MSSSA MEETING MINUTES
September 23, 2011
I. Welcome & Introductions of Members Present:
On location at Clinton County RESA:
David Hales—Wayne RESA
Cheryl, Wyatt—Clare-Gladwin RESD
Nancy Metcalf
Marty Mater—Michigan Geographic Alliance (MGA)
MaryWeaver—retired (formerly of Saginaw)
David Dieterle—Michigan Council for Economic Education (MCEE)
Susan Laninga--GVSU
Tom Webb--MCSS
Mark Raffler—Kent ISD
Participating from Remote Locations:
Oakland Schools:
Amy Bloom & Darin Stockdill—Oakland Schools
Ottawa Area ISD:
Pam Rickli—Allegan Area ESA
Sean O’Neill--GVSU
Carrie Johnson—Calhoun ISD
Rebecca Bush—Ottawa Area ISD
Genesee ISD:
Roy Sovis—Genesee ISD
Copper Country ISD:
Carla Strome—Copper Country ISD
Manistee ISD:
Mark Branning—Manistee ISD and Mason-Lake-Oceana ISD
Beth Pobojewski—Mason-Lake-Oceana ISD
Guests:
Lloyd Wescoat—Western U.P. Math & Science and Environmental Education Center
Dr. Abalo Adewui—Elementary S.S. Methods Professor at CMU
II. Approval of Minutes from May, 2011
Motion made by Mary Weaver; no one seconded that. Unanimous approval.
III. Updates:
Bureau of Assessment & Accountability (BAA)—David Hales
I’ve spoken to Christi Dennis about presenting at one of our meetings. She is willing to present but it has been difficult for her to call in because of her schedule. Notes and materials that we receive from her or others at the BAA will be passed along and housed on our Moodle site.

 *MDE is planning on joining the CCSSO and the work that is happening in social studies. The following paragraphs and additional information can be found at the following link: http://www.ccsso.org/Resources/Programs/Social_Studies_Assessment_Curriculum_and_Instru ction_(SSACI).html
The Social Studies Assessment, Curriculum and Instruction (SSACI) SCASS supports state education agencies and social studies teachers with research, resources, and strategies to support best practice in assessment, curriculum, and instruction to help ensure that all students are prepared for active citizenship, college and career readiness, and lifelong learning in a culturally diverse, interdependent world. This collaboration allows state education agencies to draw from a greater pool of experience not easily available when a state confronts the same challenge alone. States work together to examine the current needs and issues surrounding the area(s) of focus, determining the products and goals of the project, summarize recent research, analyze best practices, examine technical issues, and/or provide guidance on federal legislation.
SSACI is currently working on three major efforts, (1) creating guidelines to develop state standards for social studies in collaboration with the National Council for Social Studies and 14 other content organizations, (2) developing tools to support high-quality assessments and instruction,: (SSACI has created an item bank of over 1,000 items in civics, history, economics, and geography content that can be used to develop rigorous standards based assessments as well as professional development modules for designing and implementing standards based units of study.), and (3) conducting professional development workshops, supported by Library of Congress grants, which focus on using primary sources and creating 21st century social studies learning opportunities.
David: Has anyone heard anything else about Michigan’s participation or on the impact for Michigan?
Maybe there are folks amenable to meet with her if we can get to Lansing to do so.
Marty: Who decided that we (Michigan) would join the work?
Rebecca Bush: I am thinking that it would have been Superintendent Flanagan and Dr. Sally Vaughn at
MDE as those were the folks I was directed to a year and a half ago when this work was beginning and I was trying to obtain an answer as to Michigan’s involvement or lack thereof.
 MEAP Item Writing took place in August. The Bias and Sensitivity Review committee will meet in October to review the items.
 Informational power points are now posted from the MEAP fall update. There isn’t any new information as there are no changes to the format. One of the documents that is listed in the update is the Social Studies Alignment Project which can be found on line. The matrix plan has remained out of the budgetary resources of the department. Roy, do you have any comments regarding that?
Roy: That is new to me because I thought they were using the matrix document; in particular, the column that indicated state/local levels of testing. Common core refers to those that remain consistent year-to-year.

With regard to the document that has the focus questions: there are some issues with the scaffolding of focus questions and the answers to those questions. What is useful is the category that identifies state/local levels of testing. Above and beyond that, I would be cautious in using it.
 New Cut Scores were approved. These take effect immediately. The anticipated level of proficiency is expected to move from 75 to 28% at the 6 th grade level. At the 9 th grade level
The level of proficiency is expected to move from 74% to 33% and the level of proficiency on the
MME is expected to drop from 78% to 42%.
Pam: Just so that this statement makes sense, as far as the above predictions are concerned, last year’s scores were used and the new cut scores were applied to those scores.
David: Thanks Pam.
IV. New Business
A.
MSSSA Web/online presence--Roy
Moodle is up and running. Again, thanks to Mark Raffler and the folks at Kent ISD for helping us make this possible. I just wanted to again, share the steps with everyone for accessing the documents that we post on the site. They are as follows:
1.
Go to http://moodle.kentisd.org/
2.
In Menu Bar in upper left click on “Courses.”
3.
At bottom of page search for “MSSSA.”
4.
On the new page on the left click on “MSSSA.”
5.
Login in as guest.
6.
Bookmark the page.
Roy: Currently there are some CCSS Resources and ELA Alignment documents that we’ve loaded onto the site because they cannot be found on the MDE site. We’re thinking about how to best organize the resources as far as entry points. For a while, things will be double-posted so folks can find them easily.
David: Any questions for Roy?
Beth: What about posting something that would be relevant say, for example, the CDV;s. For example, if test scores were low and students are struggling in that area, if anyone would have any helpful ideas they could be posted there, right?
Marty: Who will have access to the Moodle site?
David: Currently, anyone.
Roy: If I could just say here that when we were talking about this issue before and trying to make a decision on how we wanted to handle that, we don’t have any highly sensitive documents. And there’s

another level to that too. MSSSA’s Moodle doesn’t “pop up” so someone would have to know to type in
“MSSSA” as a course. People aren’t going to randomly find it. You have to know the path to get there.
Mark R: There are a lot of ways we can do it. If we need to create accounts we can do that.
David H: I think we decided that we would cross that bridge when we came to it.
Marty: As far as posting something for teachers goes, it sounds to me like this might be getting very cluttered. I noticed that when we were getting MSSSA e-mails, that seemed to work well because you could target what to send to certain people that needed a resource. It seemed easier than to post every type of document that might be helpful to consultants who work with teachers as opposed to tools for teachers themselves.
David: I want to make sure that my assumption is correct in that the site was for people in leadership positions only.
Mark B & Beth: That’s what we thought too.
Carla: Thumbs up!
Pam: I’m wondering if it would be helpful if we posted the ELA literacy documents on the site because it is directly related to social studies.
Roy: Pam, would you send us that link? There are also some other state sites that we should be connecting with as well.
Pam: Will do.
Cheryl: I think if people are willing to share then we should post.
Susan: I have a question about the forums. I would assume that the forums are set up for us to do that.
Is there an active way of using these forums? Would Mark or Roy want to go through that?
Mark: You can create forums and have whatever topic you want and have running discussions. There’s a lot of flexibility that we have. We can try something and then have some more discussion about it next time.
David: I’m thinking it would be critical if folks received notification if forums were going to be used.
Otherwise it becomes difficult to keep track and remember to do so.
Roy: It’s a tool that we could use to continue a discussion on a topic. We can open a window for 5 days.
It’s then threaded so we can refer to it at our next meeting so it would be a prep discussion. I agree about the notification piece.
David. Thanks Roy. Good thoughts. Bottom line: we want it to be relevant for everyone. Thank you for all of the feedback.
V. Updates continued

MC3—Roy
You can find a project update in Moodle. When you get into the document you will see that the status is broken down by grade levels. For example, you would see that as far as curriculum development goes that K-4 is done.
Grade 5 units 1 & 2 have been posted with the supplemental documents. The rest of the units are written and are in editing and will be posted in time for pacing because the 5 th grade network is up and running.
As far as middle school goes, Amy sent out a document describing the changes and rationale for 6 th & 7 th grade. With respect to 8 th grade, it is on hold until 5 th grade is completed for the purposes of establishing learning progressions.
H.S.—U.S. H & G Units 1-8 are posted; Unit 9 is on academic review, Unit 10 is being edited, and Unit 11 is not close to being posted.
Econ—1-4 posted.
Civics—1-4 posted.
Resources: A Word Card list has been compiled. It is in the process of review by the Developing
Partners to ensure that learning progressions are scaffolded properly. Once that has occurred they will be posted.
David: Amy, can you speak to why the changes in grades 6 and 7 are occurring?
Amy: Basically as we were producing the lessons we found that they were less rigorous than grades 3 &
4. Higher Order Thinking Skills were severely lacking and the rigor wasn’t there to prepare students for high school as well as the fact that the geography was getting short shrift. We’re now looking at how to best organize units of instruction. We’re looking at a global issues course in the 6 th grade with cross cultural comparisons over time. At the 7 th grade it would be more of a world history and geography course.
David: What is your timeline?
Amy: Our goal is to have Unit 1 posted soon. We’re trying to figure out how to post on the website without removing what is already posted. Units 2 and 3 have been written and are now being edited.
6 th grade materials will be started as soon as 5 th grade is done. We’re pulling research on challenges for students in 5 th grade and in 6 th & 7 th grade as well to ensure smooth transitions between U.S. history and world history and geography instruction.
David: I could see where this would be an excellent topic for a forum. Transitioning is so important.
Susan: MDE is aware of what you’re doing. Is this going to be a change coming out of MDE?
Amy: I sent that document to Supt. Flanagan as an FYI. Some of the people in the department contacted me. I doubt they will make any changes currently. And we are addressing the expectations we’re just stretching higher order thinking skills.

Susan: Did you just go into the WH & G course and go into Era 4 for your planning?
Amy: I can’t answer that because we’re still in the development phase. We’re looking with an eye toward high school. I don’t see us plunking but laying the foundation.
MCSS—Tom Webb
 We are continuing to work on the Joint Conference with content organizations. We are experiencing some growing pains that we will be addressing. If you go to the website you can see who are speakers are. Also, you can register there and find a complete list of sessions.
We ask MSSSA for your assistance in getting the word out as we’re hoping the conference will be a huge success.
 S.S. Olympiad is scheduled for May 5 th at Frazier High School. More details will be forthcoming.
VI. Resource Presentation--Roy Sovis
I’d like to present Ms. Donna Ullrich and Mr. Rodney Brown. Donna is the co-founder of MiProductions and is part of the faculty at MSU. Together they have produced a video on Michigan’s role in the Civil
War. It is titled, The Michigan Experience: The American Civil War Years Presentation.
Donna: Good morning. Thank you for your time today. In just a moment we’re going to show you a part of the video that Roy has introduced. Additionally, Roy will put our website info on Moodle but in the meantime, Donna’s contact information is as follows: donna@imichiganproductions.org
. Her phone number is: 810.730.1590.
Please keep in mind the video will air on local stations on or around Veteran’s Day. Additionally we’re working right now on a grant that, if funded, would allow students to create their own reports around what is on our site. Everything we’ve done applies directly to Michigan’s standards.
Rodney: When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Michigan was only 24 years old. We unselfishly devoted our men (over 90,000) and resources to the Civil War. We have 7 commercial news anchors who came together to tell this story. We’d like to share a short excerpt of what we’ve put together.
Video was shown at this time.
We’re hoping that teachers will be able to download the show after the first of the year.
David: I’m impressed with the use of news anchors from around the state. It really helps tell the story.
Rodney: It’s a first for commercial stations to collaborate with PBS.
David: And you mentioned a companion e-learning center. Roy, how will we hear about this?
Roy: I’ll be in touch with them as I’ll be a conduit. We will put information on the Moodle.

Mary W: Thanks Roy. This is going to be an excellent resource that teachers will use both in high school and in grades 3 & 4. This is a marvelous opportunity to show those in Michigan that this is a community of educators and will help re-establish pride in living in Michigan.
Marty: We’re putting together our fall newsletter next week. I think this would be an excellent piece to put in it. I need to know who I need to get into contact with.
Roy: I’ll get that information to folks ASAP.
David: Thank you to all three of you for bringing that to our attention.
VII. Content Organization Updates:
MGA—Marty Mater
 Our news is similar to Tom’s in that we are very involved in the Joint Conference and very much looking forward to the conference.
 We also have info on Geography Awareness week which is November 13-19 th . The theme this year is “Find Adventure in Geography in your own Community.” We’ve put together a book of missions that have to do with geography in your own community. I can send that to Roy so that it can be posted on Moodle.
 E-mail me and I will be glad to send you posters which are advertisements to what the booklets are all about. It is all downloadable. My e-mail address is: mater1ml@cmich.edu
.
Mary Weaver: My daughter is a travelling art teacher. I can see where she can tie art into several of her lessons with students. I’ll have her document what she does and share that with you/MGA
Marty: If folks can report to us that would be great. We will make sure it gets documented with NGA.
MCHE—Sean O’Neill
 Currently MCHE, especially with the help of Jim McConnell, is working on the celebration of the
Bicentennial of the War of 1812. On August 6 th we hosted a sail on Lake Michigan, the “Friends
Goodwill Cruise” was a success.
 On August 18 th the MCHE leadership met and worked on a strategic plan. We are making plans for the future.
 On October 8 th there will be a teacher workshop, A Day at the D in Detroit on teaching Detroit
History.
 On November 8 th there will be a Symposium after Tippecanoe noting the Bi-Centennial.
MCEE—David Dieterle
 We continue in our preparation for our annual Economics Summit Dinner on Oct. 17 th . Our keynote speaker will be Charles Evans, the President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of
Chicago.

 Structural changes are also occurring at MCEE.
 From a programming standpoint, just something to share…this past summer, through our partnership with the Foundation for Teaching Economics (FTE) Michigan hosted one of their
“Environment and the Economy” institutes. The science consultant from Wayne RESA also participated to explore the close connections between science and social studies. We’re thinking that maybe next year we can invite s.s. consultants and science consultants to participate as teams from ISD’s/RESA’s to work on cross-disciplinary endeavors.
 As we tend to have a major visual presence through our website, we continue to improve that as much as we can. Facebook and Twitter have been very helpful from the standpoint of economic news of interest to Michigan on the national scene.
 Again thanks to the State Farm Grant, we’re continuing to provide Virtual Economics CD’s and workshops occurring in the fall throughout the State.
 Grant from National Council—Excellence in Economics Education – 2 workshops using technology to teach personal finance. (Kalamazoo and SE Mich.)
 We have lost our funding for our poster contest, so that has gone by the wayside. The leadership decided to launch a video competition for high school students to create videos focusing on Michigan economic industries and interests. The due date is April 15 th . We’re also trying to get TeacherTube involved. If we are successful we’ll be sure to let folks know.
 We are still looking for funding for the Economics Challenge.
 The National Council’s Annual Conference is in Chicago this year so there is a big push to send folks there. Hopefully we’ll be able to do that.
VIII. Roundtable:
Sean O’Neill: Just a reminder that the Great Lakes History Conference is Oct. 7 & 8.
Amy: I’ve got just a couple of initiatives going on. I’m looking forward to having Lee Arbetman visit
Oakland Schools for a presentation. While he’s here I’ll also ‘pump’ him for information on where things are at with the social studies CCSS.
Also, Jim Troost is working at Oakland Schools for the WAY program. I just thought folks would want to know what he’s up to.
Darin: We’re hosting an essay contest through our local civic organization’s Center for New Thinking.
The focus is on evidence-based argumentation in the classroom.
Mary: Rollouts on CCSS are being done by MDE. Cost is $125.
David: Just a reminder that our next meeting is on Dec. 15 th which is a Thursday.

Also, thank you to St. Clair RESA for bridging us, Cheryl for facilitating/hosting, and Beckie for the minutes and to everyone around the table for your presence here today.
IX. Adjournment
Motion to Adjourn was made by Mary Weaver and seconded by Susan Laninga. The motion was unanimously accepted.