September 5, 2007

The Honorable George Miller
Chairman
Education and Labor Committee
US House of Representatives
2181 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Howard P. McKeon
Ranking Member
Education and Labor Committee
US House of Representatives
2101 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Miller and Ranking Member McKeon:

Your recent release of a discussion draft for Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) represents tremendous work from you, Members of the Committee, and staff. The draft reflects your willingness to listen to education stakeholders and your desire to improve upon existing law. National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) applauds the effort and thanks you for your service; we look forward to continuing to work with you as the reauthorization process moves forward.

NCSS is the largest association in the country devoted solely to social studies education; we define social studies as “the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence.” With members in all the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 69 foreign countries, NCSS serves as an umbrella organization for elementary, secondary, and college teachers of social studies and the disciplines it embodies, including four core disciplines, as defined in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act: civics and government, history, economics and geography. The mission of the Council is to provide leadership, service and support for all social studies educators. These educators provide students with knowledge and historical perspective, intellectual skills and civic values needed to fulfill the duties of citizenship in a participatory democracy. It is through this lens that we offer comments on the discussion draft.

As you know, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is a law that has had an enormous impact on public education throughout the nation and has brought vital focus to the need to define school wide academic success as success for every child. NCSS wholeheartedly endorses this goal, but believes the law can be both strengthened and improved. The discussion draft of Title I prompts us to preliminarily raise the following points:

Multiple Indicators/Assessments and Core Curriculum Development

NCSS is pleased that the draft proposes to include a number of additional measures in options offered states in their efforts to meet the accountability requirements of the Act, and supports the proposed changes included in Section 1111(b)(2)(E)(iii). The use of multiple, state-developed assessments in subjects other than reading and math, in addition to other indicators of school progress, would begin to address our members’ concerns that social studies is getting short shrift in the classroom. We have been concerned that current law leads to the unintended consequence of a narrowing of the curriculum that pushes social studies out of the school day. The July 2007 report of the Center on Education Policy reports that 36% of elementary school districts surveyed reported decreasing instructional time for social studies (an average of 76 minutes per week). This concern is supported by research completed by our North Carolina affiliate that shows that in 2007, only 11 states test social studies in the elementary grades, whereas, in 1998, 30 states tested social studies. We believe that allowing the limited use of alternative assessments and indicators will stem this trend, and are grateful for this proposal. In particular, we are pleased that assessments in history and civics and government have been included in the range of multiple indicators. We urge you to consider including assessments in geography and economics among these options as well, as we support efforts to promote “global awareness” as embraced in the 21st Century Skills effort.

College and Work Ready Standards and Assessments

The bill appropriately places an importance and emphasis on efforts to prepare students for success in college and the work place, and “college and work ready standards and assessments” or similar verbiage is used in a number of places in the bill. We would ask that descriptions or definitions of these terms include language that would clarify that these standards and assessments are “aligned to the skills and knowledge necessary for success in college, the workforce and citizenship.” This issue appears in Section 1111A(d), in a discussion related to the development of standards and assessments, but NCSS feels that Section 1111A could be amended earlier in the draft legislation to address this issue, perhaps via a definition of “college and work ready standards and assessments” that would make this point.

While these are two concerns, please know that many of the proposals in the draft address other concerns and needs of our members. In particular, the proposal to allow the use of state assessments at different points in time for AYP purposes will provide educators a measure of relief. The circumstances under which schools can be in compliance with AYP, but not the state assessment, or vice versa, can be frustrating, and clarification of this issue is welcome. The newly proposed Part I, Core Curriculum Development, is very much in line with NCSS’s “Making Every Moment Count” initiative, through which the Council and its partners support efforts to improve upon multidisciplinary instruction at all levels. In fact, we strongly believe these efforts should be supported at all schools˘not just those that receive funds under Title I of ESEA.

Finally, the adjustment to current law that assesses and labels schools that fall short of their goals is welcome. The separation of “High Priority” schools and “Priority” schools is certainly an incentive to those schools that just missed the mark, and NCSS strongly supports this change.

Again, thank you and your staff for the time and effort invested in improving this crucial federal program and investment. We look forward to working with you as this process moves forward.