1. Review Panels Release Report on History Standards
2. Update on FY'96 Funding for Fulbright Programs
3. Istook Amendment on Nonprofit Lobbying Stalled
1. Review Panels Release Report on History Standards --
On October 11 the Council for Basic Education released the results and
recommendations of two independent panels that have completed their
review of the National Standards in United States and World History. The
two panels recommended some refinement but endorsed much of the work
undertaken by The National Center for History in the Schools at UCLA,
which developed the standards and published them last fall. The
standards seek to define what all American students should know and be
able to do in history. Because of charges by critics that the standards
were pessimistic and biased, the Council for Basic Education sponsored
this review with funding from the Pew, MacArthur, Ford and Spencer
foundations. Albert H. Quie, former governor of Minnesota and the former
ranking Republican on the House Committee on Education and Labor, chaired
the panel on U.S. History and Dr. Steven Muller, president emeritus of
The John Hopkins University, chaired the panel on World History.
The review panels concluded that the overwhelming majority of criticism
was targeted at the teaching examples in the documents, rather than at
the actual standards for student achievements. They found that once
detached from the teaching examples, the proposed standards provide a
reasonable set of expectation for learning and a solid basis for
strengthening history teaching. The panels noted that the standards
emphasis on historical thinking is important and useful for encouraging
the development of students' critical thinking skills; and the panels
endorsed the standards' use of five spheres -- social, political,
scientific/technological, economic, and cultural -- to broaden the study
of history.
The panels made 9 recommendations for the improvement of the history
standards: "1) Standards -- without teaching examples-- should be
revised and adopted; 2) The revision and all further work should be
guided by the National Center for History in the Schools' criteria for
developing the history standards; 3) Delete the teaching examples; 4)
Eliminate the biased language; 5) Clarify, expand, and integrate the
standards for historical thinking in order to discourage present-
mindedness, easy moralizing, and poorly informed historical judgment: 6)
Strengthen the standards in regard to the treatment of science,
mathematics, technology, and medicine; economic history; the exchange and
evolution of ideas; and interactions between and among the five
historical spheres; 7) Treat social groups in their specific historical
context, recognizing diversity within, as well as between, them; 8)
Standards should find ways to encourage students to see the big picture
based on their understanding of particular facts and to consider large
issues and their development over the span of time and place; 9) The
U.S. History panel recommends that in order to achieve a more complete
picture of American history, the U.S. history standards need to pay more
attention to the relationship between groups and the American nation, the
opportunities afforded to immigrants, and the development of democratic
ideals. In addition, more attention should be given such presences as
Washington and Jefferson and seminal documents such as the Bill of Rights
and the Constitution."
Although not an official recommendation, the world history panel also
indicated that the treatment of the twentieth century was inadequate and
stated that more attention was needed on the complexities of this era,
including the Cold War. The panel also noted that the West gets more
attention than other regions, but concluded this was appropriate for
students living in the West.
2. Update on FY'96 Funding for Fulbright Programs --
There are two programs with Fulbright in their names that are of concern
to historians. One is the Fulbright program of international scholarly
exchanges. This program which will mark its fiftieth anniversary next
year is part of the United States Information Agency (USIA). Its budget
in the Commerce, Justice, State, Judiciary and Related Agencies
Appropriations Bill. The House has indicated in report language the
recommendation of $112 million for the Fulbright program of international
scholarly exchanges (this specific amount does not however appear in the
bill), while the Senate has earmarked in the bill $100 million. The
conference committee on this appropriations bill has not yet met. The
FY'95 appropriation for the Fulbright international scholarly exchanges
was $118 million.
The Fulbright-Hays Program is located in the Department of Education and
focuses on area studies and language training. It funds doctoral
dissertation research abroad, faculty research abroad, group projects
abroad, and seminars abroad. The FY'95 budget for the Fulbright-Hays
program was $5.79 million. The House Labor, Health and Human Services,
and Education Appropriations Bill includes $4 million and the Senate
Appropriations Committee Bill which has not been considered yet by the
full Senate has $5.5 million for the Fulbright-Hays Program.
Another program of the Department of Education that also focuses on area
studies is the Title VI domestic program. This program has 7 components
and is a interdisciplinary effort to promote research and curriculum
development in international education, international business, foreign
languages, and area studies. Last year the Title VI domestic programs
had a budget of $52.28 million. The House has voted for current level
funding but the Senate bill, which has not yet come to the Senate floor,
includes $48.6 million, a 7 % cut from FY'95 levels.
3. Istook Amendment on Nonprofit Lobbying Stalled --
Senators Alan Simpson (R-WY) and James Jeffords (R-VT) seem to have
stalled the House leadership's efforts to subsection 501-(c)3
organizations, which include nonprofit scholarly and educational
associations, to new restrictive lobbying rules. Attempts by
Representative Ernest Istook (R-OK) to attach his lobbying amendment to
various appropriations bills has, for the moment, been thwarted.
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