Standards - History, Social Studies, and Civic Education

History, Social Studies & Civic
Education Standards
Research, Articles & Editorials

Democracy: Teach It
Albert Shanker Institute (September 2003)
Education for Democracy, released by the institute in conjunction with the beginning of a new school year, the second anniversary of the September 11terrorist attacks, and the 40th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington, is a new statement calling for improvement in the teaching of democracy. Endorsed by a wide range of prominent citizens, scholars and educators—including former President Bill Clinton, President Reagan's UN Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick, historian David McCullough, essayist Richard Rodriguez, NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, actor Christopher Reeve, and Middle East scholar Fouad Ajami—the document calls for an expanded course of study in history, civics, and the humanities, providing students with a full, warts-and-all understanding of our own and other nations. Published copies will soon be available at $5 each from the institute’s offices (including shipping and handling).

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Read the press release.

Educating Democracy: State Standards To Ensure a Civic Core
Albert Shanker Institute (April 2003)
In this companion study (see above), historian Paul Gagnon analyzes the relevant academic standards from each state and provides concrete suggestions for how they could be improved to provide all students with the skills and knowledge they need to become committed, thoughtful citizens. Gagnon proposes that states adopt a rich, common core of historical and political learning for all students, and provides a model of what such a core might look like. Copies of this publication are available for $15 each ($10 each for orders of five or more) from the institute's offices.

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Read more about this report.

Advanced Placement Course Outlines
The College Board (current)
With the AP, the College Board has designed some of the nation's most rigorous courses of study and examinations for secondary students. Designed to approximate college-level survey classes, these courses have also been used by several states to help to establish a benchmark for "world-class" standards. Detailed course descriptions are offered below. (Requires free download of Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

NAEP Frameworks Series
National Assessment Governing Board (current)
The following documents contain the frameworks for assessing student achievement in the content areas of history, geography, and civics. Each provides a general overview of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and reviews the process by which the framework was developed. (Requires free download of Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

Teaching Civics After September 11
David Gordon, Harvard Education Letter (January 2002)
Many educators hope that the tragic events of September 11 will spark a renewed interest in civics education and see the reappearance of the national anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance in K-12 schools as a first step toward teaching more about citizenship, social issues, and geography. Editor David T. Gordon examines the current state of civics education and the characteristics of good citizenship education.

Can Democracy be Taught?
Albert Shanker, Journal for Civil Society (May 1997)
This article, printed in a publication of Civitas International, a multinational organization for civic education, was adapted from a longer speech to a 1995 Civitas conference in Prague, Czech Republic. In it, Shanker discusses the important role of public education in avoiding indoctrination and encouraging critical inquiry—-while at the same time functioning as the main vehicle by which democracies can provide new generations of citizens with the understanding they need of the history, principles, and ideals by which their government and society function.

Reinvigorating History in U.S. Schools
National Council for History Education (1996)
These reform recommendations from NCH offer practical advice to state while attempting to resolve the controversy surrounding national history standards.

What Should Children Learn?
Paul Gagnon, The Atlantic Monthly (Dec. 1995)
The effort to develop national standards on history were attacked from the right and the left—leaving many to conclude that questions of history and the social studies are just to political for consensus to be reached. Not so, says noted historian Paul Gagnon. Instead, he argues for states to implement "standards-based reform" based on "the idea that democratic education requires a rigorously academic core for every student."

National Standards for Civics and Government
Center for Civic Education (1994)
This document specifies the knowledge and skills students in grades K-12 should develop in the fields of civics and government. It also contains standards for teaching civics; expectations for the development of students' civic understanding; criteria for judging the quality of school and district civics programs; and standards for quality assessment.

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