In the spirit of honoring Oregon's teachers for their dedication and countless hours of service to provide their students the best education possible, OCSS is proud to present this year's Fall Conference with inspiring speakers, informative and engaging workshops and helpful exhibitors presenting products that are useful and engaging.

Guest Speakers

All Day Workshops

Concurrent Workshops
This year's Fall Conference will feature a wide range of workshops in many Social Studies subject areas for all K-12 teachers. Confronting Controversy: Challenges to Academic Freedom

Time: 8:00am to 3:00pm - Registration begins at 7:30am
Location: Sprague High School, 2373 Kuebler Blvd. South, Salem, OR 97302
Cost: $40 if pre-registered; $50 on-site.
Student/retired/Salem teachers $15; $25 on-site.
OCSS is providing 6 conference scholarships to first year teachers. Amenities: A Continental breakfast, boxed lunch and refreshments will be served.

Pre-registration deadline is October 3, 2005
Click here to download the registration form for the conference.
For further conference information contact Shirley Lomax by phone: 503-581-9930 or email: ladyatfals@aol.com.

After six months of deliberation OCSS has updated its Constitution and By-laws to provide for a more streamlined and efficient organization. To provide for continuity of leadership, the Council Officers have been expanded from five to six. The current officers include the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and immediate Past President. The proposed amendment adds a President -Elect (elected the previous year as Vice President; the President-Elect will automatically become the President the following year.)

The second major change was to reduce the size of the OCSS Board, so as to more easily achieve a quorum. Presently the OCSS board consists of the officers, the immediate past president, ten elected delegates at large, six Directors (committee chairs), the OCSS newsletter editor, the OCSS journal editor, and Associate members. Many of the director positions and the editor positions have been vacant for the past two years. The proposed amendment states the Council Board of Directors will consist of the officers, the immediate Past President, and ten elected Delegates for a total of 16 voting members.

Seven candidates answered the call earlier this summer for new Board Candidates. All members in good standing (dues paid through October 15, 2005 or who register for the fall conference) will have the opportunity to ratify the changes to the Constitution and vote for new Board members.

Dan Blus teaches social studies at North Salem HS.
Dan earned his BS in history from Oregon State University in 1992 and completed Willamette University's Masters of Arts in Teaching in 1993. He has taught social studies at North Salem for the last seven years after teaching four years at Roberts High School's Structured Learning Center. During his tenure at North, Dan has served as a member of the school's 21st Century Council, been a varsity head coach and assistant coach. He has taught ESOL, elective, honors, and advanced placement courses.

Debbie Fauth teaches at Yoshikai Elementary in Salem.
"I graduated from Linfield University in 1993, obtained my Masters degree in Curriculum from Portland State University, and my ESOL endorsement form WOU. I have taught for Salem Keizer and Silverton Schools, grades 3-8. This year I am teaching kindergarden. I don't really like having summers off, so I look for interesting classes to fill my time such as the ones through OGA. This combined with my interest n history, makes social sciences a focus within my classroom.

Ayesha Freeman teaches at Sunset HS in Beaverton.
"I have been teaching social studies since 1997. I began my teaching career in the Cherry Creek School District which serves a suburban community of Denver, Colorado. There I taught world geography, US history and anthropology. I began teaching at Sunset HS in 2000. I continue to teach core subjects and have also gained International Baccalaureate certification to teach IB Anthropology and have received SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol) training in order to effectively teach ELL social studies. I believe that public schools are catalysts for social progress, and I work, to provide an equitable education for all students. "

Lisa Iverson teaches at Cascade HS in Turner.
"Seeking excellence in social studies education through a personal commitment to life-long learning is one of my strengths as a social studies educator. I have been fortunate to engage in numerous learning opportunities such as the James Madison Fellowship, Fulbright Memorial Fund to Japan, Fulbright-Hays to New Zealand, Goethe Institute in Germany, Dar al Islam institute, the NCTA seminar, and I just recently returned from an NEH institute about Islam in China. I love sharing my excitement and passion for learning with students and colleagues, and am thrilled at the prospect of serving on the OCSS board and interacting with teachers from around our state."

Sarah Liebman teaches social studies at Liberty HS in Hillsboro.
"The fall OCSS conference was a pivotal experience in my development as a teacher. It inspired me to create curriculum that engages students in the political process. Through authentic performance tasks such as balancing the state budget my students learned that informed citizens can and do make a difference. I model that engagement through my own involvement in the political process. As a first year teacher on the OCSS board, I will represent the opinions of new and prospective teachers who have so much to gain from the opportunities OCSS offers.

Judy Lowery teaches at Western Oregon University.
"I teach content and pedagogy classes and supervise pre-service students in the undergraduate education program. I received my Masters in Education from the University of Portland and taught in the Silverton School. District for 29 years. I have worked on several state textbook adoption committees, served as the secretary for SSPOC, and helped write the content standards for geography. I am a teacher consultant for Oregon Geographic Alliance and have served on the steering committee. Believing strongly in the teaching of social studies and seeing a need to advocate for the inclusion of social studies K-12 is why I would like to serve on the board of OCSS."

David Nieslanik teaches at Beaverton HS.
"As a social studies teacher for the last 13 years, I am able to bring a lot of experience to the OCSS Board. I have taught every grade from 6th through 12th, excluding 9th grade. I have taught at-risk youth at a "second chance" school, middle schools social studies, US history, various world history courses, geography, economics, and am currently teaching both AP and IB European history. As a teacher-leader in my district I have participated on several committees and focus groups. As a social studies teacher, I strive to create thoughtful, productive, and involved citizens."

Gayle Thieman, Council President

Recently I had the opportunity to represent OCSS and network with sixty other social studies council leaders in Washington , D.C. at the NCSS Summer Leadership Conference. Each of us met with our Congressional delegation, participated in legislative briefings, wrote resolutions for the NCSS House of Delegates in November, and gained valuable information for our council.

This year's theme focused on advocacy for the Social Studies. Click here to read the NCSS Position Paper on Social Studies which counters the specious argument that social studies is content free.

After listening to a policy briefing from a representative of the federal Department of Education, we discussed Senate Bill 860, to amend the National Assessment of Education Progress Authorization Act to require State academic assessments of student achievement in United States history and civics. In part the bill states in the 2001 NAEP test, history had the largest percentage of students scoring below basic of any subject tested, including math, science, and reading.

The bill cites NAEP test results: ";95% of fourth graders could not list "two reasons why people we call 'pioneers' moved west across the US; 73% of fourth graders could not identify the Constitution as the document that contains the basic rules used to run the US government; 75% of fourth grades could not identify the three parts of the federal government; 95% of eighth graders could not give two reasons why it can be useful for a country to have a constitution; 91% of eighth graders could not list two issues important in causing the Civil War and list the Northern and Southern positions on each of these issues; and 91% of twelfth graders could not explain the most important cause of the Great Depression after reading a paragraph delineating four significant reasons.

If passed, the bill would increase the frequency of NAEP testing in history and civics. It would also require trial NAEP testing in history and civics at eighth and twelfth grades in ten states representing geographically diverse regions of the US. The bill would authorize $7 million each in fiscal years 2006 and 2007.

I also heard an excellent briefing on the need to refocus our attention on citizenship education presented by Sarah Pearson of the American Youth Policy Forum. I encourage you to read the entire report, Restoring the Balance Between Academics and Civic Engagement in Public Schools, Washington, DC: American Youth Policy Forum, 2005 (www.aypf.org) The study "notes that the recent preoccupation of the nation with reshaping academics and raising academic performance has all but overpowered a task of equally vital importance-educating our young people to become engaged members of their communities as citizens.. Since the implementation of No Child Left Behind, the amount of time teachers spend on social studies, geography, civics, and other related subjects has decreased at the elementary level while time spent on reading, mathematics, and science has increased..How can schools reverse this pattern, and provide students with an education that will allow them to become well-rounded both academically and civically?"

The American Youth Policy Forum and the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development developed seven propositions for action.

Two elements of the OCSS Strategic Plan are to (a) raise our political voice by articulating critical issues and providing a discussion forum and (b) improve education by helping students become effective citizens and know the world and strengthening social studies for elementary and ELL students. I urge you to join in the discussion of how best to advocate for the social studies both nationally and here in Oregon.