The following is from WITF here in Harrisburg:
“(Washington, D.C.) — Just in time for President’s Day, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank has released a national report card on U.S. history standards in kindergarten through 12th grade. Pennsylvania schools have fared among the worst. Eighteen states including the commonwealth received an “F,” while the nationwide average was barely a “D.” Michael Petrilli, with the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, faults Pennsylvania’s academic standards for being too vague — for both students and teachers. “Basically the new standards that the state has adopted has no history in it whatsoever,” he says. “I mean there’s no talk about a single person, an event, an era. Not even the Revolution or the Civil War.” Petrilli says South Carolina is the only state to receive a straight “A.” The state Education Department did not respond to a message seeking comment on this report.”
Here are some quotes from the report that stand out to me:
“Indeed, they [the standards] lack all but the most fragmentary substance; the U.S. history sub-strand, for all grade blocks, is just three pages long.”
“No rigor is implied for any grade, and the rote repetition of identical thematic categories precludes any increase in sophistication for later grade blocks.”
“Pennsylvania’s thematic categories are historically hollow and educationally vacuous”
“the Commonwealth’s idiosyncratic and disjointed standards drain everything historical from the study of history and fail to establish connections among people, ideas, and events.”
“These standards lack even a hint of facts, and the content provided certainly fails to provide “even a portion” of a course outline.”
I find it interesting that they did not use the official PDE Standards Aligned System (SAS) website but the Pennsylvania Social Studies wiki to access the standards. The article also does not look at the Curriculum Framework for social studies. The Curriculum Framework within SAS provides Big Ideas, Concepts, Competencies and Essential Questions that teachers can use within their classrooms.
What are your thoughts on this failing grade? Does Pennsylvania miss the mark in their standards? Should they have been more detailed and specific? Oh, and where is the technology integration?
I can’t comment on PA standards but Wisconsin’s standards also received a failing grade. Wisconsin’s standards were designed to encourage critical thinking and allow individual teachers the freedom to teach historical thought in which ever way they saw fit. While I agree this type of standards could overwhelm a new teacher, the latitude to be creative in teaching history I believe is worth it