Revised history and social studies at the Board of Ed

the backup is here
note that this is for discussion, not vote
presenting proposed changes in respons to public comment
and gain board input on revised framework to prep for June meeting (and vote)
and we're doing the review of what they've done so far and who was consulted

Some of whom they asked...#MAEdu pic.twitter.com/QQWauakKBI

— Tracy O'Connell Novick (@TracyNovick) May 22, 2018

priorities are to emphasize civics education and to deepen understanding
rigor, clarity, and coherence of frameworks
"a robust public comment period"

majority like revisions around emphasis on civics, deepening understanding, historical thinking, greater emphasis on traditionally marginalized, improving rigor/clarity/coherence
lack of clarity around assessment: grade/content/design; districts might wait to implement standards until they see what the new MCAS looks like
"respondants recommended that we expedite decision"
amount of content at particular grades: some removed from 5,6,7 and US History II
content bumped current grade 8 content to high school; concern about electives
concern about underrepresented groups: added standards to address role of slavery, history of women, racial history over time, content and primary sources on Native peoples, Latinos, other groups
world history: Eurocentrism is a concern
THUS BIG CHANGE more even representation of regions; world history I development of Eurasian empires and the interaction of those empires
Stewart asks about LGBTQ; now in the standards
primary sources "to suggest places where students could be doing the sort of research you heard about this morning at New Mission"
questions throughout "in the hope that they'll spur other questions"
adding questions relating to literature "because they've said they learned so much about racism from their English classes"
new intro relation to education reform
new guiding principles including socio-emotional and media literacy
news/media literacy standards: designed to be used a partial year course; addressing gap in this area and its impact on civic life
July 2018 Civics Education Institute to intro new 8th grade civics course
collaborate with educator prep programs on implementing

Fernandez with a question around implicit bias
respons "that work...is embedded within our professional standards for teachers"
but it doesn't happen everywhere

And back to assessment: DESE is seeking an assessment developer position and seeking funding in the FY19 budget
Sagan: any sort of timeline on assessment?
answer: "don't yet have clarity on what that timeline would look like" due to funding and need for a person
Sagan: clearly years, not months
"I think the Board has been down this road in the past and we didn't get where we needed to go"
Peyser: current Senate draft does not include history assessment; House does
"it would be nice if those two things came together to get the work going"
"I am impatient about getting back to an assessment strategy" but recognize need for being careful
Moriarty: "I would enver considering it adequate if it were merely some compliation of service projects...it shouldn't be a really soft out in the community sort of thing; as a component, that's fine...but it shouldn't be the whole thing"
...and he suggests the citizenship test...
Riley: thankful to DESE staff for the work and outside experts
"I am not locked in on particular types of assessment...I'm curious"
not pigeonholed
McKenna: survey on civics testing; teachings overwhelmingly opposed to state assessment
administrators split on if it should be state or disrict level
essays, public presentations, individual reflections "much more reflective of work"
"that a test alone would not assess a student's ability to be an active citizen"
Trimarchi: AP seminar being described by McKenna
Morton: persuaded by Martell's comment around race relations; would like it added
Peyser: I'm not totally convinced...ensuring that "we're not drifting too far into current events" by Martell's comment on race relations
"I'm a little concerned that things that are happening now should be embedded in the frameworks...I think we need to be careful about moving to the present time"
and then added "and more broadly" clearly intending to have dismissed the entire topic with more general comments that I missed because I'm still so angry about that comment