RTM Sunday: Common Core and Civics?!

It’s “Riddle Me This Sunday”! As you can see from the title, today’s post will tackle Common Core and U.S. Civics. You remember civics in school right? It was included with Social Studies and Geography when I was a high school student way back when. Today, it’s all different. I’d like to think it would be better, however, CCSS isn’t for the better in any part of education, so let’s see if we can solve the riddle of:
IS Common Core Civics for real?!

First, up, the video:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcYc8o3b4XI&w=560&h=315]

Did you catch ‘the rigor’ line? How about the ‘relevant 21st century citizen’? UGH! I think you may be a step ahead of me in knowing where I’m going with this, right? Yep, let’s find out more!

National Council for Social Studies:

(Website: http://www.socialstudies.org/) This is where I found the video you just watched. The organization has ties to the IA (International Assembly), a group dedicated to the global civics educators, but will look in-depth at them in a bit. More about NCSS…

From a 2014 “Position Paper”, the following excerpt, “Social studies education  should
have direct and explicit connections to the Common Core State Standards  for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies.” Here’s the link to the rest of the “Position Paper”, http://www.socialstudies.org/system/files/positionstatements/Developing_State_and_Local_Social_Studies_Standards.pdf (be sure to note that in one of the end notes, this goal for social studies isn’t new) At the main page of the website, be sure to look at the “Toolkit”, you’ll love to the tag line, ‘creating effective citizens’.

The C3 Social Studies Framework, out in 2013 and directly aligned to CCSS. Here’s the introduction to the Framework, “IN THE COLLEGE, CAREER, AND CIVIC LIFE (C3) FRAMEWORK FOR
SOCIAL STUDIES STATE STANDARDS, THE CALL FOR STUDENTS TO BECOME MORE PREPARED FOR THE CHALLENGES OF COLLEGE AND CAREER IS UNITED WITH A THIRD CRITICAL ELEMENT: PREPARATION FOR CIVIC LIFE. ADVOCATES OF CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION CROSS THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM, BUT THEY ARE BOUND BY A COMMON BELIEF THAT OUR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC WILL NOT SUSTAIN UNLESS STUDENTS ARE AWARE OF THEIR CHANGING CULTURAL AND PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENTS; KNOW THE PAST; READ, WRITE, AND THINK DEEPLY; AND ACT IN WAYS THAT PROMOTE THE COMMON GOOD. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE DIFFERING PERSPECTIVES ON THESE OBJECTIVES. THE GOAL OF KNOWLEDGEABLE, THINKING, AND ACTIVE CITIZENS, HOWEVER, IS UNIVERSAL.”

What else you need to know, the C3 was begun back in 2010 after an initial concept was crafted by the Chief Council of State School Officers (CCSSO). We know they are 1/2 Common Core Standards copyright owners, too. We’ve discovered in other previous posts on this blog that the CCSSO has some very unique programs, initiatives, and organizations out there, all CCSS aligned and tackling different strands of the American society as a whole. C3’s Leadership Team? Professors from 2 known CCSS tied schools: University of KY, NC State are among the leaders. Among the writers, other CCSS tied universities like Harvard and UNC were there. There are a host of others too. Over a dozen organizations were included in the credits for creating C3,

 American Bar Association
American Historical Association
Association of American Geographers
Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools
Center for Civic Education
Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago
Constitutional Rights Foundation USA
Council for Economic Education
National Council for Geographic Education
National Council for History Education
National Council for the Social Studies
National Geographic Society
National History Day
Street Law, Inc.
World History Association

Working on the behavioral science aspects of C3? American Anthropological Association, American Psychological Association , and the American Sociological Association.

The ‘stakeholders’ who got the opportunity to review the Framework before publication:

American Association of School Administrators
American Association of School Librarians
American Federation of Teachers
American Heritage
Bill of Rights Institute
C-SPAN
Citizen: Me
Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship,
University of Delaware
Colonial Williamsburg
DBQ Project
Junior Achievement
Federal Judicial Center-History Office
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis,
Economic Education
Heritage Education Services-National Park Service
Library of Congress
National Archives
National Center for Literacy Education
National Constitution Center
National Council for Accreditation of
Teacher Education
Newseum
Partnership for 21st Century Skills
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian American Art Museum
National Museum of the American Indian
Teaching for Change
What So Proudly We Hail

The members of the Teacher Collaborative Council who gave feedback for the early C3 drafts: Arkansas, Lisa Lacefield,John White; California, Michael A. Long , Rebecca K. Valbuena; Colorado, Charlee Passig Archuleta, Anton Schulzki ; Delaware, Wendy Harrington; Georgia, Sally J. Meyer, William S. Rakosnik; Hawaii, Mitzie Higa, Pamela M.T.
(Takehiro) King , Carrie Sato; Illinois, Beth Levinsky, Jeffrey W. Lightfoot; Indiana, Michael Hutchison, Callie Marksbary; Iowa, Rob Dittmer, Nancy Peterson; Kansas, Amanda Jessee,
James K. Robb; Kentucky, Thad Elmore, Barry Leonard; Maine, Shane Gower, Barbara Perry; Maryland, Kimberly Eggborn, Donna Phillips; Michigan, David Johnson, Raymond Walker; Missouri, Roxanna Mechem, Debra Williams;Nebraska, Lonnie Moore, Mary Lynn Reiser; North Carolina, Traci Barger, Mary G. Stevens; Ohio, Tim Dove, Laura Finney, Gloria Wu; Oklahoma, Pam Merrill; Washington, Tara Gray, Sabrina Shaw; Wisconsin, Tina Flood,
Lauren Mitterman.

C3 also has woven into it “Pathways”, as in those same “Pathways” we’ve seen in relationship to careers. Students will be assessed for their pathways in 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 12th grades in C3. (You’ll find that on pages 13 and 20). Look in the Framework for how  psychological components are included as well. Also included are economy, geography, history, with a detailed look at how each are CCSS aligned. Be sure to look at Appendix E, the ‘Scholarly Rationale’ for C3. C3-Framework-for-Social-Studies

As far as the associated groups the NCSS has goes, there are many. They are:

• National Council for Geographic Education
• Center for Civic Education
• Council for Economic Education
• National Council for History Education
• Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools
• American Historical Association
• National Geographic Society
• American Association of Geographers
• American Bar Association
• Constitutional Rights Foundation/USA
• Constitutional Rights Foundation/Chicago
• National History Day
• Street Law, Inc.
• World History Association
• What so Proudly We Hail

Related information:

The Center for Civic Education is linked into the Civitas International Group, which you’ll want to investigate. Especially their ‘Project Citizen’. http://new.civiced.org/civitas-program-resources/instructional-materials/project-citizen Want to see which USA and International groups are part of Civitas International?
http://new.civiced.org/civitas-program-community/collaborating-organizations

When you put “Project Citizen” into the NCSS’s search bar, you’ll get plenty of results. The first one I wanted to look at was for NCSS members only. Also, be sure to check out the local and state level NCSS groups, you’ll find them under “Get Involved”. Click on your state to see what’s going on and who is involved. I used NC’s and got the names of who is on the Executive Board for all things Social Studies in NC. Very interesting.. I also got to read the NC Social Studies Board’s Presidential remarks about how the group was able to meet and discuss current movements with some of our state level legislators. I got to see what groups are supporting CCSS aligned Social Studies in NC, complete with resources. (found this under ‘Resources’ tab). I even found the link to ‘rigor in social studies’ for NC students. See, http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/socialstudies/rigorous-ap/

Thanks to the NC Social Studies website, I was able to find the honor society for Social Studies. NCSS provides the honor organization. So, you can bet CCSS in in there, too. Link: http://rhokappa.socialstudies.org/rhokappa/Home/

IA, International Assembly:

Remember I said we’d look at this organization in the beginning of my post? IA works with NCSS, so we’d better find out more about  IA. Here’s an excerpt from a historical perspective by Margit E. MacGuire, 2010, about IA that gives NCSS a ‘high five’,

“To its credit, NCSS has proved the major, if not the sole forum for an
international gathering of social educators. The leadership of the Council in offering this forum to all social educators has been very much appreciated by U.S. and “foreign” members alike.” The historical paper also shares the past presidents of the IA, “To date there have been eight leaders each serving a two-year term.

Robert Fowler (Canada) 1994-1996
Hans Hooghoff (Netherlands) 1996- 1998
Gavin Faichney (Australia) 1998-2000
Vickie Green (Canada) 2000-2002
Omiunota Nelly Ukpokodu (USA) 2002-
2004
Toni Fuss Kirkwood-Tucker (USA) 2004-
2006
Gloria Alter (USA) 2006-2008
Iftikhar Ahmad (USA) 2008-2010

Here’s the link to the Journal of International Social Studies, where I found the historical perspective paper. http://www.iajiss.org/index.php/iajiss The Journal is the official publication of the IA. You’ll really want to read the article about using Social Studies teachers as ‘change agents’ for 21st century citizen skills. http://www.iajiss.org/index.php/iajiss/article/view/144/135

Be warned, if you click on the links where you think it will take you to the IA’s website, you’ll be directed to a generic search engine. Even trying to access the IA’s website from the NCSS, same results.However, being the tenacious researcher I am, I changed a few words in the search as was able to access the Charter for the IA!!

http://www.towson.edu/internationalassembly/charter.html

Included are the following excerpts, “The International Assembly of Social Educators is an affiliated organization within The National Council for the Social Studies. The International Assembly of Social Educators upholds the principles of EQUALITY and SOCIAL JUSTICE with regard to the education of all persons of all ages, cultural origins and religious persuasions.”

“The main purpose of the International Assembly is to provide an opportunity for social educators from international regions to share, interact and develop ideas, approaches and solutions to problems and issues that we all face in addressing and implementing social education in our respective educational settings. It also seeks to represent an international perspective on the interests and concerns of all social educators to the Board of NCSS. Membership is open to all members of NCSS who are interested in the development and implementation of social studies within the global village.”

If you’ve heard of “Adopt-a-School”, that’s a IA Special Project, be sure to check out the Executive Board (under “Board”), the Global curricula (under “Resources”) From this same website, if you click on “Conferences” you’ll see the last one was 2009, or so it would appear.

If you’d like to see who presented Social Studies messages and what those messages were about at the 92nd Annual NCSS conference, USFSSECNCSS2012Presentations

Their blog: http://ssinternational.wordpress.com/

The new way to teach Social Studies you have to see (assuming you’ve not already)!!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EVez3x0Gyo&w=560&h=315]

 

In closing:

I only have the following to say about our riddle today now that we’ve answered it. Before I say it, let’s make it clear, we DID find our answer. YES, Civics is CCSS aligned, right along with Social Studies, History, Anthropology, and all the other Humanities type courses.

Now, here’s my statement,

Get your illegal, insidious, ‘common global good’ out of my civics!!!!