Nearly a quarter century after the meltdown of a national effort to set history standards, two federal agencies are putting a toe back into troubled curricular waters: determining what history and civics content students should learn鈥攁nd the best ways for teaching it.
The National Endowment for the Humanities and the U.S. Department of Education have made and several university partners, to design a 鈥渞oadmap鈥� to guide teachers, publishers, and state officials on how to create integrated history and civics content. The document will be unveiled in September 2020.
Both NEH and iCivics officials emphasized that the project will not attempt to craft grade-by-grade content standards. But it will detail 鈥渉igh priority鈥� content areas that bridge the two disciplines, along with teaching methods and principles for curriculum development.
鈥淲e would not be issuing in any way national teaching standards,鈥� said Jon Parrish Peede, the current chairman of the NEH, about his expectations for the project. 鈥淚 think the outcome everyone is looking for is A, to bring greater awareness to civics education and the importance of teaching civics, and B, how to deliver that knowledge for students,鈥� Peede said. 鈥淎nd if we do A and B successfully, then there鈥檚 certainly a possibility it may impact teaching standards down the line, but that is not the outcome we鈥檙e pursuing. That may be a byproduct of bringing greater awareness to these best practices.鈥�
Civics and ethics centers at Harvard University, Arizona State University, and Tufts University will all work with iCivics on the initiative.
Threading the Needle
In short, iCivics and its partners want to thread the needle here. They want to produce a document that鈥檚 flexible enough that states will still have room to tailor as they write their own standards鈥攂ut more specific and useful than other recent guidelines for civics and history.
And they want to do it all while avoiding the partisan culture wars that doomed the 1994 effort to craft national history standards.
(That NEH- and Education Department-funded effort got off to a good start. But ultimately, Lynne Cheney, on whose watch the NEH had awarded the grant, lambasted a draft as too critical of the United States and too politically correct. The blowup eventually led to widespread criticism and, ultimately, a 99-1 repudiation of the draft by the Senate. 澳门跑狗论坛 reported extensively on the rise and fall of the national history standards effort. It鈥檚 all still relevant reading in the context of this new initiative.)
While there have been important advances in K-12 history and civics teaching since then, content has largely been a third rail. The produced by the National Council for the Social Studies in 2013, for example, outlined broader skills and dispositions that students should learn, but not the content they should apply them to. A typical C3 standard for 8th grade reads: 鈥淒etect possible limitations in the historical record based on evidence collected from different kinds of historical sources.鈥�
iCivics鈥� leaders say they envision 鈥渢eaching civics through the arc of American history,鈥� rather than as separate disciplines, to underscore the connection between of how American civic ideals and institutions have been historically created and sustained鈥攕ometimes to the exclusion of some groups. (澳门跑狗论坛 explored in a story last year how K-12 history education tends to be divisive in part because the way it鈥檚 taught often communicates unspoken, and contested, civic values.)
The group鈥檚 executive director, Louise Dub茅, said the effort will look at both the 鈥済ory and the glory鈥� of the United States鈥� founding, history, and successes and failures in living up to its ideals. It will also acknowledge that in an increasingly diverse country, all learners need to see a version of history and civics that鈥檚 relevant to them.
鈥淚 know that we have to acknowledge our patriotism, that we need to believe in this country,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 know that there is reluctance on both sides on these issues. Some do not like the term patriotism, and some do not like to talk about the really dramatically bad parts of our national story, but my hope is we can get beyond that and understand that both co-exist. Our democracy asks that of us.鈥�
The group has convened a steering committee of 30 individuals. Most of the hands-on work will be done by three separate task forces鈥攐ne each on the topics of history, political theory and civics, and pedagogy, each with a mix of academics and educators and a staff of research assistants.
Among other things, the panels will examine at the quality of each state鈥檚 existing standards, consider advances in higher education pedagogy, and look at the emerging field of media literacy. They鈥檒l also meet in two working sessions to be held early next year, one at Louisiana State University and the other at Arizona State University.
It is not yet entirely clear what opportunities the public will have to weigh in on the document before it鈥檚 released.
Long Shadows
Dub茅 promised the panels will be balanced in terms of representation, political perspectives, and disciplines. Still, it鈥檚 undeniable that this is going to be a challenging task.
For one, the new funding is far less than the 1990s effort, which received more than $2 million. And it was hard enough at that time to balance 30 organizations鈥� perspectives let alone the more than 100 individuals who鈥檒l be contributing to the new effort, noted Gary Nash, a distinguished professor of history at the University of California Los Angeles, one of two experts who co-chaired the national history standards committee in 1994.
鈥淚t could ignite another history war that could be even fiercer than the one in the 1990s,鈥� he mused. Conversely, 鈥渋t may end up just being oatmeal, in an effort to be so broad and so general everyone can say, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 a good thing.鈥欌��
Dub茅 acknowledged the challenges ahead.
鈥淚鈥檓 obviously concerned; we are all,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e are hoping to be as transparent and open as possible given the task that needs to be done in a short time frame and are hoping that everyody comes to this with the goal to ensure schools are nonpartisan organizations, and that we can bring people together with the strength of that idea. Is there the potential for partisanship? Of course there is.鈥�
The award is part of NEH鈥檚 newly announced initiative, which funds a broad portfolio of projects on American history and civic culture. The Education Department funding comes from the national activities portion of its American History and Civics Education grant.
Read the project narrative below.
Image: Getty
澳门跑狗论坛 is partnering with the Purple Project for Democracy in its civics education coverage this month. Find out more about the project, a nonpartisan coalition of media organizations and civics groups, at wethepurple.org.