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
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
TAH Grants in Danger of Disappearing..
The "Teaching American History Program"
I know many of you became members of NCHE because of the Teaching American History Program (TAH) and many of you have participated in engaging, exciting and enlightening professional development in history connected to TAH. Congress is now considering a suggestion made by the administration that we believe
endangers TAH. The 2010-11 Federal budget has shifted the line-item for the Teaching American History Grant program into a large consolidated group of programs (at least seven) called Effective Teaching and Learning for a Well-Rounded Education. From this pool of funding, grants will be made for TAH.
Of greater concern, the administration announced that the next step might be to zero out all funding for TAH programs by 2011. This would effectively end TAH. (It is important to note, however, that existing grant contracts appear in the budget be funded to completion.)
As one of the leading forces in the creation of the TAH program, NCHE is very concerned about this decision. We believe that professional development among elementary and secondary teachers is vital to not only building good habits of the mind but also in promoting outstanding history education. TAH has been, and continues to be, the only source of professional development for many teachers on a national scale. TAH has also created a wonderful "ripple effect," as teachers directly impacted by the program serve as mentors for other history teachers in their school and district. We also believe that history is much more than just another subject in a "well rounded education" -- it is an essential and central part of the necessary education all students must be provided.
So we ask our members, especially those who have been involved in these programs, to contact their congressional representatives, senators and the administration and inform them of the value and importance of this program.
Fritz Fischer
Chair, Board of Trustees, National Council for History Education
Professor of History
Director of History Education
University of Northern Colorado
I know many of you became members of NCHE because of the Teaching American History Program (TAH) and many of you have participated in engaging, exciting and enlightening professional development in history connected to TAH. Congress is now considering a suggestion made by the administration that we believe
endangers TAH. The 2010-11 Federal budget has shifted the line-item for the Teaching American History Grant program into a large consolidated group of programs (at least seven) called Effective Teaching and Learning for a Well-Rounded Education. From this pool of funding, grants will be made for TAH.
Of greater concern, the administration announced that the next step might be to zero out all funding for TAH programs by 2011. This would effectively end TAH. (It is important to note, however, that existing grant contracts appear in the budget be funded to completion.)
As one of the leading forces in the creation of the TAH program, NCHE is very concerned about this decision. We believe that professional development among elementary and secondary teachers is vital to not only building good habits of the mind but also in promoting outstanding history education. TAH has been, and continues to be, the only source of professional development for many teachers on a national scale. TAH has also created a wonderful "ripple effect," as teachers directly impacted by the program serve as mentors for other history teachers in their school and district. We also believe that history is much more than just another subject in a "well rounded education" -- it is an essential and central part of the necessary education all students must be provided.
So we ask our members, especially those who have been involved in these programs, to contact their congressional representatives, senators and the administration and inform them of the value and importance of this program.
Fritz Fischer
Chair, Board of Trustees, National Council for History Education
Professor of History
Director of History Education
University of Northern Colorado
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