September All-ES Meeting
WASC Meeting
History-Social Science Home Group Minutes-


I. Introduction: Personal- Group led in an introduction by Group Leader David Moll.
Those in attendance were Dianne Edwards, Cathy Anema, Kiah Applegate, Charlene Clegg, Alicia Johnson, Jerry Patterson, and Eric Anderson (secretary).

II. Introduction: WASC Task At Hand- Group Leader David Moll briefly outlined the
group's task for our meeting today- this task being the creation of a list of three suggestions for improvements in the area of History-Social Science.

III. Discussion of Testing Versus Standards Curriculum Alignment-

A. In the initial discussion of ideas for improvement on CWCW's instruction in the
area of History-Social Science, a concern of how to direct parents to realistic activities versus what is expected in the State Standards Testing arose. The group agreed that there are a number of potential problems for CWCS, and the public school system in general, concerning this issue.

B. A list of such problems include, but are certainly not limited to:

1. Lack of a consolidated course timeline.
a. The group agreed that a suggested course timeline being
developed by CWCS would be a good idea.

2. Three-year track graduates from CWCS face unique problems, vis-à-vis
state standards tests.
a.To stay aligned with the standards testing schedule students should take World Studies in 10th and US History in 11th grade.

b.The Government and Economics courses which do not have CSTs should be worked into their schedule perhaps during SS sessions.

3. Student maturity should be considered when a parent or school is
structuring a course timeline.
a. It was suggested by several members that certain courses
require a level of maturity that not all students have attained their Freshman or Sophomore years and this should be considered.

4. The idea of a mandatory „course timeline‰ was brought to the table-
this was a short lived consideration as the group recalled the importance of the parent choice factor in our school.

5. Challenge of CWCS affecting the Waterford School District‚s test scores.
a. The concern of the possibility that CWCS test scores adversely
affecting the Waterford School District‚s test scores was raised and discussed- no clear answer to this issue was proposed.

IV. Discussion of History-Social Science Area Teaching Ideas-

A. The following ideas were put forth for consideration by the History-
Social Science group. There were others on our minds, but time constraints prohibited a comprehensive list being developed.

1. Literature Report

2. Geography as an essential/integral component

3. Historical Day Activities

4. Current Events Tie-Ins to Today

5. History-Social Science Ideas Added to CWCS Web Site
a. A note was made in connection with this point- the ideas need to
be directly included within our website, not available in „link‰ form.
b. Information must be easily accessible.
c. This idea could be used to help all subject areas, not just
History-Social Science.

6. Suggested Standards Timeline
a. This timeline could be arranged in a per month basis or to meet
the benchmarks for an entire year.

7. Historical Timelines

8. Inclusion of Auditory/Visual Components within Lessons

V. Conclusion- This group could have used more time to better complete and
consolidate this task! The group felt it was on a solid, useful, track and was only getting started developing some very valuable History-Social Science instructional ideas. The meeting closed due to time constraints, however.