Standardizing Citizenship: The Potential Influence of State Curriculum Standards on the Civic Development of Adolescents

The rise of state-mandated standards in public education have allowed legislators to answer the question of what constitutes a proper civic education, a debate that has existed in the United States since the turn of the twentieth century. Through the content they employ in their standards, states may indirectly influence the type of citizenship education students receive in the classroom. The present study focuses on the Virginia Standards of Learning for two courses, civics and economics and U.S. and Virginia government, which are commonly taught to eighth graders and high school seniors, respectively. A content analysis of the essential knowledge found in the standards for these courses categorizes instructional content into seven forms of citizenship: civic republicanism, character education, deliberative, social justice, participatory, transnational, and cosmopolitan. Although the results are specific to the Virginia Standards of Learning, the nature of how citizenship is portrayed within the standards may transfer to other states with similar forms of standards-based education within their social studies curricula.

Project Based Activities to Attract Students to Marine Engineering and Technology Careers

During the past several years, workforce issues have immerged as a dominant concern for shipbuilding and repair companies. Related issues include concern about “aging” of the workforce, lack of basic technical education, career transition processes, recruitment and training of the new workforce, retention and training of the incumbent workforce, image of the industry, and lack of career information for middle and high school students. Large turnover combined with retirement of aging workforce is anticipated to create large demands for qualified workforce. The Shipbuilding and Repair Career Day Events (SBRCD) project was conceived in response to this critical need of workforce in shipbuilding and repair industry. This project was funded by the National Shipbuilding research Program to increase awareness about careers in marine industry. The paper discusses the multi-pronged effort within the SBRCD project to inform and engage middle and high school students, teachers and counselors about career opportunities in this industry. The paper also discusses the design and development of four simulation activities known as marine kits to engage students in shipbuilding related projects. These activities are tied to Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) so teachers can use them in classrooms without loosing time. The Marine Kits were pilot tested and results are discussed.

Principal Quality, ISLLC Standards, and Student Achievement: A Virginia Study

A significant relationship exists between principals’ quality at certain grade levels and student achievement on the Virginia Standards of Learning tests. A statewide study finds principals rated higher on school leadership as measured by an Interstate School Leadership Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) Standards rubric. These schools have higher student achievement than comparable schools headed by lower rated principals controlling for socioeconomic status. Implications for increasing student achievement, developing and keeping a school achievement culture, and improving principal leadership are discussed.

Teachers Voices Interpreting Standards

The State of Virginia has adopted state-mandated testing that aims to raise the standards of performance for children in our schools in a manner that assigns accountability to schools and to teachers. In this paper we argue that the conditions under which the standards were created and the testing implemented undermine the professionalism of teachers. We believe this result has the further consequence of compromising the critical thinking and learning processes of children. We argue this has happened because teachers’ views and experiences have driven neither the setting of standards nor the assessment of their achievement. We use data from essays by teachers in an innovative masters program to compare teachers’ experiences involving the Virginia Standards of Learning with ideal standards for professional development adopted by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. We argue that there are serious negative consequences of the failure to include dialogue with K-12 teachers in setting standards and especially in the creation of assessments to measure performances relative to the standards. We believe the most successful, honest, and morally defensible processes must be built on the experience and wisdom of classroom teachers.