The Department of Education indicated it would take nominations for the new K-12 social studies standards commission that Governor Kristi Noem hopes will produce standards more suited to her ideological, anti-education bias and Presidential campaign. But you don’t have to wait for a nomination: if you’d like to help write South Dakota’s social studies standards, you can apply directly to serve!
According to a DOE press release from last Wednesday, the Department is taking applications for the commission through this coming Sunday night. The application form, in which the DOE promises to appoint commission members “to include experts from a variety of disciplines and perspectives,” lays out these expectations:
Commission members need to be available for in-person and virtual meetings, beginning in December 2021. See this tentative schedule for more information. https://doe.sd.gov/contentstandards/documents/ss-Schedule.pdf It is likely that night and weekend work time will be required. Members of the commission will need a reliable computer and internet access and must be comfortable accessing and participating in virtual meetings and remote work. Commission members will be compensated. Associated travel expenses will be reimbursed at state rates [SD Department of Education, “Application—Social Studies Standards Revision Commission,” Google Docs, retrieved 2021.11.08].
You don’t just check boxes to get on this commission; the Department poses five essay questions:
- Briefly describe why you would like to serve on the standards revision commission.
- Briefly describe what makes you a strong candidate for the commission.
- Briefly describe any relevant expertise and experience as it applies to the social studies disciplines: history (world, US, SD, Native American), public service/political science/government, geography, economics.
- Briefly describe any knowledge of and experience with standards, curriculum and instruction.
- Briefly describe any special perspective(s) you would bring to the commission [DOE, retrieved 2021.11.08].
The application asks for two references to back up your claim to a seat at the curriculum standards table. So line up a couple friends to apply with you, and you can all serve as each others’ cross-references!
I really believe in participating in these sorts of endeavors, even if they are set up to fail. I think Noem is after a certain answer, and won’t accept anything that doesn’t follow along the lines of the people who are supporting her national ambitions. I’m speaking of Hilldale College and other curriculum churners who get rich foisting bad curriculum on unsuspecting school districts.
I participated in several state and local committees (on environmental matters) when I lived in South Dakota. One was a complete failure, the other was a partial failure. I resigned from the city one, along with another individual, because they tried to shove a plan for tire burning at the state cement plant down our throats. That committee ended in disarray. Gov. Mickelson appointed me to a Review Committee of an Environmental Analysis done on heap leach mining, where we diddled around and ignored water pollution problems at the mines, In a matter of months these problems ended up being what shuttered two of the mines, and turned one into a Superfund site. But we did some good on other issues. You might think they were a waste of time, but just the fact that I was there pushing good ideas that later were shown to be correct, provided a lot of credibility to our cause.
Corey would be a good member of this standards, because, well, he’s skeptical of standards in general, and has a broad perspective on teaching and learning. It’s true that state standards are at least two degrees of level separated from teaching, but good standards can help teachers and districts broaden their perspectives, or in Noem’s case, keep those perspectives from narrowing down.
Dear South Dakota Department of Education:
Please consider my evaluation of my qualifications to serve on the K-12 Social Studies Standards Commission, contained hereinafter.
1. Briefly describe why you would like to serve on the standards revision commission.
—- I need a job.
2. Briefly describe what makes you a strong candidate for the commission.
——I don’t currently have a job.
3. Briefly describe any relevant expertise and experience as it applies to the social studies disciplines: history (world, US, SD, Native American), public service/political science/government, geography, economics.
——I have travelled the world during my 73 years. I have often advised public servants as to the wisdom of their proposed or actual actions and legislation.
4. Briefly describe any knowledge of and experience with standards, curriculum and instruction.
——I successfully navigated all the crap I learned in high school, and I like Paul Simon’s music.
5. Briefly describe any special perspective(s) you would bring to the commission.
——I refer often to the wisdom of John Prine and Steve Earle.
Wait. My references are Bill Janklow and Cory Heidelberger.
Hey this sounds fun, is that a reference?
I’d give it to Bob with my highest recommendation. Can’t beat John Prine and Steve Earle.
Any regular commenter who wishes to use me as a reference may do so.
Can Noem Nothing name a single school in America that is teaching or has taught or is planning to teach CRT? If she can’t, and she can’t, feel free to can her butt for lying above and beyond the call of magatland.
Well…Bob is about my age, I’m a little older, and is qualified for the task force just by surviving everything from the Civil Tights Struggle, to the Kennedy Assissination to Watergate, through the Iraq scam to EB-5….We’ve seen it all and since you’ve also paid attention to John Prine and Steve Earle you have a finely tuned bullsh#t detecteor…You have my support with my complete confidence.
My mistake…Civil Rights Struggle….just think of what we’ve gone through in this lifetime…Bob’s paid attention…put him on the task force
Based on observation of the fact that women of all shapes and sizes are wearing stretchy body-hugging legwear virtually everywhere, I think we’re now in a civil tights struggle.