National Standards For History

This sourcebook contains more than twelve hundred easy-to-follow and implement classroom activities created and tested by veteran teachers from all over the country. The activities are arranged by grade level and are keyed to the revised National History Standards, so they can easily be matched to comparable state history standards. This volume offers teachers a treasury of ideas for bringing history alive in grades 5?12, carrying students far beyond their textbooks on active-learning voyages into the past while still meeting required learning content. It also incorporates the History Thinking Skills from the revised National History Standards as well as annotated lists of general and era-specific resources that will help teachers enrich their classes with CD-ROMs, audio-visual material, primary sources, art and music, and various print materials. Grades 5?12

Developed through a broad-based national consensus building process, the national history standards project has involved working toward agreement both on the larger purposes of history in the school curriculum and on the more specific history understandings and thinking processes all students should have equal opportunity to acquire over 12 years of precollegiate education. Divided into 3 chapters, this document presents the national standards developed for grades K-4. The first chapter is on developing standards in history for students in grades K-4. It discusses the significance of history for the educated citizen, definition of standards, basic principles in development of standards for K-4, integrating historical thinking and historical understandings in standards for grades K-4, and questions concerning these standards. Policy issues discussed are: (1) ensuring equity for all students; (2) providing adequate instructional time for history; and (3) linking history to related studies in geography, civics, literature, and the arts in an integrated or interdisciplinary curriculum for grades K-4. The second chapter presents an overview of standards in historical thinking including chronological thinking, historical comprehension, historical analysis and interpretation, historical research capabilities, and historical issues analysis and decision making. Chapter 3 surveys eight standards organized under four topics: (1) living and working together in families and communities, now and long ago; (2) the history of students' own state or region; (3) U.S. history, democratic principles and values, people from many cultures who contributed to U.S. cultural, economic, and political heritage; and (4) history of peoples of many cultures around the world. An appendix lists contributors and participating organizations. (DK)

This volume contains the original version of United States history standards, along with standards-based activities. The standards were produced as part of the "Goals 2000" program by the US Department of Education. Post-critique, the standards were later revised and in 1996 were published together with the world history standards in one volume without activities.

The National Curriculum Standards were developed by a Task Force of National Council for the Social Studies, and approved by the NCSS Board of Directors in March 2010. These national standards are a revision of the national standards published by NCSS in 1994 under the title Expectations of Excellence: Curriculum Standards for Social Studies.

An incisive overview of the current debate over the teaching of history in American schools examines the setting of controversial standards for history education, the integration of multiculturalism and minorities into the curriculum, and ways to make history more relevant to students. Reprint.

A volume in International Review of History Education Series Editor Peter Lee, Rosalyn Ashby, Stuart Foster As educators in the United States and Europe develop national history standards for K-12 students, the question of what to do with national history canons is a subject of growing concern. Should national canons still be the foundation for the teaching of history? Do national canons develop citizenship or should they be modified to accommodate the new realities of globalization? Or should they even be discarded outright? These questions become blurred by the debates over preserving national heritages, by so-called 'history wars' or 'culture wars, ' and by debates over which pedagogical frameworks to use. These canon and pedagogical debates often overlap, creating even more confusion. A misconceived "skills vs. content" debate often results. Teaching students to think chronologically and historically is not the same as teaching a national heritage or a cosmopolitan outlook. But what exactly is the difference? Policy-makers and opinion leaders often confuse the pedagogical desirability of using a 'framework' for studying history with their own efforts to reaffirm the centrality of national identity rooted in a vision of their nation's history as a way of inculcating citizenship and patriotism. These are the issues discussed in this volume." Today's students are citizens of the world and must be taught to think in global, supranational terms. At the same time, the traditionalists have a point when they argue that the ideal of the nation-state is the cultural glue that has traditionally held society together, and that social cohesion depends on creating and inculcating a common national culture in the schools. From an educational perspective, the problem is how to teach chronological thinking at all. How are we to reconcile the social, political and intellectual realities of a globalizing world with the continuing need for individuals to function locally as citizens of a nation-state, who share a common past, a common culture, and a common political destiny? Is it a duty of history education to create a frame of reference, and if so, what kind of frame of reference should this be? How does frame-of-reference knowledge relate to canonical knowledge and the body of knowledge of history as a whole?

For the first time, the U.S. museum profession's current operating standards in areas from public accountability to facilities and risk management are available in a single publication. This guide is an essential reference work for the museum community, presenting the ideals that should be upheld by every museum striving to maintain excellence in its operations. An introductory section explains how virtually anyone associated with museums will find the book valuable, from trustees to staff to funders and the media. It is followed by a full outline of the standards, including the overarching Characteristics of Excellence and the seven areas of performance they address. Throughout the book is commentary by Elizabeth E. Merritt, former director of AAM's Museum Advancement and Excellence Department and founding director of AAM's Center for the Future of Museums. "Insightful commentary by Elizabeth Merritt rings loud and clear and accompanies a concise compilation of policies, practices and plans for managing museums in the twenty-first century. Every museum professional should look to National Standards and Best Practices for U.S. Museums for direction in museum administration and collection stewardship, education programs and exhibitions." — Tim White, assistant director for collections and operations, Yale Peabody Museum; president, Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections Also available from Amazon as a Kindle e-Book: National Standards & Best Practices for U.S. Museums