Dodd Pilot Study Report

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Analyzing the change in Social Studies Standards over time from SC, GA, and NC.

and their change over time

Fall 2023

Standards

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Shift in Ages

Brief Background

Around the turn of the century, our society shifted from the "Information Age" to the "Experience Age." This shift in society reduced the importance of information and instead created a focus on the importance of experiences. For teachers, they grew up and/or were trained during the Information Age. However, students have only grown up in the Experience Age. Society has already shifted to the emphasis on experiences - but has our school system?

Connecting the shift in ages to current educational practices

Research Questions

How has the language of the standards aligned with societal changes emphasizing skills and experience over the relaying of information?

How has the language of Social Studies standards over time changed to reflect a change in purpose?

Brief Literature Review

Leming, J., Ellington, L., & Schug, M. (2006). The state of social studies: a national random survey of elementary and middle school social studies teachers. Social Education, 70(5), 322-327

Stearns, S. (2019, July 30). "What Changed" in Social Studies Education. Perspectives on History.

Peters, W. (2022). Teachers' Perspectives on the Purposes of Social Studies Education: A Critical Analysis (dissertation). ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, Boston, Massachusetts

The State of Social Studies

"What Changed" in Social Studies Education

Teachers' Perspectives on the Purposes of Social Studies Education

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Finn, C.E. & Kandstoroom, (2001). State Academic Standards. Brookings Paper on Education Policy, 4, 131-179.

State Academic Standards

Discourse Analysis

A part of analyzing these standards was analyzing the language within for purpose and intent. This goes beyond the task verbs used for the standards, and instead what skills or knowledge the standard intends for students to learn. This lends itself to understanding how the standards have changed over the years.

Document Analysis & Discourse Analysis

Framework

Document Analysis

Since the focus of this study is on standards, obviously part of this framework is document analysis. Analyzing the structure of the documents, comparing standards from different states, and comparing standards from the same state over various years were all a part of this document analysis.

GA 2010 Graduation Test Description

SC 2001 Education Report

Sizing Up State Standards (2008)

State Academic Standards

North Carolina, 2021

North Carolina, 2011

All sets of standards are for core, high school Social Studies classes.

Document List

Georgia, 2016

Georgia, 2008

South Carolina, 2019

South Carolina, 2011

South Carolina, 2005

South Carolina, 2000

Additional documents were also read and annotated several times.

Each set of standards was analyzed at least three times, each time with a different focus.

Documents were stored in a protected file on a local hard drive.

The first analysis of the standards was for the task verbs used by the indicators. The second analysis of the standards was for the Depth of Knowledge (DOK) of each indicator. The third analysis of the standards was for a skills-based approach and overall intent of the standards.

Data Collection & Analysis

The most recent standards were easy to find on the State Department's website. Previous standard iterations were more challenging to find - and involved specific internet searches that link to old web pages and even some old forums. Each State Department was contacted about iterations beyond what was found, and only SC responded with earlier standards.

All data was collected through Internet research and contact with each state's Department of Education.

Key Findings

Task Verbs Do Not Equal DOK LevelsAn Emphasis on Consistency Change in DOK Levels

Task Verb: the action students are expected to be able to do DOK Level: level of complexity required of a task

Task Verbs Do Not Equal DOK Level

Explain was the most common task verb - making up 28% of all indicators. In total, there were 66 unique task verbs spread over 1,528 indicators. However, the use of "explain" did not result in increased DOK levels, as it often was a DOK 1.

28%

Reminder: DOK Levels range from 1-4

Geography's importance has been fluent - NC has 0 geography standards, and SC chose not to include them in 2005

Georgia also had additional state standards in Personal Finance, Psychology, and Sociology in their 2016 and 2021 standards - SC and NC did not.

Required Classes

Some states are very consistent - others are not.

Consistency

Most Consistent: Georgia

Georgia from 2008 to 2021 had the most consistent number of indicators - going from a total of 387 to 354South Carolina, however, varied during the years: 2000 - 242 2005 - 116 2011 - 184 2019 - 163Even the number of indicators for a specific class from year to year changed - and not always linear.

Number of Indicators:

North Carolina

Georgia

South Carolina

As the years have gone by, DOK levels have changed - consistently getting harder

DOK Levels

Implications for Future Research

Standard analysis

Perspectives on Social Studies

Conducting further research into the creation and evaluation of standards. The goal would be to determine how the creation of standards has developed throughout the years and what future developments might look like.

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Conducting further research into teacher perspectives on Social Studies education - it's purpose and importance. The goal would be to compare new teachers to veteran teachers and see if there is a difference in perspective - and what might have caused the difference.

Georgia State Education Department (2016). Georgia Standards of Excellence - Social Studies.

Georgia State Education Department (2008). Georgia Social Studies Curriculum Guide.

North Carolina State Education Department (2021). North Carolina Social Studies Standards.

North Carolina State Education Department (2011). North Carolina Essintial Standards - Social Studies.

South Carolina State Education Department (2019). South Carolina Social Studies College- and Career- Ready Standards.

South Carolina State Education Department (2011). South Carolina Social Studies Academic Standards.

South Carolina State Education Department (2005). South Carolina Social Studies Academic Standards.

South Carolina State Education Department (2000). South Carolina Social Studies Curriculum Standards.

Leming, J., Ellington, L., & Schug, M. (2006). The state of social studies: a national random survey of elementary and middle school social studies teachers. Social Education, 70(5), 322-327

Stearns, S. (2019, July 30). "What Changed" in Social Studies Education. Perspectives on History.

Peters, W. (2022). Teachers' Perspectives on the Purposes of Social Studies Education: A Critical Analysis (dissertation). ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, Boston, Massachusetts

Finn, C.E. & Kandstoroom, (2001). State Academic Standards. Brookings Paper on Education Policy, 4, 131-179.

References

"The more we give importance to skill development, the more competent will be our youth."~ Narendra Modi ~

Shifting Education

Yes - a shift has happened. But how do teachers feel about it?

Peters found that teachers understand a shift has happened, and therefore the classroom needs more experiential learning. They expressed frustration about this, as it introduces challenges and a shift in mentality.However, the teachers interviewed were not against change, and seemed willing to adapt with the right support.

But how do we know this?

The best exemplar of this change is social media usage:

Original forms of social media - Facebook and MySpace - were all about compiling information and presenting a profile about yourself. Modern forms of social media - Instagram, Snapchat, and BeReal - are about documenting the experiences you have with those around you.

• More than 70% of Facebook users are over 25
• Around 50% of Snapchat users are between 13 and 25
• BeReal was revitalized in 2022, and now has 21.6 million monthly users

State Academic Standards

What makes "good" standards?

This article dives into research about state standards - the need for standards, what are the standards for standards, the need for accountability, and the backlash to accountability. This discussion of the history of standard implementation and it's effectiveness can be summarized into the "trinity" of standards-based reform:

• The adoption of specific curriculum and performance standards
• Assessment of how many students meet the standards
• Adoption of either negative or positive consequences

What is the purpose of Social Studies?

Is it an important subject... or a support system for reading?

Social Studies - once it changed from being "history" to a myriad of subjects - is complicated. It covers a range of topics and skills, and is often used as another area to teach and reinforce reading/writing skills. This particular opinion piece reflects on the impact that the lack of emphasis on Social Studies has had on students and our education system. The main area that students are lacking in is critical thought and analysis - something that has only gotten worse through the pandemic.

Stearn recommends the professionalization of Social Studies teachers through

• content-driven professional development
• advanced study
• networking with professional historians

How should we focus instruction?

Research tells us that instruction should be student-centered.

This particular research study found that teachers know they should be making their instruction student-centered - and actually prefer it - but often use teacher-centered instruction in the classroom as it best suits the content they are expected to teach according to the state standards. With the changing of state standards, teachers would be able to use more student-centered learning.