“Americans are far from alone in this world, but from the perspective of many young Americans, we may as well be.” (National Geographic, 2006, p. 6)

The world’s most spoken language? The largest consumer of oil? The most heavily fortified border on Earth? The current population of United States?

H YPOTHESIS Create well-rounded citizens that are well informed about their nation on a global level Students exposed to current events will learn a wide variety of skills Together these things will help to enhance student scores in other content areas

P URPOSE : Intended to give social studies teachers justification to teach current events Student exposure to current events increases achievement in other academic classes

I NSTRUMENTS Survey to detect classroom exposure to current events Survey to detect at home exposure to current events Current event assessment General knowledge assessment Teachers:Students:

C ONCLUSIONS 6 th Grade: 60/40 7 th Grade 55/45 8 th Grade 35/41/23 Does not mean 8 th grade scored lower than 6 th or 7 th Students in 8 th grade have more current event knowledge Higher level classes present more specialization ResultsDiscussion Current Event General Knowledge Same Score

C ONCLUSION C ONTINUED The higher the grade level the better the score on both current event and general knowledge Current events apply to their lives More general knowledge has been taught ResultDiscussion

C ONCLUSION C ONTINUED No correlation between current event exposure and current event knowledge Surveys may not have been specific enough No observations of teachers were done Teaching style ResultDiscussion

C ONCLUSION C ONTINUED Class placement was strongly correlated with achievement on both assessments More is expected of students in higher classes Teachers specialize lessons Students have high expectations for themselves ResultsDiscussion

C ONCLUSION C ONTINUED Students who did well on the English MSA and had high Lexile scores also did well on the general knowledge assessment Verbal / linguistic: Reading comprehension Decoding text Making inferences Understanding verbal instruction Good test taking skills ResultDiscussion

C ONCLUSION C ONTINUED Students who did well on the math MSA and also did well on the current event assessment Logical / mathematical: Cause and effect Order of society’s governments Charts/graphs Maps Relationships Demographic statistics ResultsDiscussion

F URTHER Q UESTIONS : Is a strong general knowledge creating a strong current event knowledge or vise versa? Why is current event instruction not increasing current event knowledge? Why does parent involvement not increase current event knowledge? What needs to be done to help students internalize current event information?

F INAL C ONCLUSION It is EVERY teachers responsibility to prepare students for state testing. It is EVERY teachers responsibility to complete their state standards through the curriculum. It is EVERY teachers responsibility to prepare their students for the future. Math and social studies teachers should use cross curricular planning High-stakes-testing