Less than a month after I posted my first blog critical of Kentucky’s plan to revise the state’s social studies standards, the Kentucky Department of Education has issued a news release announcing the process to change the state’s social studies standards is on hold until the public had a chance to provide input!

According to the press release:

“Between now and Friday, December 5, all interested Kentucky citizens are invited to review the proposed standards in social studies and the arts and share feedback and suggestions that will be used to revise/refine them prior to final consideration. In order to allow adequate time for this process, the Kentucky Board of Education will delay action on the standards. The board originally was scheduled to consider the proposed standards at its December meeting; however, feedback and comments will need to be thoughtfully considered and any needed revisions made before bringing forward final sets of proposed standards to the board for action.”

So, it looks like our concerns and the concerns of others have registered.

The department and the board are now taking a smart action, getting the public involved before the board votes on the standards instead of waiting until much later after a lot more effort has been expended. This is a change in public comment policy from the approach used for the contentious Next Generation Science Standards and could pave the way for a better policy creation process in the future.

Kentuckians now have a month to tell the department what they think is important for our kids to learn and be able to do in the social studies area.

I hope a lot of people spend some time on this and make helpful suggestions; so here are some tools to get you started:

Our blogs:

• Kentucky teacher speaks out about state’s proposed social studies standards

• Kentucky teachers sound off about proposed social studies standards

• What’s missing in Kentucky’s proposed social studies standards?

• Some REAL social studies standards Kentucky should look at

Here are more tools:

The proposed standard

The MUCH better standard from Massachusetts (we could adopt pretty much as is or use as a model)There is a quick response site for inputs here. However, that survey monkey site might overly restrict and channel your suggestions, so don’t be afraid to write a letter that says it exactly the way you want it to be sent to:

Kentucky Board of Education

c/o Kentucky Department of Education501 Mero Street

Frankfort, KY 40601.

Now, go do some homework so Kentucky’s kids can really get a good social studies education!