In 2017, the Oregon Legislature enacted Senate Bill 13, known as Tribal History/Shared History. This bill was the culmination of decades of organizing and curriculum work by the nine federally recognized Tribes within Oregon. The law directs the Oregon Department of Education to develop a K-12 Native American curriculum in partnership with Oregon…

In 2017, the Oregon Legislature enacted Senate Bill 13, known as Tribal History/Shared History. This bill was the culmination of decades of organizing and curriculum development by the nine federally recognized Tribes in Oregon. The law directs the Oregon Department of Education to develop a K-12 Native American curriculum in partnership with…

This report, intended primarily for civics reformers considering how best to defend and improve traditional American civics education, surveys a selection of different civics offerings, both the traditional and the radical. Surveyed providers include organizations such as the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, We the People, and Hillsdale…

Settler-colonial narratives permeate the social studies curriculum. This qualitative study engages the experiences and reflections of three teacher-participants as well as the researcher as an additional teacher-participant to explore how and why practicing teachers teach against settler colonial narratives. The study is framed through a…

"Black history is American history," is a popular phrase used by a multitude of people seeking to legitimate Black history to the general population. The motto is usually a two-fold response to concerns about the disregard of Black history. First, "Black history is American history" is used to criticize (and in some cases…

This study examined how U.S. entry into World War I and related pedagogical reforms of the early twentieth century impacted elementary social education at a local level. Analysis of state curriculum guides, records from the collection of a rural school educator, report cards, and daily attendance registers for four counties indicated that…

United States history classrooms have the potential to simultaneously foster an understanding of students' cultures and experiences today in relation to the nation's history and develop critical thinking and technology literacy. Yet classroom materials and instructors tend to avoid, ignore, or misrepresent controversial topics such as race and…

The politicians and pastors who revised the Texas social studies standards made national and international headlines. However, much of that coverage was sensational and squeezed the process into a narrow "culture war" storyline. Politics and the History Curriculum sets the debate over the Texas standards within a broader context by…

The September 2011 report, "Teaching the Movement: The State of Civil Rights Education in the United States 2011," was prompted by the news that American high school seniors knew little about the civil rights movement. Knowing that low expectations often contribute to poor student achievement, the report took a close look at the content…

For more than a decade, the world history course taught in the public high schools of Texas has provided the only comprehensive overview of the story of humanity to millions of students, most of whom are of Mexican descent. The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills curriculum standard for world history has been foundational for textbook selection,…

This paper presents the research design, rationale, and the results of a historical document-based research project to answer the following two-part question: How do popular and dominant political, social, and economic forces affect the creation and delivery of American history curriculum in public schools between 1890 and 1920 and how is this…

A review of "The September 11th Education Program: A National Interdisciplinary Curriculum" reveals a sensitive and well-created program for the 5-12 social studies teacher to use in teaching about the challenging subject of 9/11. This program provides an opportunity for teachers to find a balance among understanding, critical analysis,…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress--commonly called "The Nation's Report Card"--tells a dismal story: Only 2% of high school seniors in 2010 could answer a simple question about the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark "Brown v. Board of Education" decision. And it's no surprise. Across the country, state educational…

Criticisms of Howard Zinn's work on U.S. History are examined in the context of increasing emphasis on the idea of "American exceptionalism" in contemporary political and cultural discourse, and particularly the insertion of American exceptionalism into revised social studies standards for the state of Texas. Analysis focusing on the…

The members at the American Federation of Teachers examined each state's and Washington, D.C.'s content standards documents to determine whether or not they contain enough information about what students should learn to provide the basis for coherent curricula and assessments. There is no perfect formula for this; they made a series of judgment…