The History of American Social Studies Education

Progressive Era Influences

▪ John Dewey – saw the classroom as a laboratory, and believed students should engage in experiential learning.

▪ Experiential learning is a way to engage all students through hands-on learning activities.

▪ Part of a larger social movement – treat children, immigrants, disabled, poor, etc., as people, not objects to be institutionalized

1930s – Federal government programs and outreach to rural areas

▪ New Deal programs, such as the WPA and CCC, provided young people unprecedented opportunities to leave the homestead and see more of the world.

▪ Sixteen state parks in MO; Little River Drainage District in Bootheel; courthouses, schools, sewing rooms, & school lunches

1960s – War on Poverty education initiatives

▪ President Johnson’s Great Society programs, included the creation of Teacher Corps and Head Start

▪ Interns received a small stipend to teach for one year in a high-risk district, such as an inner city district, Indian reservation, or place plagued by rural poverty

1983 – A Nation at Risk

▪ President Reagan’s National Commission on Excellence in Education

▪ Among other things, the report contributed to the ever-growing assertion that American schools were failing, and it touched off a wave of local, state, and federal reform efforts.

Reagan's address - 44 seconds AFT response to Nation at Risk - 1:27

1987 – The Bradley Commission

▪ Funded by a private endowment, this group of 16 teachers, professors, and professional historians formed to address the issue of a dearth of history education

▪ Studied history in the public school secondary curriculum, and found that 15% of American students were taking no history at all, and more were only taking U.S. history – no world or western civ.

▪ The Bradley Commission was the first national group to devote its attention exclusively to history

1995 – Lies My Teacher Told Me (James Loewen)

▪ In this book, political science professor James Loewen alleges that social studies curriculum had failed millions of American schoolchildren

▪ A bestseller, but received mixed reactions from academic community

http://eiffel.ilt.columbia.edu/TEACHERS/cluster_teachers/Dick_Parsons/Restoring%20the%20Past/Index/Contents.htm

1999 – A People’s History of the United States

(Howard Zinn)

▪ A groundbreaking study by historian Howard Zinn; tells the “bottoms-up” perspective, or people’s history, of well-known historical events.

▪ Banned in some schools

Rethinking education – Zinn Project

2001- No Child Left Behind

▪ An act of Congress based on standards and high-stakes testing, on the idea that high standards and measurable goals could improve outcomes in education

▪ Included Title I, a special provision for disadvantaged students

▪ Criticized for punishing schools by withholding funding for those that did not meet goals for 100% of student s

▪ Focused on math, reading, and later science; sometimes at the cost of social studies education

NCLB - 1:37

2002 – Teaching American History grants

▪ Made possible by the "Teaching American History as a Separate Subject Grants Program" within the Department of Education

▪ Provided more that $100,000,000 for history teaching projects.

▪ Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) led the effort to have American history emphasized in school curriculum

▪ Awards grants to school districts & colleges to develop workshops, curriculum, and programs

2006 – Next Generation of History Teachers

▪ A conference held in 2006 by the AHA to discuss how college professors can better prepare the next generation of K-12 history teachers

▪ Came up with a list of suggestions/recommendations for history departments across the country

http://blog.historians.org/2007/03/the-next-generation-of-history-teachers/

http://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/november-2007/the-next-generation-of-history-teachers

2008 - Common Core State Standards

▪ Obama Administration – a set of broadly written standards in areas of math/science and English/Language Arts – replaced NCLB

▪ Social studies falls under the ELA umbrella

http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RH/9-10/

http://www.wordle.net/ http://nypost.com/2015/01/22/john-madden-tom-brady-may-be-to-blame-for-deflated-footballs/

1983 – A Nation at Risk1987 – The Bradley Commission1995 – Lies My Teacher Told Me (James Loewen)1996 – Historical Thinking Standards1999 – A People’s History of the U.S. (Howard Zinn)2001 – No Child Left Behind (Bush administration)2002 – Teaching American History grants2006 – Next Generation of History Teachers2008 – Common Core State Standards

Chronology of Important Events to Social Studies Education in the Late 20th Century

SSED in Missouri

▪ Before CCSS, most states wrote their own curriculum standards

http://dese.mo.gov/sites/default/files/cle-social-studies.pdf = Missouri Course Level Expectations & Grade Level Expectation – bring up and go over