Seventeen Maryland students  received honors at the 2013 National History Day contest.  Also recognized were two outstanding Maryland teachers.   The list of those receiving honors is attached below and will also be posted on the Maryland Humanities Council website along with photos.

2013 NATIONAL HISTORY DAY HONOREES FROM MARYLAND

The Maryland Humanities Council conducted another wonderful History Day competition on Saturday, April 27.  MDCSS celebrates all the students who participated in the competition and joins the Humanities Council in honoring all the winning participants.  Click on the link below for a list of all National History Day advancers and special award winners.

2013 Maryland History Day Winners

Taylor Branch will provide the afternoon address at the 2013 MDCSS Conference to be held in Annapolis Maryland on October 18th.  Mr. Branch is the bestselling author of Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63; Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-65; At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-1968; and The Clinton Tapes.  He has won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Cokie Roberts will provide the 2013 Conference’s morning keynote address.  Ms. Roberts is a political commentator for ABC News and in her more than forty years in broadcasting, she has won countless awards, including three Emmys. She has been inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame, and was cited by the American Women in Radio and Television as one of the fifty greatest women in the history of broadcasting.

Renowned author and professor of History, Alan Taylor, will be coming to Harford County and the University of Baltimore to discuss his recent book, The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, & Indian Allies, on April 8 and April 9, 2013.  The Event will be held at Harford Community College’s Chesapeake Center, from 9:30-11:00 on March 8 and Langsdale Library Auditorium at the University of Baltimore from 7:30 pm-9:00 pm on March 9.  Admission is free.

Harford County reservations can be made by contacting (443) 412-2539 or haysheighe@harford.edu.

The Maryland State Department of Education has just released survey data required by Md. EDUCATION Code Ann. § 7-203 (2012). This data revealed that among the 3,200 elementary school teacher respondents, over 50 percent teach social studies less than three hours per week.  Additionally, 41.9 percent of secondary school social studies teachers reported that appropriate professional development was not available to them, while it was reported by state supervisors that one-third of high school social studies courses are taught by teachers who are teaching a majority of classes out of their area of certification.  These results would likely have been even more alarming had MSDE also asked district supervisor for the total number of social studies sections being taught by teachers not certified in social studies.

The survey results clearly demonstrate that the alarming condition of social studies in Maryland has not substantially improved since the release of the Social Studies Task Force Report, April 2010.  Those who care about Maryland students receiving a healthy social studies education are encouraged to contact State Superintendent Lillian Lowery, members of the State Board of Education, and elected representatives with the clear message that we need to do more to improve the condition of social studies in Maryland.

View all survey results at: http://marylandpublicschools.org/MSDE/divisions/instruction/.

The resulting statute, Md. EDUCATION Code Ann. § 7-203 (2012) requires the Maryland State Department of Education to survey a representative sample of public schools and teachers annually to measure, in an effort to evaluate, the status and well-being of science and social studies throughout the state.