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Schools
Drop State History Some schools in Georgia are dropping Georgia History from their curricula, according to Jane Cassidy, staff member of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation. The move is not made out of indifference to state history, but as a response to public pressure to increase test scores, she said in a report to the Georgia National Register Review Board meeting held in Richland on September 24.
One such decision is to concentrate the curriculum on those skills which are tested by ITBS. These are reading comprehension, mathematics, reading vocabulary, language arts, social studies and science. Since Georgia History is not a subject which ITBS tests, the material is irrelevant in the view of some professionals in school boards. The Georgia General Assembly mandates that Georgia History be taught in schools. No school has actually violated that policy by dropping a course in which state history is taught. Yet, in effect, this is what some schools have done in a creative way, according to Ellen Ivy, another Georgia Trust staffer. They have chosen to use a history textbook which does not cover Georgia History. If the subject isn't in the text, then it isn't taught. In this way, the school is able both to circumvent state law and improve scores. Westville wrote to Senator George Hooks and Representative Gerald Greene concerning the matter. Both legislators contacted State School Superintendent Linda Schrenko. Superintendent Schrenko expressed her concern and responded in part, "The revised eight grade Quality Core Curriculum for social studies is entitled Georgia and the American Experience. The entire curriculum centers on Georgia, its history, geography, government and overall impact in the exploration and building of America. All Georgia Schools are required to teach the Quality Core Curriculum (QCC)." Ed Jackson is Senior Public Service Associate at the Carl Vinson Institute for Government at the University of Georgia. He explained the problem in a telephone interview. He indicated that a recent revision of QCC encouraged schools to teach Georgia History in the context of American History. For example, when the Georgia Constitution is discussed, it should be compared and contrasted with the American Constitution. Some
schools took this standard as license to use an American History text
for the Georgia History course as a way to increase the students' exposure
to social studies material that is tested by ITBS.
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The
problem that schools face is that citizens often judge their schools by
student scores on a standardized test called the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills
(ITBS). Each system's performance is published on an Internet site (www.doe.k12.ga.us).
Since the "report card" compares the school system's performance
to national norms and state averages, the system has to face either public
acclaim or anger. Schools naturally would rather have the acclaim, so
they make decisions that improve the bottom line on tested performance.