Making a Difference in Florida
Florida’s public schools have the responsibility for creating an informed and active citizenry. This goal requires our students receive a firm foundation in each of the four major areas represented in the Sunshine State Standards for social studies – history, government/civics, economics and geography. Sadly, it appears from several accounts that we may be failing to adequately prepare our students, thus ill-equipping our state and nation to meet this important goal.
As many recent surveys attest, we no longer can afford the luxury of assuming students are actually learning about the heritage of our nation or that they possess the essential economic, civic, geographic or historical competencies to equip them for their future responsibilities as citizens! Unfortunately for both our nation and state, we are totally ignorant of what knowledge, skills and civic dispositions our students actually do possess. This is a recipe for future disaster!
The Florida Council for the Social Studies (F.C.S.S.) is committed to restoring our curriculum area to its rightful place among the other core, basic subject areas. In this valiant struggle, we need the help of all social studies educators! Join the legislative oversight committee by contacting the current chairperson at advocacy@fcss.org. “Grassroots social studies advocates” are needed in every county to contact legislators, work with affiliated groups and to speak out on the vital need for a revitalized civic mission in the public schools.
The F.C.S.S. legislative committee is making a difference both at the state and national levels. F.C.S.S. is responsible for getting N.C.S.S. (and other national organizations) to look at the upcoming 2006 N.A.E.P. assessment. F.C.S.S. was the first professional organization representing social studies teachers to call for disaggregated data in the form of state-by-state comparisons to a national mean for all N.A.E.P. assessments.
F.C.S.S. was successful in getting former U.S. Secretary of Education and now Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander to file a bill to do this. F.C.S.S. was able to capture the attention of U.S. Representative Jim Davis (Tampa), in another bill that would withhold federal dollars from any state such as Florida that no longer required U.S History or Government for all its high school graduates. F.C.S.S. continues to fight against determined state bureaucrats and legislators who oppose our being added to Florida’s Student Progression Law or who wish to see our curriculum remain in an inferior status within public education. For example, current Florida law will not allow districts to even consider a student’s performance in social studies as that student is being considered for promotion in grades K-8!
We need your help! Join F.C.S.S. and become a member of the legislative ‘grassroots’ committee. If you don’t have the time for this, consider making an extra financial contribution to F.C.S.S. for this purpose!
For more information please contact advocacy@fcss.org