Jere Brophy, Distinguished Professor of teacher education and educational psychology at Michigan State University and long-time NCSS member died October 15. He was 69 years old. Brophy was a leader in the field of teacher education, and was known for his pioneering research on effective teaching. In 2006, Brophy and Janet Alleman were awarded the NCSS Exemplary Research in Social Studies Award for their research on K-3 students’ thinking about social studies topics in their book Children’s Thinking About Cultural Universals.

“As a young teacher in the seventies and eighties, his scholarly work on teacher effects was my first introduction to the applicability of research to the classroom, and greatly influenced my teaching”, wrote Michael Yell, middle school social studies teacher and NCSS Past President. “Professor Brophy’s influence will continue to be felt in social studies classrooms thoughout the country.”

1. Budget and Appropriations
-With a lot of disagreement in the Senate over the annual appropriation bills, it has become clear that the Senate would likely have to extend the current continuing resolution into November. It has also become clear that the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education spending bill has little chance of seeing daylight anytime soon.  read more »

After much discussion and deliberation, the California Council for the Social Studies has adopted a policy and is sending letters to the Governor of California, CA State Supt. of Public Instruction, Gene Wilhoit of CCSSO, and Dane Linn from the NGA’s Center for Best Practices in support of the Common Core Standards for Social Studies.

Contact your Congressional Representatives to request that funding for NAEP assessments assures that those related to NCLB-designated core social studies content areas are administered according to the original schedule.

NAGB has eliminated:

• US History and Civics in Grades 4 in 2010 and 2014 from the NAEP assessment schedule;
• postponed Geography from 2010 to 2014; and
• eliminated Economics and World History scheduled for 2012

Changes in planned testing and administration of the NAEP require significant lead time to accommodate the lengthy process of crafting test questions, selecting representative samples of schools and students, and other preparations, including a decision on whether to proceed with the geography test by February 2008.

Members of Congress have recognized the need for expanded testing and are considering a proposal to administer tests in more states with larger sample sizes in US History and Civics to provide comparative data similar to other NAEP assessed subjects.

Research has well established the impact of assessment on instructional time, including the documented marginalization of social studies teaching and learning in our Nation's classrooms and schools.

Sample Letter to Congress

Tips When Corresponding with your Members of Congress