NCC Washington Update, vol. 2, #11, April 3, 1996
by Page Putnam Miller, Director of the National Coordinating
Committee for the Promotion of History <pagem@CapAccess.org>
1. Revised History Standards Released
2. Congress Passes Another Short Term Spending Measure
3. NCC To Testify on National Archives and NHPRC FY'97 Budgets
1. Revised History Standards Released -- On April 3 UCLA's National
Center for History in the Schools released the revised edition of the
voluntary standards for teaching history from kindergarten through the
12th grade. The first draft of the history standards, which came out
over a year ago, faced criticism that focused primarily on the
teaching examples and not on the standards themselves. The new
standards include refinement of the board guidelines but do not
include any sample classroom assignments.
To consider various criticisms of the first draft, the Council for
Basic Education sponsored two prestigious panels which held extensive
meetings and issued a report on their findings. Over the past several
months the UCLA National Center for History in the Schools has revised
the standards based on recommendations of the panels. Albert Quie, a
former Republican governor and congressman and chair of the U.S.
History Review Panel appointed by the Council for Basic Education,
endorsed the revised standards. He stated: "This version of the
history standards represents a tremendous improvement over the way
history is taught in American's schools." He further noted that "The
criticism that applied to the first version of the history standards
certainly does not apply to the new version, and that should be clear
to anyone who reads the document --liberal or conservative."
Christopher Cross, the president of the Council for Basic Education,
gives the revised standards very high marks. "The UCLA National
Center for History in the Schools has listened well to the criticism
of the earlier documents," he noted "and has created a new document
that will serve schools well as a guide to improving the teaching of
U.S. and world history." Echoing this position is Robert Schwartz,
the director of the education program for the Pew Charitable Trust,
one of the funders of the Council on Basic Education's review process.
Schwartz calls the revised standards sound, balanced and of practical
value. Diane Ravitch, a noted professional in the field of history
education and a critic of the first draft, has also commended the new
standards.
"National Standards for History: Basic Edition" contains all of the
standards from the original books with hundreds of minor changes to
expand and improve the existing material. As with the voluntary
standards projects in other subjects, the goal of the standards is to
serve as background material that teachers and school districts can
use to help develop curriculum and create state standards.
An overarching goal in this revision was to retain from the original
history standards the principal mission of broadening the content of
history in schools and providing a new framework for critical thinking
skills. The material encourages students to develop competence in --
chronological thinking; comprehension, analysis and interpretation;
research; issues-analysis; and decision- making.
The history standards are available for $15.95 per book, plus $5
shipping and handling for the first book ordered ($1 shipping and
handling for additional books and California residents add 8.25
percent tax). Books can be ordered by check, credit card, or purchase
order by calling the UCLA Store at (310) 206-0788. Fax orders to
(310) 825-0382, e-mail orders should be sent to
bookorder@asucla.ucla.edu or mail to UCLA Book Zone, 308 Westwood
Plaza, Ackerman Union, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1645.
2. Congress Passes Another Short Term Spending Bill -- On March 29
the Congress passed and the President signed another stop gap spending
measure that will provide funding until April 24 for those agencies
whose FY'96 appropriations bills have not yet been passed. Congress
had hoped to reach agreement, prior to leaving for the Easter Recess,
on an Omnibus Spending Bill that would provide funding until September
30, the end of the fiscal year, for those agencies for which FY'96
appropriations bills have not been passed. Unable to reach agreement,
Congress will resume work on the Omnibus Spending Bill when they
return on April 15. The House version of the Omnibus Spending Bill,
but not the Senate bill, includes an amendment introduced by
Representative Ernest Istook (R-OK) that calls for the addition of
extensive record keeping requirements for nonprofit organizations that
receive federal grants. A Conference Committee will decide whether to
include the Istook type language in the compromise bill.
3. NCC To Testify on National Archives and NHPRC FY'97 Budgets -- On
April 30 the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal
Service, and General Government will hold a hearing for outside
witnesses to present testimony on the FY'97 budgets of any agencies or
programs under the subcommittee's jurisdiction. The NCC will be
testifying at that hearing on the FY'97 budgets for the National
Archives and the National Historical Publications and Records
Commission.
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H-Net. NCC is the history profession's lobby in Washington, and
its positions reflect the consensus of its member organizations.
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