JUNE 2023 UPDATE:
On June 21, 2023, at its regular monthly public meeting, the DC State Board of Education (SBOE) unanimously approved new K-12 social studies standards for DC. Globalize DC was involved in this process from its beginning in 2020. The newly adopted standards reflect our advocacy in two ways:
Asian and Asian American Content
High school students from our afterschool Japanese language and culture program, Japanese Plus, created a #Stop Asian Hate Project which worked to ensure that the new social studies standards do a much better job of teaching DC students about Asia, Asians, and Asian Americans. Their advocacy – in both written and oral testimony – made a big difference in the outcome. Special thanks to Board member Allister Chang and Professor Sohyun An from Kennesaw State University for their crucial support for their efforts.
The Importance of Global Perspectives
From the beginning of this three-year process, Globalize DC’s goal was to ensure that the new standards incorporate a 21st century understanding of educating for global competence. Over numerous revisions, the technical writing committee added standards to expand global content and perspectives, and to apply a global lens across grade levels. In a last minute revision, the new standards added “Global Perspectives” as part of its Inquiry Arc that helps frame the entire document. This is a critically important addition; we have SBOE President Eboni-Rose Thompson to thank for this change. Here’s the language:
In today’s complex and deeply interconnected world, it is essential to cultivate opportunities to impart our youngest citizens with the content knowledge, skills, experiences and mindsets to take action on globally significant issues. The incorporation of an explicit and ongoing focus on global perspectives enables students to (1) see the connections between their own lives, their history, their society and the larger global world; (2) develop critical understandings of the context and connections between peoples of the United States and the rest of the world, historically and in the present; and (3) take action on matters of global concern. From the earliest grades, students will be given opportunities to develop core global competencies, including empathy, collaboration, appreciation for cultural difference, recognition of diverse perspectives, cross-cultural communication, flexibility and critical thinking rooted in scientific inquiry. These global competencies comprise the knowledge, dispositions and skills students need to thrive in careers in the global economy and to contribute as global citizens in a culturally diverse and globally interconnected world.
The Office of the State Superintendent (OSSE) will be responsible for training and equipping DC Public Schools and DC charter school teachers over the 2023-24 school year for full implementation in SY2024-25.
You can find the final version of the new social studies standards HERE.
MAY 2023 UPDATE:
CALL TO ACTION: We urge all members of our community who share our view that any new social studies standards for DC K-12 public school students must include strong global content and perspectives to sign onto our collective letter to the DC State Board of Education HERE.
As OSSE continues its work of revising the standards, the sense grows that the DC State Board of Education is headed towards a vote at its June 2023 public meeting.
Our Executive Director, Sally Schwartz, prepared a detailed set of comments in response to the latest March draft, urging major revisions to the Geography (6th grade) and World History I standards, as well as the embedding of an “explicit global thread” throughout the K-12 social studies standards, in line with the State Board of Education’s own Guiding Principle on Global Perspectives, adopted in December 2020.
Read our Review of the March 2023 Draft of the K-12 Social Studies Standards.
APR 2023 UPDATE:
We started the month with a new set of draft K-12 social studies standards, with significant revisions based on feedback from the State Board and the general public. April will be a key month for submitting additional feedback, as OSSE and the State Board move towards an up or down vote on the standards later this spring. You can find the latest key documents for review here:
Revisions to the draft Social Studies Standards – redline version – March 2023
Revisions to the draft Social Studies Standards – clean version – March 2023
OSSE Presentation to the State Board of Education – March 29, 2023
MAR 2023 UPDATE:
On February 16, 2023 the DC State Board of Education released its 28-page letter to Dr. Christina Grant, DC State Superintendent of Education, outlining its detailed review of the initial draft of the social studies standards. We were very pleased that the Board’s letter shared many of the same concerns regarding the draft standards’ inadequate treatment of global education and global themes as Globalize DC and other public witnesses.
We recommend you read the State Board of Education’s 2/16/23 Letter to Dr. Grant.
On March 1, 2023, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) released its own comprehensive 88-page response to the public comments on the draft standards and presented a summary of this information at the State Board’s Working Session that evening. We recommend you review this information below carefully, so you can see OSSE’s plans for future modifications to the draft standards. This will be the basis for our next response:
OSSE’s Public Comment Summary and Anticipated Agency Response as of Mar 1, 2023
OSSE released its revised draft of the social studies standards, as promised, at the State Board’s March 29, 2023 Working Session. Globalize DC will be submitting additional feedback and encouraging our global education community to offer their own thoughts both before and after this March 29 date. Key documents for review are included in the APR 2023 UPDATE above.
Here’s the written testimony Sally Schwartz submitted on behalf of Globalize DC in response to OSSE’s March 1 response to public comments:
Sally Schwartz testimony – March 15
JAN 2023 UPDATE:
A draft version of DC’s new revised K-12 social studies standards is now out for public review and comment. You can read and download the new draft standards (as well as the current standards) at the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) website here. The deadline for submitting comments directly to OSSE is February 10, 2023.
You can read the feedback to OSSE submitted by Sally Schwartz at Globalize DC, summarizing our own critique of the treatment of global education, here.
If you have not already done so, we ask all those who submitted comments to OSSE regarding global content in the standards to share your feedback with Globalize DC at sally@globalizedc.org and kathleen.coughlin@dc.gov at the State Board of Education. If you have not had time to review or weigh in on the draft standards, we strongly encourage you to do so, and again send your comments to Sally and Kathleen.
Even after the February 10 deadline, over the next several months, Globalize DC will continue to advocate, engage with partners, and with members of the State Board of Education, which has ultimate authority to approve the new standards. If you are interested in this effort, that will tangibly affect teaching and learning in DC public schools for years to come, and if you want to learn more about how you can get involved, please contact sally@globalizedc.org. This is very time-sensitive. We’d love to hear from you.
Read below for more background and information about next steps.
Background
In summer 2020, the DC State Board of Education (SBOE), in partnership with DC’s Office of the State Superintendent for Education (OSSE), embarked on a process to rewrite DC’s social studies standards. Social studies includes history (world, American, DC); government and civics; geography; and economics. The last time the city revised its social studies standards was in 2006. Learning standards delineate what all students are expected to know and be able to do at each grade level in each subject. Each state (and yes, DC functions as a “state” for some education purposes) adopts its own standards; these new social studies standards will apply to all DC public schools (DCPS and charter) and all grade levels PK-12. Once the new standards are adopted, school districts, like DC Public Schools, individual schools, teachers, community partners and vendors develop curriculum (what is actually taught in the classroom), aligned to these standards.
It’s a complex process, but the important point is that if certain subject matter is not included in the state standards, then it’s very difficult to ensure that it will be taught – certainly not for students across the board. For those who believe it is critical for DC schools to do a better job of teaching students about the world, historically and in the present day, creating the right set of social studies standards is key. This is why Globalize DC has identified these new DC standards as a priority policy action item.
SSSAC and the Guiding Principles
As a first step, the State Board created the Social Studies Standards Advisory Committee (SSSAC) to help develop a set of guiding principles to inform the rewriting of the standards. Globalize DC’s Executive Director, Sally Schwartz, served as a member of this advisory committee, and used her participation to focus attention on the need to incorporate adequate and meaningful global content and perspectives throughout the PK-12 standards. The resulting Guiding Principles were adopted by the Board in December 2020. For those who believe in the importance of providing ALL students with a truly global education, the Guiding Principles developed by the SSSAC and approved by the Board take a big step forward for DC.
The State Board of Education Resolution SR20-15, Social Studies Standards Guiding Principles, adopted December 16, 2020, ends with this paragraph:
“BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED THAT, the State Board advises the State Superintendent that they should ensure that an explicit, ongoing thread that provides students with a global perspective and global context for their own lives, their history, and their society; that equips students with the content knowledge, skills, experiences, and mindsets that will help prepare them for careers and engaged citizenship in a culturally diverse and globally interconnected world; that explores not just comparisons but connections between peoples of the United States and the rest of the world, historically and in the present is included in the new proposed standards.”
We encourage you to review and download the Final Social Studies Standards Guiding Principles.
Among its 19 principles is the “Knowledge Framing: Global Perspective” principle cited above.
In addition to this statement expressing strong, explicit support for global content are additional principles with global education implications, including environmental literacy, digital literacy, human rights, hard history, recognition of underrepresented groups, and student agency. The Guiding Principles also make important statements in support of creating standards that are anti-racist; that significantly elevate critical understanding of African American history; that promote student understanding and appreciation of democratic principles and values, and the workings of the US government; and that create significant opportunity for civic engagement at all grade levels. This is important work that responds to the times we live in and offers a much-needed corrective to our current standards.
OSSE’s Release of Draft Standards for Public Comment
Since 2021, the actual work of writing new social studies standards has been in the hands of a Technical Writing Committee appointed and directed by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE).
On December 16, 2022, OSSE released a set of draft standards for public comment. The public can review and download the Draft Standards and submit comments through OSSE’s online portal. This is when the next stage of work begins for Globalize DC and its partners.
As an organization, we were very disappointed at the draft we’ve reviewed. While the draft standards represent a lot of good and difficult work, with many important correctives to the 2006 standards, we believe that they fall significantly short in their approach to global education. Bottom line: We do not believe that the writers have incorporated the explicit, ongoing global thread that the Board called for OSSE to include in its Guiding Principles.
Sally Schwartz, Globalize DC’s Executive Director, has shared preliminary comments about the draft standards at the State Board of Education Public Meeting on January 18, 2023. She was accompanied by two DC high school students, members of our Japanese Plus program and #Stop Asian Hate Project, who spoke on the issue of Asia and Asian American representation in the draft standards. You can read what we presented here:
Sally Schwartz testimony
Penelope Morris testimony
Chamiya Carnathan testimony
Both Sally Schwartz and the students at the #Stop Asian Hate Project have also submitted their written feedback on the draft standards to OSSE. We invite you to read, send us your comments, and share.
Sally Schwartz comments to OSSE
#Stop Asian Hate Project comments to OSSE
We also encourage all interested community members and organizations to take time to review the standards and offer their own feedback on the initial and subsequent drafts of the standards.
After OSSE’s deadline for public comment ends on February 10, Globalize DC will continue to engage with the State Board and with community partners to work for the best standards possible.
Once standards are approved, community-based organizations and partners will have the opportunity to support K-12 classroom teaching with new curriculum and resources, professional development, and enrichment activities aligned to the new standards.
Globalize DC will keep its community informed as this process moves forward. If this is work that interests you, please email sally@globalizedc.org so we can be sure to include you.