Presents the text of the 1985 Presidential NCSS Address. Reviews trends and influences in the social studies curriculum and argues that members of NCSS must take charge of the curriculum and delineate a clear core of goals to provide direction for the future.(JDH)

Provides the full text of the resolutions and standing committees' reports at the November, 1985 meeting of the National Council for the Social Studies. (JDH)

Discusses different goal orientations of educationists and social scientists as a means of stimulating thinking and action in the realm of social studies curriculum and instruction. (Author/DB)

The chapters in this collection show how and why the critical functions of democratically informed civic education must become the core of the universitys mission. Part 1, "Higher Education and the Politics of Corporate Culture," contains; (1) "Franchising the University" (Jeffrey J. Williams); (2) "Vocationalizing Higher Education: Schooling and…

This year, Americans celebrate and reflect on the 40th anniversary of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that secured the right to vote for millions of disenfranchised African Americans, as well as the 50th anniversary of the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, where Rosa Parks stood up for justice by sitting down on a bus, thus catalyzing the Civil …

This manual provides information about setting up and running an English literacy (EL) Civics program, based on the experience of one urban literacy program. Part 1, "Establishing and Managing an English Literacy and Civics Understanding Program," includes the following: (1) "Getting Started" (planning, goals and objectives, staffing, and…

This bibliography is intended to assist program directors and teachers in selecting English language/Civics texts for their own particular populations and goals. Data on 36 student texts and any accompanying teachers' manuals (9 in all) and 5 reference books in print in 2001 are contained in the current bibliography, as well as two videotapes.…

This Digest describes how, by connecting service, social studies, and citizenship, civic educators have the potential to begin the new millennium by initiating a "Century of the Caring Citizen". Effective methods for bring about the caring citizen are to allow students to learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully…

This resource guide outlines 18 service-learning projects throughout the United States focused on middle schools. Listed, in each case, are the project's description, sponsoring organization, the objectives, the project's framework, training information, materials, and ordering information. (BT)

Representatives at the school, district and state levels, as well as scholars and researchers, have been working with the Education Commission of the States? National Center for Learning and Citizenship (ECS/NCLC) to define citizenship education in terms of three strands forming "a braid" of civic competencies. Beginning with the rationale and…

During late years an increasing number of leaders in high-school work have turned their attention to the development of the social studies. For the past five years there has been noticeable progress. In 1919 the Bureau of Education conducted a preliminary inquiry to discover the status, at that time, of the social studies in the curricula of the…

Examines the hazards of teaching school children to have unquestioning trust in the government and its leaders. Suggests that students should be taught the actual rather than an idealized mechanism version of the American politics, and also the importance of the democratic citizen as both supporter and critic of the system. (MK)

Tips for making civics courses interesting include: (1) communicate course goals to students; (2) ensure that what you are teaching is worthwhile; (3) assess what students already know; (4) organize facts around a few big ideas; (5) vary learning activities; and (6) present a balanced view of government's activities. (RM)