Educators often wonder exactly how the textbooks that end up in students' hands were approved. In this article, the author explores one significant stage in the process in California, the nation's largest textbook market. The Instructional Quality Commission (IQC), an advisory board to the California Department of Education's (CDE) State Board of…

In 1995, California officially adopted standards-based reforms for public education when the Governor signed the Leroy Greene California Assessment of Academic Achievement Act into law. The legislation called for a new state system of standards-based tests and created the Academic Standards Commission to develop content and performance standards…

While the field of history education elucidates a clear and ambitious vision of high-quality history instruction, a current challenge for history educators (including teacher educators, curriculum specialists, and school-based history and social science supervisors) becomes how to illuminate and capture this when observing classrooms to research…

The American Historical Association (AHA) and the National Council for History Education (NCHE) have recently advocated for raising the visibility of historians--and the significance of history coursework and subject matter preparation--in pre-service history teacher education. In 2006, NCHE adopted a position statement on history teacher…

Since 2005, the author and Elizabeth Moje have been engaged in a project to create a more coherent and cohesive program to prepare secondary teachers at the University of Michigan, a project they call the Clinical Rounds Project. Central to this effort has been their use of "disciplinary literacy" to build connections and enhance…

Given California's role in the Pacific economy, its historic Asian heritage, and the strong and growing presence of Asian communities and businesses in the state, it is imperative that students statewide understand the history of Asia. Unfortunately, the California state curricular framework and standards in history and social science limit the…

This paper examines Henry Adams' writings on history by considering four topics which comprise the basis of his thinking: politics, religion, sex, and science. Adam's main goal was to make history a means of exploring the most significant dimensions of human being. (Author/RM)

Training for college teaching is finally reaching the edge of the graduate education stage. The author examines the possibilities for further improvements and the approach employed at his university. (Author)

Changes in the approach to history which suggest that it is becoming a social science include: cooperation between scholars from different disciplines; quantitative methods borrowed from statistics and economics; and analysis of the past in ways that social scientists use to study contemporary society. The author accepts these changes only…

Describes the changes which have occurred in the study of history in the past few decades. Notes the trend toward borrowing concepts and techniques from the social sciences and humanities. Traces the origins, growth, and present status of this trend. (JDH)

The author presents the dilemmas, as well as some solutions, for historians as they seek the relevance of their discipline in today's world and its relation to the social sciences. (JH)

The function of area studies in the university and its relationship to the traditional department is examined with consideration to the solution of short-range problems and to the long-range advantages of each type of organization. (Author)

Relevant research topics, adequate utilization of research methodologies and tools, and systematic training of graduate students for historical research are generally absent from history doctoral programs. (MB)

Discusses the problems which arise out of attempts to integrate women's studies into history and other areas of the social sciences. Presents a feminist model as an alternative to the integrative approach and identifies the areas of history and social science best suited to its use. (RKM)