Education Week - May 17, 2023 - 20

16
The Lies America
Tells Itself About
Black Education
17
Stop Telling Students
To Never Get Into
Teaching
How Reading Can Help Fix
Declines in History and Civics Scores
studies (and other content-area) teachers that students can't
access their textbooks-too complex, they say. Teachers fret
they have no choice but to lecture, convey the textbook's
important ideas through slides, and hope what they say sticks.
My middle school granddaughter recently confessed to
loathing her history class. I took a deep breath and looked at her
textbook and class notes before launching into my appeal on
history's behalf. What I found, both in the textbook and notes
(one a recitation of the other), was dull. Both were full of stats
but short on ideas or any discussion of the larger consequences.
I couldn't tell how events or people connected or what lessons
I was meant to learn. Neither offered additional resources to
flesh out my understanding, connect what happened then to
what's happening now, or address the age-old question, " Why
do I even need to learn this? "
There's a better way. While history and civics teachers can
certainly benefit from more literacy training, most already have
what it takes to adopt a literacy-rich approach to their content
teaching. It is vital that attending to students' reading skills be
designed to complement the specific content demands of the
discipline, not replace them.
I've seen this in action. Eighth grade classrooms in districts
Students can't develop
content knowledge if they
can't read the material in
history and civics classes
By Susan Pimentel
T
he latest " nation's report card " is grim: Just
13 percent of 8th graders hit the " proficient "
mark in U.S. history, and 22 percent hit the
goal in civics. This represents a 2-point
drop in civics from 2018, the first decrease
since testing on the subject began 24 years
ago. History results are even more dire:
The average score dropped 5 points, representing a significant
downward trajectory that started in 1994. Once we've picked
our jaws up off the floor, we have to ask, what do we do?
While we need a range of solutions, including carving
out more time for high-quality civics and history instruction
beginning in elementary school, we can't ignore the role
reading plays. National Assessment of Educational Progress
reading scores released in the fall of 2022 showed less than a
third of 8th graders are performing at the NAEP proficient level.
It all fits. Students can't develop content knowledge if they
can't read the material in history and civics classes (or a general
social studies course).
We have to attack the problem in two ways-shifting what
happens in English class and changing how we teach civics and
history. We need to include more civics and history in literacy
lessons and add more deliberate literacy instruction in civics
and history.
Doing this is imperative. Over a quarter century of research
is emphatic: The more knowledge students have about the
world, the better their reading comprehension is. The better
they read, the better able they are to access more complex
and compelling reading material and build more knowledge
20 | EDUCATION WEEK | May 17, 2023 | www.edweek.org/opinion
to become even better readers. Reading ability and building
knowledge are mutually supportive.
For starters, English class should include more nonfiction.
Educational standards adopted by most states, which I
worked with a team of educators to write, call for that. But is
it happening? How many curricular programs regularly focus
time and attention on content-rich texts? How many cultivate
students' literacy and knowledge bases simultaneously?
Too few.
as varied as Charlotte, N.C.; Denver; Oakland, Calif.; and
New York City have used a literacy-rich history/civics lesson
on Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and the nation's broader
ideals of equality and freedom. I've helped teach the approach
to scores of adult educators over the past four years, and here's
how it works: Students first watch a related video of President
Abraham Lincoln meeting with soldiers and study Civil War
photographs. Next, they read conceptually related passages,
tailored to a range of student levels to provide context and
build their knowledge.
The previously unfamiliar quickly becomes familiar:
Students are prepared to dig deeply into the meaning and
messages of the Gettysburg Address-then and now.
Feedback from teachers has been instantaneous and
positive. They report leaving the training with ready-to-use
instructional activities that will engage their learners in high
levels of content and language development. " I particularly like
the scaffolding of the Gettysburg Address. I never analyzed it
that way before and I believe that these strategies would work
with other historical documents as well, " one trainee told me.
" These activities will make the classes dynamic and support
deep learning. "
It's not a zero-sum game: Both content areas-history/civics
We need to include more
civics and history in
literacy lessons and add
more deliberate literacy
instruction in civics and
history.
Many programs serve up a scattershot approach, toggling
quickly between a range of disconnected topics, often weighted
toward fiction-which hardly adds up to building a coherent
body of knowledge.
Of course, improving student achievement in history and
civics shouldn't be-can't be-the sole responsibility of a
school's English department if students are going to make
genuine headway.
In my more than a decade of training teachers around the
nation on college- and career-readiness standards in English/
language arts and literacy, I often hear complaints from social
and literacy-gain. Taking this literacy-rich approach to history/
civics instruction not only makes students more informed
citizens but also makes them better readers. And it can go a
long way toward addressing the urgent crisis before us. The 8th
graders who took these tests last year are in high school today.
Unless we do something to grab their interest and advance
their reading competence, they will soon enter college and the
workforce with extremely limited knowledge about American
democracy and our history. That's a grave threat to our nation.
This dovetails with the threat inherent in students' poor
reading scores. That threatens their futures-futures in which
they will be expected to independently and confidently pick
through staggering amounts of information. We can tackle
these twin problems by acknowledging literacy and civics are
tightly intertwined, shifting instruction to reflect that reality,
and providing all students with the intellectual stimulation they
crave and the learning opportunities they so desperately need.
PIMENTEL is a literacy expert who previously served on the
National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees
" the nation's report card. " She was the lead writer of the
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts
and Literacy. She is a co-founder of StandardsWork, a
nonprofit dedicated to evidence-based action to improve
student achievement in elementary through adult
education.
18
Letters to
The Editor
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http://www.edweek.org/opinion
Education Week - May 17, 2023

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