STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mr. ALEXANDER (for himself and Mr. KENNEDY):
S. 2721. A bill to amend the National Assessment of Educational Progress Authorization Act to require State academic assessments of student achievement in United States history, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the American History Achievement Act. I am pleased to be joined in this effort by the Senator from Massachusetts, Mr. Kennedy. This is part of my effort to put the teaching of American history and civics back in its rightful place in our school curriculum so our children can grow up learning what it means to be an American.
This is especially appropriate on a day when the September 11 report is being released. We tend to think of ourselves as Americans and wonder who we are and what we value and what we have to defend at times when we are threatened or even frightened. This should be a day when we should feel threatened. We are reminded of the challenges we face.
I am especially glad that Senator Kennedy has joined me in this. Senator Kennedy is especially appropriate to be a leading sponsor of this legislation. He and his family are, in fact, part of American history in a unique way. He, as well as Senator Reid, Senator Byrd, and a number of Senators on this side of the aisle have been working hard in a variety of ways to support efforts that are appropriate in the Federal Government to celebrate our own history.
This modest bill provides for improved testing of American history so we can determine where history is being taught well and where it is being taught poorly so that improvements can be made. We also know when testing is focused on a specific subject, States and school districts are more likely to step up to the challenge and improve performance.
For example, a number of professors and teachers of history have worried that because of the emphasis in No Child Left Behind on reading and mathematics, that history would be left behind. There are two answers to that. One is, if our citizens cannot read, they are not going to know much history, except from watching the History Channel, which is a pretty good way, and another answer is there is a specific provision in the No Child Left Behind Act, which we call the Byrd grants, after Senator Byrd, providing $100 million a year to school districts across the country for the teaching of traditional American history. Those programs are in full flourish in Tennessee, North Carolina, and many parts of this country. They are excellent programs.
When you combine those with the We the People Project of the National Endowment of the Humanities-I attended one of their workshops in Nashville on Friday. Forty teachers across the country met at Andrew Jackson's home, the Hermitage.
We are doing more to put this in the rightful place. The bill Senator Kennedy and I offer today is one more effort of putting the teaching of American history and civics back where it belongs.
We could certainly use improvement in the teaching of American history. According to the National Assessment of Education Progress, commonly referred to as the Nation's report card, fewer students have a basic understanding of American history than have a basic understanding of any other subject which we test, including math, science, and reading.
When we look at our national report card, American history is our children's worst subject. Yet, according to recent poll results, the exact opposite outcome is desired by the American people.
Hart-Teeter recently polled 1,300 adults for the educational testing service and asked what the principal goal of education should be. The top response: Producing literate, educated students who can participate in our democracy. Twenty-six percent of respondents believed that should be our principal goal. "Teach basics: math, reading" was selected by only 15 percent as the principal goal of education.
The late Albert Shanker of the American Federation of Teachers used to say our common schools were created for the purpose of teaching immigrant children reading, writing, and arithmetic, the three R's, and what it means to be an American, so they could go home and teach their parents.
They have forgotten that latter role, more and more. Our children don't know American history because they are not being taught. For example, the State of Florida just passed a bill permitting high school students to graduate without taking a course in U.S. history. When our children are not being taught our history, they are not learning what is most important.
According to Harvard scholar Samuel Huntington, a 1987 study of high school students found more who knew who Harriet
Tubman was than knew Washington commanded the American Army in the Revolution, or that Abraham Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation. I am all for teaching about Harriet Tubman and teaching about the history of the Underground Railroad. My ancestor, the Rev. John Rankin, like Harriet Tubman, was a conductor on the Underground Railroad. I would like for more children to know about them both. But surely children ought to learn first about the most critical leaders and events in the Revolution and in the Civil War.
Let me give a couple of examples of how bad things have gotten. The fourth grade NAEP test asked students to identify the following passage:
We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness . . .
Students were given four choices for the source of that passage: the Constitution, the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation. Only 46 percent of students answered correctly, that it came from the Declaration of Independence.
The eighth grade test asked, Imagine you could use a time machine to visit the past. You have landed in Philadelphia in the summer of 1776. Describe an important event that is happening.
Nearly half the students, 46 percent, were not able to answer the question correctly, that the Declaration of Independence was being signed.
This legislation aims to help in the effort to do something about that. The American History Achievement Act gives the national assessment governing board the authority to administer a 10-State pilot study for the NAEP test in U.S. history in 2006. The board already has the authority for reading, math, science, and writing. The pilot program should collect enough data to attain a State-by-State comparison of 8th and 12th grade student knowledge and understanding of history. That will allow us to know which States are doing a better job of teaching American history and allow other States to model their programs on those that are working well. This legislation is part of a broader effort in the Senate.
Earlier this year, Senator Reid of Nevada, Senator Kennedy, and I and others joined with Senators to pass the American History and Civics Education Act, by unanimous vote, to create summer academies for teachers and students of American history. Senator Schumer and I have introduced a bill to codify the oath of allegiance which immigrants take when sworn in as new citizens of the United States. The oath should be protected in law just as the national anthem and Pledge of Allegiance
are.
Today we are putting a new focus on the teaching of American history. Our children are growing up ignorant of our Nation's history. Yet a recent poll tells us that Americans believe the principal goal of education is "producing literate, educated citizens who can participate in our democracy." It is time to put the teaching of American history and civics back in its rightful place in our schools so our children can grow up learning what it means to be an American.
Our diversity is a prized value in the United States. But more prized is that we have been able to turn all that diversity into one nation. Our motto is: "e pluribus unum," not the other way around. It is: "one from many."
One thing we have in common is our history, and we should teach it. This bill takes us one step closer to achieving that noble goal. I urge my colleagues to support the legislation.
I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
S. 2721
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the "American History Achievement Act".
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that-
(1) the 2001 National Assessment of Educational Progress assessment in United States history had the largest percentage of students scoring below basic of any subject that was tested, including mathematics, science, and reading; and
(2) in the 2001 National Assessment of Educational Progress assessment in United States history-
(A) 33 percent of students in grade 4 scored below basic, 36 percent of students in grade 8 scored below basic, and 57 percent of students in grade 12 scored below basic;
(B) 92 percent of students in grade 12 could not explain the most important cause of the Great Depression after reading a paragraph delineating 4 significant reasons;
© 91 percent of students in grade 8 could not "list two issues that were important in causing the Civil War" and "list the Northern and Southern positions on each of these issues";
(D) 95 percent of students in grade 4 could not list "two reasons why the people we call 'pioneers' moved west across the United States";
(E) 73 percent of students in grade 4 could not identify the Constitution from among 4 choices as "the document that contains the basic rules used to run the United States government";
(F) 75 percent of students in grade 4 could not identify "the three parts of the federal (national) government of the United States" out of 4 possible choices;
(G) 94 percent of students in grade 8 could not "give two reasons why it can be useful for a country to have a constitution"; and
(H) 91 percent of students in grade 12 were unable to "explain two ways that democratic society benefits from citizens actively participating in the political process".
SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO THE NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS AUTHORIZATION ACT.
Section 303(b) of the National Assessment of Educational Progress Authorization Act (20 U.S.C. 9622(b)) is amended-
(1) in paragraph (2)(D), by inserting "(with a priority in conducting assessments in history not less frequently than once every 4 years)" after "subject matter"; and
(2) in paragraph (3)(A)-
(A) in clause (iii)-
(i) by inserting "except as provided in clause (v)," before "may conduct"; and
(ii) by striking "and" after the semicolon;
(B) in clause (iv), by striking the period at the end and inserting "; and"; and
© by adding at the end the following:
"(v) shall conduct trial State academic assessments of student achievement in United States history in grades 8 and 12 in not less than 10 States representing geographically diverse regions of the United States.".
SEC. 4. NATIONAL ASSESSMENT GOVERNING BOARD.
Section 302(e)(1) of the National Assessment of Educational Progress Authorization Act (20 U.S.C. 9621(e)(1)) is amended-
(1) in subparagraph (I), by striking "and" after the semicolon;
(2) by redesignating subparagraph (J) as subparagraph (K);
(3) in the flush matter at the end, by striking "subparagraph (J)" and inserting "subparagraph (K)"; and
(4) by inserting after subparagraph (I) the following:
"(J) in consultation with the Commissioner for Education Statistics, identify and select the States that will participate in the trial State academic assessments described in section 303(b)(3)(A)(v); and".
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
Section 303(b)(3) of the National Assessment of Educational Progress Authorization Act (20 U.S.C. 9622(b)(3)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
"(D) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.-There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out subparagraph (A)(v) $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2005 and 2006 and such sums as may be necessary for each succeeding fiscal year.".
SEC. 6. CONFORMING AMENDMENT.
Section 113(a)(1) of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. 9513(a)(1)) is amended by striking "section 302(e)(1)(J)" and inserting "section 302(e)(1)(K)".