Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Ga. State dislikes proposed changes

The Georgia State University Department of History has unanimously approved four responses to the proposed Georgia Social Studies Performance Standards.

An examination of the proposed standards suggests continued mediocrity. Rather than being a “world-class curriculum for world-class students,” the new standards are deeply flawed, at a variety of levels.

The proposed curriculum falls well short of the ostensible goals of the Department of Education. It also falls short of the Georgia State University Department of History’s expectations for students taking lower level college courses, let alone advanced courses. As constructed, the standards continue to foster shallowness and to poorly prepare students for college.

Click http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwhis for our Web site where you can access the full text of our document entitled, “The History Department of Georgia State University finds the proposed Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) inadequate to meet the needs of Georgia students.”

We encourage fellow historians, teachers, students, and other concerned citizens to review and comment upon the proposed standards posted at the Georgia Department of Education website (http://www.georgiastandards.org), and to draw attention to the standards and their ramifications through the Board of Regents, the Georgia Department of Education, and other avenues.

Dr. Cliff Kuhn

Associate Professor of History

Georgia State University

Atlanta, Ga.