Time to roll up our sleeves and get to work...

A group of interested historians recently met at the invite of Don Gifford, our esteemed colleague, who is leading the ship of social studies for the state of Kansas. Don has chosen a group of 30 applicants from a long list of interested educators to help rewrite or revise the state social studies standards for history, civics and government, geography and economics. Don feels that it is important that we keep the people of Kansas informed about what sort of decisions are being made by the committee. After all, we represent all of you. Our first order of business was to decide on what ‘Big Ideas’ would adequately represent all social studies disciplines within the state of Kansas. Comments on the Big Ideas are welcome on this web page and on our facebook page.
Big Ideas: (In no particular order)
Choices have Consequences
Individuals Have Rights and Responsibilities
Society is Shaped by Beliefs, Ideas and Diversity
Soceity has Experienced Change and Continuity over Time
Relationships Among People, Places and Environments
We are currently having an online conversation about a possible mission statement. Watch this space for new ideas and actions.

Kansas History Day: Robert J. Dole Congressional History Prize

This prize will be awarded to three Senior Division entries at the
Kansas History Day State Contest that include discussion about the
United States Congress in their research and presentation. Eligible
entries may include those which focus on the history of Congress as an
institution, politics or lawmaking from a legislative perspective or
the actions of individual members or committees of the House of
Representatives or Senate.
• 1st place - $300 and special recognition at a Dole Institute event
• 2nd place - $200 and special recognition at a Dole Institute event
• 3rd place - $100 and special recognition at a Dole Institute event
The Robert J. Dole Congressional History Prize is named in honor of
Senator Bob Dole who served Kansas as both a member of the House of
Representatives (1960-1969) and Senate (1969-1996). The Dole Institute
of Politics houses the archive of Senator Dole's legislative career
which is available for research use Monday-Friday from 9-4.
To be eligible for this award, students must submit the nomination
form and process paper and annotated bibliography by the registration
deadline date of March 25. Nominations must also include the following
for Website, Documentary, and Historical Paper entries: Website URL,
CD/DVD of the documentary, or Historical paper. For additional
information regarding the Kansas History Day State Contest, please
visit the Kansas History Day website, http://ks.nhd.org/.
For more info visit the Robert J. Dole website

KCHE Conference in Derby a Success!

About 70 Kansans collected in Derby, Kansas on Monday October 25, 2010 for the annual conference of the Kansas Council for History Education. Conference participants were treated to a variety of presentations designed for every grade level. A special presentation was done honoring Nathan McAlister, KCHE treasurer. For those of you who don't know Nathan was chosen as the National History Teacher of the Year and traveled to Washington, DC in October to receive his award. See the slide show here of Nathan's travel and special commemoration. All Kansans should be proud of Nathan, he teaches us all about Kansas everywhere he goes. In addition to teacher presenters at the conference, the participants were treated to sessions by the Kansas State Historical Society, The Bill of Rights Institute, the National Archives of Kansas City, the Eisenhower Library, the Truman Library, the Ritchie House in Topeka along with a keynote address by Don Gifford, Kansas Consulting Teacher for History/Government/Social Studies. All attendees left at the end of the day with a number of free items including door prizes and a classroom set of Revolutionary Heart, the autobiography of Clarina Nichols. Revolutionary Heart was graciously donated by Quindaro Press.

KCHE Conference 2010

Our annual conference for Kansas Historians will be held Monday October 25, 2010 in Derby, Kansas. The conference will be preceded by a reception on Sunday October 24, 2010 at The Museum of World Treasures in Wichita,Kansas. The wine and cheese reception on Sunday is free to all who register for the conference. Highlights of the conference will include a keynote presentation by the new Consulting Teacher for Social Studies, Don Gifford. A special double session for elementary educators will be led by Marcia Fox, Education Specialist for the Kansas State Historical Society. And finally the National Archives of Kansas City will be doing a closing session on their new teacher friendly Docs Teach,an interactive website especially designed for educators. If you are familiar with the Kansas Memory website, then the National Archives site will be easy and exciting to navigate. Not registered yet? Follow this link to conference registration information.

Lane Freedom Trail

Royal Valley Middle Schools students put historical thinking to work when they proposed a bill to the Kansas state legislature this past legislative session. SB 293 was signed into law by Governor Parkinson on Monday May 24, 2010, making a portion of Highway 75 the Lane Freedom Trail. Read the story of the students journey in the Topeka Capital Journal.

Free Summer Workshop on Kansas History

Follow the link to the Kansas State Historical Society web page. Two free workshops are being offered in June, one in Topeka and one at ESSDAK in Hutchinson. Register early!

NCLB Changing to ESEA-We need membership input by March 26!

The Reauthorization of "Elementary and Secondary Education Act" (ESEA)

The ESEA has been known in recent history as NCLB. In discussions we have been having on Capitol Hill, the only thing we have learned for sure is that it will no longer be called NCLB, and for now is being discussed as ESEA.

Teachers of all grade levels throughout the country, and hence the majority of the membership of NCHE, see NCLB as problematic, especially due to the type of testing connected with it. The biggest concern for NCHE is that NCLB has had the unintended consequence of limiting the teaching of history at all grade levels throughout the nation.

This must change, and it is this issue in which we ask our membership to become involved. Please send your comments on this issue to the House Committee on Education and Labor, eseacomments@mail.house.gov, and please send a copy to me
(fritz@nche.net). The deadline for comments is Friday, March 26. We must concentrate on the loss of focus and time on the teaching and learning of history. Provide the Committee with some concrete suggestions to ensure that history does not get left behind (sorry for the pun!). All of you will have some excellent ideas on how to do this, but some examples might be for the bill to include guidelines for the number of minutes a day devoted to history teaching; it could include recommendations for the number of required High School courses in history; it could include requirements for meeting state history standards (note that none of these suggestions mention testing). But please get in touch with the Committee and your representatives to make sure that the teaching of history is an integral part of any movement for educational reform.

Thanks...and feel free to get in touch with me if you have any ideas, questions or comments (fritz@nche.net).

Fritz Fischer
Chair, Board of Trustees, National Council for History Education
Professor of History
Director of History Education
University of Northern Colorado