ANDREA S. LIBRESCO – SOCIAL STUDIES MATTERS IN AN AGE OF ACCOUNTABILITY “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be” – T. Jefferson
Developing a social studies state of mind
Do students do Authentic Intellectual Work? 35 researchers from the Social Studies Inquiry Research Collaborative (SSIRC) assessed the degree of Authentic Intellectual Work (AIW) present in a diverse sample of U.S. classrooms and examined how it related to student performance on high stakes tests. We found: high levels of AIW were rare with only 21 % of students in our sample in classes that met the standards for even moderately challenging teaching students of color were less likely than white students to encounter AIW students in classes featuring moderate levels of AIW had significantly higher success rates on state-mandated tests than their school averages. Dimensions of authenticity in classrooms & tasks: • Higher Order Thinking • Deep Knowledge • Substantive Conversation • Connection to the Real World • Construction of Knowledge • Elaborated Communication • Connection to Students’ Lives Academic Achievement by AIW Quartile
“I insist upon learning the thinking behind the children’s answers. The enemy of questioning and listening to kids and wait time are the time pressures under which we teach. And it takes time to build passion, which deepens their interest in the topic.” -- Karen Phua, 6th g. teacher
Do students in classes that have deep, substantive conversations about real world issues perform as well or better on standardized tests as students in classrooms that are characterized more by the traditional content coverage curriculum?
% Meeting/Exceeding State Standards % Meeting/Exceeding: State Average Pass Rate % Meeting/Exceeding: School Average Pass Rate Difference from: State Pass Rate Difference from: School Pass Rate
Minimal (n=8) 81.8%
Limited (n=33) 87.4%
Moderate (n=11) 92.9%
62.5%
60.6%
90.9%
62.5%
63.6%
72.7%
+ 0.6%
-0.25%
+ 9.1%
-2.79%
-1.69%
+ 12.1 %