SOCIAL STUDIES

CURRICULUM REVIEW

GARDEN CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Board of Education Presentation – June 10, 2014

Committee members

Jeannette Balantic, Social Studies Curriculum Coordinator

Teresa Prendergast, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum

Margaux Calemmo, HS Librarian

Lois Kuster, HS Librarian

Kevin O’Hagan, HS Social Studies

Katherine Squires, HS Special Education

Cynthia Tanzosh, HS Special Ed

Alison Wallace, HS Social Studies

Nan McLaughlin, HS Principal

Dave Bradshaw, MS Social Studies

Erica Fregosi, MS Social Studies

Sue Shea, MS Social Studies

Susanna Sheehan, MS Social Studies

Lori Palladino, Kindergarten

Homestead

Donna Welch, Kindergarten

Homestead

Leigh Dowden, 5th grade Stratford

Robyn Madden, 3rd grade Stratford

Barrie Dratch, 5th grade Stewart

Suzanne Viscovich, Homestead

Principal

Linda Norton, Stewart Principal

Christopher Uccellini, AP Stratford

Eileen Vota, Stratford Principal

Charge to the Committee

Conduct “spotlight year” activities

Review student achievement data

Examine Research

Identify Best Practices

Survey Exemplary Schools

Obtain student/parent feedback

Present findings, conclusions and recommendations (including budgetary impact) to administration and the Board of Education

Integrate with ongoing CCLS implementation initiatives

Prepare multiyear plan for implementation beginning 2014-2015

Begin Social Studies

Curriculum Review

The Curriculum Review Process

K-12 committee

Identify positive elements of social studies at each level.

Generate questions to promote meaningful reflection about curriculum, instruction, assessment and resources

Prioritize the questions for building each level (Primary, Elementary, Middle School, High School and K-12)

Gather data at each level

Meet in subcommittees at each level to assess the data and set building level goals

Develop an action plan

K-12 Social Studies Curriculum

A Framework that Supports Teaching, Learning and Assessment

Key Ideas and

Conceptual

Understandings

Conceptual content

articulated at each

grade level;

represents the

“what” of teaching

and learning

Common Core

Literacy Skills

Cross-disciplinary

skills in reading,

writing, research,

speaking and

listening that

should be infused

in all aspects of

Social Studies

instruction

Social Studies

Practices

The essential skills

or habits of mind

utilized by social

scientists and

historians that

students should

develop throughout

their Social Studies

education

•Causation

•Comparison

•Contextualization

•Gather, use &

interpret evidence

•Develop

chronological

reasoning

•Source documents

Social Studies in the Primary Schools

Lay the foundation for citizenship skills

Interdisciplinary connections – art, social studies,

ELA, character education

Generate student enthusiasm for social studies

Primary School Recommendations

Goal Action plan

Dedicate more time for social

studies staff development

•Reallocate staff development hours to focus on social studies

every other month

Create a clear scope and

sequence for each grade

level

•Use staff development time to identify essential questions,

agreed upon documents, writing prompts and assessments

•Align CCLS, ELA and social studies skills and content in lessons

and assessments

•Pilot Putnam BOCES social studies curriculum

•Review reading/writing materials from SchoolWide , Inc.

Integrate ELA skills and social

studies content

• Link literature with social studies content and skills

• Integrate character education with study of heroes/heroines

Social Studies in the Elementary Schools

Opportunities for interdisciplinary studies

Skill development

Use of non-fiction and fiction texts enable students

to make connections and enhance their

understanding of historical events

Academic vocabulary

Grade-wide projects

We the People project

Cultural studies

We the People

Elementary Recommendations Goal Action plan

Dedicate more time for

social studies staff

development

• Reallocate staff development hours to focus on social studies every

other month

Create a clear scope and

sequence for each grade

level

•Use staff development time to identify essential questions, agreed

upon documents, academic vocabulary, writing prompts and

assessments for each grade level

•Align CCLS, ELA and social studies skills and content in lessons and

assessments

• Explore having a lead social studies teacher for each grade

Standardize the 5th grade

research paper

• Use staff development time to identify research topics, questions

and rubrics

Improve articulation

between grades 5 and 6

• Use staff development time to communicate and align expectations

with regard to reading, writing, questioning and vocabulary

Update resources

• Purchase maps, trade books, journals

• Pilot Putnam BOCES curriculum; attend workshops

• Review reading/writing curriculum materials from SchoolWide , Inc.

Social Studies in Grades 6-12

Instructional Philosophy that Reflects Best Practices

Staff development

Joint meetings

Books and articles

Focus by Mike Schmoker

Never Work Harder Than Your Students by Robyn Jackson

Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

Historical Thinking chapters and articles by Sam Wineburg

Time to collaborate and revamp lessons and assessments

Research Grades 6-12

Grade Content Areas Research Assignments

6 Science/ELA Analyze alternative energy sources

7 Social Studies/ELA Analyze the impact of early leaders in the Republic.

Analyze the significance of the Battle of Golden Hill on the American Revolution.

8 Social Studies/ELA To what extent did the Great Migration influence the literary voice in the poetry

of the Harlem Renaissance

9 Living Environment

English

Should colleges continue to recommend vaccinations for students?

Poet Study Assignment (9R) Short Stories (9H)

10 AP/Global History Analysis of human rights violations around the world

Analysis of global issues around the world

11 English and

AP Language Literary Research Paper – Two Literacy Criticisms and Primary Documents

12 SS – Government

English/AP Lit

Research a contemporary issue/policy

Research Project & Oral Presentation/Literary Research Paper

Social Studies in the Middle School

Curriculum Work and Revision

Essential questions

Integrating skills and content

6-8 Writing Initiative

Writing benchmarks at each grade level

Cohesive approach with graduated expectations

6-8 Reading Initiative

Reading benchmarks at each grade level

Targets certain skills at each grade level

Middle School Recommendations

Goal Action plan

Revise Units of Study

in 6th, 7th, 8th grade

•Use summer curriculum and staff development time to revamp

curriculum to develop deeper content knowledge and stronger

skills. ($1,920)

Strengthen Academic

Vocabulary

•6th-8th grade, interdisciplinary (ELA, science, social studies) PLC

formed to identify Tier 2 vocabulary terms

•Designate words for certain grades

•Share instructional strategies to teach academic vocabulary

8-9 alignment with regard

to reading and writing

expectations

•Use staff development time for articulation between 8R and

9R/9H teachers to facilitate a smoother transition for students

Investigate new 7th/8th

grade textbooks

•Attend conferences and contact publishers to review texts (that also

have an ebook) for future adoption ($72,000)

Social Studies in the High School

Diversity of Course Offerings

Curriculum Work

Essential Questions

Cognitive Engagement

Best Practices

Writing Benchmarks

Reading Benchmarks

Global History & Geography 9R/H

Global History & Geography 10R

AP World History

United States History & Government

AP U.S. History

Participation in Government

Economics

AP Macroeconomics

AP United States Gov’t & Politics

AP European History

AP Psychology

AP Human Geography

Criminal Justice

Introduction to Psychology

Long Island History

Greece and Rome Rediscovered

Social Science Research H

Regents Mastery Level Comparisons 2013

Ga

rden

City

Cold

Sp

ring

Ha

rbor

East

Willist

on

Gre

at N

eck

Herr

icks

Jeri

cho

Locu

st V

alley

Ma

nha

sset

Nort

h Sho

re

Port

Wa

shin

gto

n

Rock

ville C

ent

re

Rosl

yn

Syoss

et

Global

History 71% 57% 69% 70% 58% 75% 58% 77% 66% 71% 57% 68% 70%

US

History

87% 77% 64% 84% 76% 84% 78% 86% 73% 86% 74% 81% 84%

Advanced Placement Results 2013

Exam # of GC

students

GC Avg

Score

Nassau County

Avg Enrollment

Nassau County

Avg Score

World History 86 4.13 61 3.03

US History 112 3.64 78 3.33

European History 14 2.64 40 3.16

Macroeconomics 81 3.43 51 3.10

Government &

Politics 85 2.64 57 2.87

Human

Geography 16 3.25 <15 N/A

Psychology 158 4.07 62 3.47

High School Student Engagement Survey

When asked about classroom activities that interest or engage them…

73% of kids ranked discussion and debate highly

60-70% of kids were less enthralled with reading, writing and research projects

When asked how much their experience in social studies contributed to their development in certain areas…

66% of kids felt they were becoming better writers

69% of kids felt they were developing the ability to think more critically

73% of kids felt they were becoming better readers

52% of kids felt that their ability to speak effectively was not greatly improved by social studies.

HS – Extracurricular Activities

We currently offer:

HOPE

Quiz Bowl

Participation in two competitions

Euro Challenge

Fed Challenge

Responses to the Student Engagement Survey indicated a strong interest on the part of students for more social studies oriented clubs (History Club, Debate, Mock Trial, Model UN).

Social Studies Support at the High School

Integrated Class Support

Offered during a variety of periods

Offered to special education and general education

students

Fulfills AIS requirement

Multi-grade assignment (9/10; 11/12)

Reinforce study skills

Support in English, social studies and science

Revamp the scheduling of integrated support

High School Recommendations

Goal Action plan

Create common planning

time in specific courses

each year

•Work with high school administration to identify priority areas to

allocate common prep time and build it into the master schedule

Interdisciplinary Connections

• Identify a course and collaborate with English colleagues to create

interdisciplinary units of study

•Work with high school administration to schedule students in Global

History 9CT and English 9CT back to back

Revise AP Courses •AP curricula to align with College Board changes

($2,400/year) (US, European, World)

Revise Senior Year Research

paper

•Use staff development time and collaborate with librarians to

further revise the senior research paper to reflect increased level

of expectations and rigor

Reexamine elective course

offerings

•Use data from the student engagement survey to revise/rotate

elective course offerings

• Explore creative ways to give students opportunities to enroll in a

variety of courses

High School Recommendations Goal Action plan

Institute a Social Science

Research Program

•Research and visit schools that have competitive social science

research programs

•Work with Steve Gordon to start a program at GCHS

Provide subject specific

support for students

•Work with high school administration to maximize integrated class

support

Offer social studies

oriented clubs

•Use data from the student engagement survey to propose club

offerings (i.e. History Club, Model UN, Debate Club)

Prioritize textbook needs

and ebook subscriptions

•Attend conferences and contact publishers to review texts (that also

have an ebook) for future adoption

•Psychology ($20,000); Government ($10,000)

In Summary…

Opportunity for Reflection What works

Where we want to improve

Commonality in Goals Carve out time for articulation (1-2, 5-6, 8-9); staff

development and common planning.

Develop a clear scope and sequence for each grade at the primary and elementary level

Refine the scope and sequence for each course at the middle school and high school level

Refine social studies lessons, instruction and assessments to advance CCLS in reading, writing, thinking, listening and speaking

Thank you for your support of the Social Studies program!

Questions?