2018-2019 NCSS - FASSE GOVERNING BOARD REPORT Dr. Frederick Isele, NCSS FASSE Acting Chair
As this year’s NCSS FASSE Chair, I would like to thank the entire ICSS membership for supporting our NCSS financial initiative known as FASSE; the Funds for the Advancement of Social Studies Education. As a life-long member of NCSS and completing my 50th year as a professional educator, I also wish to take this opportunity to acknowledge our ICSS teachers for your outstanding professionalism, your service to your country and your active support of Social Studies education through FASSE. It has always been a great honor to claim my NCSS and ICSS and FASSE memberships as significant influences to my professional growth and development as a student, teacher, administrator, and now a Professor Emeritus of the Social Studies. Moreover, it has been a serious contributor for establishing wonderful professional relationships at conferences, FASSE grants, international fellowships, and new insights to the field of Social Studies research and other developments in our field of education. As a member of the Illinois Council for the Social Studies, would you and your students like to make an investment in Social Studies education? If interested, please contact our NCSS socialstudies.org website for FASSE information and how to apply for 2019 Social Studies grants. Besides the grants and awards offered by the NCSS International Assembly (IA) and the College and University Faculty Assembly (CUFA), FASSE promotes Social Studies research through the Christa McAuliffe Award. The NCSS-FASSE Committee was established in 1984 with the purpose of supporting Social Studies research and classroom application projects that will improve instruction, enlighten citizenship, and promote civic competence. FASSE fulfills its mission by supporting: (1.) the annual Christa McAuliffe “Reach for the Stars” Award; (2.) the NCSS International Assembly Grant for “International Understanding Projects”; (3.) the NCSS-College & University Faculty Assembly “Inquiry Grant”; (4.) innovative and dynamic Social Studies instruction and educational practices; and finally, (5.) FASSE Award Winner presentations of their outstanding Social Studies research projects at one of our annual NCSS Conferences. Today, we have received “a number” of Social Studies research project proposals for this year’s annual Christa McAuliffe “Reach for the Stars” Award. Generally speaking, it is based on the project’s ability to: (1.) offer a clear and effectively stated Abstract with Goals and Objectives for “doing” a Social Studies research project with students; (2.) articulate a time-line plan for organizing requisite Social Studies activities for the successful completion of a proposed project; and (3.) share their project information with the Social Studies community. Previous “winners” have published their results and presented their grant studies at state and national conferences. Again, for those Social Studies educators wishing to submit a FASSE research proposal for 2019, please see our NCSS weblink at socialstudies.org.