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NEBRASKA SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS CONFERENCE

Friday, June 21, 2013

University of Nebraska-Kearney
Student Union

Click Here to Sign-up Today!

PLEASE NOTE:
Registration Will Close at
3:00 PM on Friday, June 14, 2013

 


Social Studies

Social Studies is the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence. Within the school program, social studies provides coordinated, systematic study drawing upon such disciplines as anthropology, archaeology, economics, geography, history, law, philosophy, political science, psychology, religion, and sociology, as well as appropriate content from the humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences. The primary purpose of social studies is to help young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world.

National Council for the Social Studies, 1992

MISSION STATEMENT—NEBRASKA SOCIAL STUDIES

The mission of the social studies is to develop capable citizens who are empowered with knowledge, skills, and attitudes enabling them to make informed decisions in a culturally diverse and interdependent world.

Strategic Plan, 1993

 

Draft (10/29/12) State Social Studies Standards Validation Studies

Standards validation is a process in which the Nebraska draft standards are analyzed by an outside group, individual or organization that are recognized for their expertise in the field and reviewed against a set of uniform criteria. This has proven to be a valuable step in all recent academic standards adoption. The results and recommendations from the validation studies guide the final development of the standards ensuring that all Nebraska standards prepare students to be college and career ready. The Nebraska social studies draft standards were recently reviewed for depth, breadth, specificity, clarity and measurability. These validation studies were completed by:

Dr. Jeremy A. Stern, Ph.D.
Historian & Educational Consultant

Dr. Stern completed the study as an individual with a great deal of expertise and experience in history. Dr. Stern has a Ph.D. in American history from Princeton University (2010). One of his many accomplishments is coauthoring the 2011 review of state U.S. history standards for the Thomas B Fordham Institute. Click here to view validation study.

Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL)
Dr. John S. Kendall
Senior Director, Research

Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) is a nonprofit education and research organization based in Denver, Colorado that has over 15 years of experience in this area. Dr. Kendall directed a team of analysts and reviewers that reviewed Nebraska’s standards against state standards documents that have received high rankings from the Fordham Foundation and Education Week. (California, Indiana, Georgia, and Massachusetts) McREL also compared the standards against items specified in the Nebraska Statute.79-724. Click here to view validation study.

Dr. Tammie Fischer
Director, UNL Center for Economic Education

Dr. Fischer completed the study as an individual with a great deal of expertise and experience in economics. She serves as the current director of the University of Nebraska Center for Economic Education. Click here to view validation study.