studies education should involve all students in grades K-12 to instill civic responsibility and teach cultural heritage

Be it resolved that: The President and Executive Board of NCSS write a letter to all appropriate government officials in each of the states endorsing state wide assessments in social studies at the elementary, middle and high school levels

Be it further resolved that: This letter should also address adequate instructional time and resources in social studies at all grade levels to prepare students for those assessments.

HOD Passed

BOD Defeated--The board discussed implementation of this. Some state councils are not in favor of these assessments. The board suggested that this should be tailored to each individual state. Another suggestion was to ask the CSSSO president to place this on their agenda.

However, NCSS is working in coalition assembled by the International Reading Association and including National Council of Teachers of Math, National Science Teachers Association, National Council of Teachers of English, and National Elementary Principals Association, to address the issue of the use of instruction time, including the narrowing of the curriculum and the amount of classtime used for assessments.

03-09 Support of Public Education

Supported by Florida , California, ATSS/UFT, Connecticut

Rationale: National state and local governmental agencies have promoted support for private and charter schools which serve a limited clientele and limited purpose at the expense of financial support for public education

Whereas: Many state and local governmental agencies have provided public funding to private and public charter schools.

Whereas: Many state and local governmental agencies have provided vouchers for students to participate in private educational programs.

Whereas: Many state and local governmental agencies have given tax credits to private and public charter schools and educational programs, thereby diverting financial support from public to private educational institutions

Whereas The national system of public education represents the best venue for a broadbased, educated citizenry in a democratic society

Be it resolved that NCSS call upon all states and local educational agencies to reaffirm that public education for all children is the first and foremost priority for funding and other institutional support

HOD Passed

BOD Defeated---The board discussed how this could be implemented as written and whether this would require efforts to each of the individual school districts. It was noted that through the Committee for Education Funding, NCSS adcovates for this currently.

03-10 FASSE Support

Supported by : Florida, California, ATSS/UFT, Connecticut

Rationale: The Fund for the Advancement of Social Studies Education needs a solid, sustainable financial basis of operation

Whereas: The Fund for the Advancement of Social Studies Education (FASSE) provides a mechanism for NCSS to shape the future of social studies education

Whereas: The purpose of FASSE is to support research and classroom projects to improve social studies education and promote engaged, effective citizenship .

Whereas: An adequate financial mechanism to effectively support FASSE initiatives is needed

Whereas: Past efforts and HOD resolutions to develop adequate funding for FASSE have not been implemented by the NCSS Board of Directors

Be it resolved that NCSS BOD develop a mechanism for providing stable and adequate funding for FASSE.

HOD Passed

BOD Defeated---The board considered whether this was possible given NCSS current financial situation. The board was sympathetic to this resolution, but felt that it was necessary to ensure the overall financial situation of NCSS was improved before undertaking this.

03-C1 Recognition of NCSS Member Margaret Laughlin

Sponsored by the Wisconsin Council for the Social Studies

Whereas Margaret Laughlin has devoted over 30 years to social studies education, and

Whereas through her writings, consulting, and lecturing, Margaret has worked tirelessly to advance social studies education in the States as well as in Europe, and

Whereas she has written and edited several books that have become standards in the field, and Whereas her articles on curriculum design and national standards are used in teacher preparation programs nationally and internationally, and

Whereas her leadership skills have been instrumental in the development of curriculum designs not only for Wisconsin but, through her publications for the National Council for the Social Studies, also for the whole nation, and

Whereas she has served as a mentor, friend, and colleague to the hundreds of her students who continue to teach social studies in every corner of the world, and

Whereas she has served both the Wisconsin Council for the Social Studies in numerous positions and has served the National Council for the Social Studies in leadership positions including serving as a member of the Board of Directors, and

Whereas the respect for Margaret’s scholarship, leadership, and friendship in the social studies community is widely known,

Be it resolved that the National Council for the Social Studies formally recognizes Margaret Laughlin for her unconditional service, her love, and her value to the social studies community.

Accepted by acclamation.