See this story from today’s Daily Press:
U.S. history still trips up students
The state has excluded history scores from the accreditation process for many middle schools.
BY KATHRYN WALSON
757-247-4535
October 27, 2005
STANDARDS OF LEARNING — Virginia is steeped in national history, but its young students aren’t too familiar with the United States’ early years.
Scores on the state’s Standards of Learning exam on American History to 1877 – given to fifth- or sixth-graders – were so low that state officials have decided ,for the past two years, that the scores on the History I exam don’t have to count toward a school’s rating.
The students’ limited understanding of American history is disappointing – especially in a place surrounded by historical sites, said Bill White, director for educational program development at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
“Neglect of history in our schools has already generated two generations of Americans who don’t have a good grasp of who we are as a people,” he said. “This is a national problem and a long-running problem. It’s not something that’s going to be fixed in a school year.”
Because the foundation’s mission is to improve history education, it offers training for teachers and interactive television programs for students nationwide.
“What we need a public school system to do is to create good future citizens of the United States, and the only way to do that is to make sure children understand American history,” White said.
The current history exams began in the 2003-04 school year. Students previously took a cumulative test in eighth grade. But most now take an exam each year of middle school – on American History to 1877, American History Since 1877, and Civics and Economics.
“Changes require a time period for adjustments – for the new curriculum to be in place, for teachers to revise their classroom instruction,” state Education Department spokeswoman Julie Grimes said.
The History I exam is particularly challenging because of all the information that it requires fifth- and sixth-graders to know, Grimes said. “These are some of the younger students … that are being tested on a lot of facts,” she said.
Still, Grimes said, next year’s History I scores would count in the accreditation process.
It couldn’t be determined how many schools in the area and the state excluded History I scores because of low passing rates. But many schools pressured the state to allow the exclusion, she said.
Mathews County schools are among those that benefited from the state’s decision. “Being able to not count, that certainly played out well for us,” Assistant Superintendent George Kidd said.
For two years in a row, Mathews students’ passing rates fell far short of the state’s 70 percent benchmark. Just 50 percent of fifth-graders passed the History I exam last school year, up from 39 percent in 2003-04.
Eighty percent of Mathews’ sixth-graders passed the exam for American History Since 1877, while just 66 percent of seventh-graders passed the Civics and Economics exam.
The reason for low scores is a mystery to Kidd. He said a position was created for a teacher to review students’ SOL answers and pinpoint trouble spots.
“We’re puzzled as much as the state as to why we’re not seeing better scores, ” Kidd said. “We’re grateful that the state gave us another year to get to the bottom of this with them.”
In Isle of Wight County, the History I exam was excluded at Smithfield Middle School as a result of a 66 percent passing rate, which administrators attribute to one low-performing class. The poor scores were the result of an instructional issue that’s been resolved, said Mary Mehaffey, assistant superintendent for instruction.
Poquoson was one of the few school systems that kept the cumulative history test, which 92 percent of eighth-graders passed last year, said Marilyn Barr, assistant superintendent for instruction.
She said, “We had a good system in place, and our students were doing well with it.”
End of Article.
Please note that the Poquoson kids passed. Hmm. Maybe the history teachers did what the tiny (two teacher) biology department did years ago. The biology teachers looked at everything taught in science k-9 and looked for the holes in building blocks of scientific knowledge. They filled in the instruction in what should be cumulative learning. The results were spectacular.
Likewise, my wife’s school in York County has passed the SOLs every year from year One when under 1% of the schools made it. They evaluated each child to see what they didn’t know. Then, golly gee whilikers, they taught the children – as individuals – with extra instruction including volunteer tutors in class and after school to bring them up to speed. This is a school with 20% ‘at risk’ population in schoolese.
K-12 teaching isn”t rocket science. If it is done properly the kids can become rocket scientists.
I still remember things I learned in Arlington County history (3rd grade), Virginia history (our Yankee 4th grade teacher, Mrs Scharf, actually taught about the feats of Confederate arms) and U.S. History (5th grade). The best class I have had was a two hour course combining English and History in the 11th grade – called American Civilization (soon to be the web site I am building).
Final note. It’s wrong to exclude the failing subject for accreditation. Either schools pass or they don’t.
