|
NATIONAL SOCIAL STUDIES
STANDARDS
National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies: A Framework for Teaching, Learning and Assessment This publication of National Council for the Social Studies describes and explains the council's national standards for social studies teachers-standards that were approved initially by the NCSS Board of Directors on April 27, 1997, revised, and approved as revised by the board in September 2002. The publication consists of two general sections: (1) an introduction, which contains, in addition to this overview, information about the background and contexts in which the standards were developed, and a description of the audiences to which the standards are addressed; and (2) the standards themselves. The standards are of two types: (1) Subject Matter Standards, which outline in some detail the social studies content that social studies teachers should know and the skills and disposi- tion they should possess in order to teach social studies to students appropriately, and (2) Pedagogical Standards, which outline in very general ways the pedagogical knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed for general teacher effectiveness. The History Standards Project, directed by the National Center for
History in the Schools (NCHS), first published three sets of standards: National Standards for History for Grades K-4, National Standards for United States History, and National Standards for World History
(NCHS, 1995). Publication of the standards drew immediate criticism,
launched by Lynn Cheney who, as former head of the National Endowment
for the Humanities, had approved funding for the project ("History
Standards," Education Daily, January 1995). Others joined the
debate, either condemning the history standards outright or making
recommendations for their improvement. A group of historians,
practitioners, and public figures, convened by the Council of Basic
Education (CBE), reviewed the documents and concluded that the
"overwhelming majority of criticisms was targeted at the teaching
examples in the documents, rather than at the actual standards for
student achievement" ("Review panels," CBE, October 1995). The teaching
examples are absent from a new, basic edition of the standards, National Standards for History
(NCHS, 1996). This edition also takes into account recommendations from
the group convened by CBE, as well as recommendations from other
interested individuals. In addition to addressing the traditional
content of history studies, the standards documents from NCHS share a
treatment on Historical Thinking, which includes such standards as
Chronological Thinking and Historical Comprehension.
(From http://www.mcrel.org/standards-benchmarks/docs/history.asp)
Economics was included as a core subject in the
Goals 2000 Educate America Act. In April 1995, however, the Department
of Education decided not to provide grant money to assist the National
Council on Economic Education (NCEE). Nevertheless, NCEE continued work
with funding from private sources and has recently published Voluntary
National Content Standards in Economics (1997). As anticipated, the work
closely follows A Framework for Teaching Basic Economic Concepts with Scope
and Sequence Guidelines, K-12 (Saunders & Gilliard, 1995). Twenty standards
are identified, each supplied with a rationale. Organized beneath the standards
at 4th, 8th, and 12th grades are benchmarks; these are paired with descriptions
of what students can do to demonstrate their understanding of the benchmarks.
The standards are available in Virtual Economics: An Interactive Center
for Economic Education /Version 2.0, a CD-ROM that includes an extensive
library of activities, lessons, and other resources that are hypertext
linked to the content standards.
Geography
Standards
The Center for Civic Education (CCE) has published
National Standards for Civics and Government (1994). The standards are
presented for K-4, 5-8 and 9-12; major areas organize some 70-plus content
standards. Each content standard has associated with it a set of key concepts
that students should know in order to meet the standard. The standards
are organized into five areas: civic life, politics, and government; the
foundations of the U.S. political system; the values and principles of
U.S. constitutional democracy; the relationship of U.S. politics to world
affairs; and the role of the citizen. Each area is presented as a question,
and each of the five outermost questions (e.g., What is government and
what should it do?) has more specific questions that organize the content
standards beneath them (e.g., What are major ideas about the purposes of
government and the role of law in society?). The CCE has also produced
a source book of impressive scope and detail, Civitas: A Framework for
Civic Education (Quigley & Bahmmeller, 1991), which contains more than
600 pages of information about civics. In addition, the NAEP
Civic Consensus Project, drawing heavily on the National Standards for
Civics and Government, has produced the Civics Framework for the 1998 National
Assessment of Educational Progress (n.d.). The framework outlines preliminary
descriptions of three levels of achievement-basic, proficient, and advanced-for
civic knowledge and skills that students should possess at grades 4, 8,
and 12.
The founders of our country emphasized that the vitality and security of a democracy depends upon the education and willingness of its citizens to participate actively in society. This level of participation requires civic competence. In other words, it is imperative that our future generations gain an understanding of the core concepts of Social Studies. Life in the United States within our democratic system is constantly changing which creates varying social circumstances. As a result, citizens need to adapt to such changes in order to sustain vital democratic traditions. Meeting this need is the mission of the social studies. In social studies, students develop knowledge, skills, and dispositions, including but not limited to:
As we work to carry on the ideals of the founders, we are compelled to revisit our fundamental beliefs and institutions and to construct new social contexts and relationships. The Iowa Core Curriculum for Social Studies reflects the belief that the informed social studies students comprehend and apply to personal and public experiences the core content perspectives of the many academic fields of the social studies. Our entire social experiences, as well as our republic, are established upon the principles of individual citizenship. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the education of those future citizens. For that reason, the Iowa Core Curriculum for Social Studies has been structured around five core social studies content areas. They are:
For each area, knowledge and skills have been identified and defined in terms of detailed understandings that students should be able to apply. It is of key importance that students possess the knowledge and skills associated with the economic, political, and social forces that make up the human systems in which they live. In addition, they must possess the historical knowledge which created the spatial, temporal, and cultural perspectives present in our world. The Iowa Core Curriculum for Social Studies is premised upon a rigorous and relevant K — 12 social studies program. Engaging students in the pursuit of active informed citizenship will require a broad range of understandings and skills. It will also require an articulated curriculum which connects students to the social world through informed instructional experiences led by teachers who are committed to active civic participation. This represents a bold step toward a vision of social and civic literacy for all of Iowa's students. |