This study explores the history of Americans' birthright of liberty. The goal of education is to teach our children social studies, above all history and civics, so they can know what liberty is, where America's ideas of liberty originate in the long history of Western civilization, how our ancestors achieved their freedom, how our laws,…

Teaching students to act as citizens significantly enhances preparation for college and career. It is incumbent upon the National Council for the Social Studies to provide guidance to states and local districts to develop social studies standards to achieve this goal. The recommendations presented here focus on the principle that standards…

"Pack It Up!" was a fully interactive history exhibit for all ages, targeting primarily families with elementary-school-aged children. It invited visitors to work collaboratively through open-ended object inquiry and primary source analysis. Collaborative exhibit design between the education and collections departments led to an exhibit…

In response to the banning of Mexican American Studies in Tucson, students in the newly formed Chican@ Literature, Art, and Social Studies program displayed their resiliency in the face of the oppressive actions of the Tucson Unified School District and the state of Arizona. This article serves as a platform for the voices of these dedicated youth…

The purpose of this report is to summarize the activities of the standard-setting meeting for the New York State Alternate Assessment (NYSAA) in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics (Grades 3-8 and High School), science (Grades 4, 8, and High School), and social studies (High School). The NYSAA standard-setting meeting was held on June 11…

Poverty most likely will always be a concern in the United States, particularly in at-risk populations of the public schools. Many students in poverty enter public schools behind in academic and social skills due to a lack of quality early learning experiences. Regular education teachers work diligently to catch these children up in vital skills;…

In this article, the author addresses classroom teachers, department heads, and supervisors who have direct contact with students and what they learn. They need to tell students, parents, policymakers, and everyone else that social studies is critical and that the NCSS mission statement is not just a nice set of words, but absolutely crucial to…

Current agendas of the California State Department of Education, the California State Board of Education, and the California State Legislature are examined. Some part of each agenda has potential for impact on the social studies area of instruction. (RM)

Social studies and foreign language educators are taking tentative steps on the national, state, and local levels toward integration of the fields in curriculum and cooperative efforts. Opportunities for further efforts include joint planning in some areas of study, class exchanges, joint classes, fairs and festivals, and student projects. (MSE)

This paper focuses on the "content" standards in history, geography, civics, and social studies and how social studies specialists in six Mid-western states saw the standards being used in their states as of spring 1998. The data gathered came from the use of a Q-sort deck of 21 cards with statements regarding the standards and…

Asserts that history faculty should contribute to the training of secondary social studies teachers. Focuses on the program at California State University (Long Beach), one of the few universities to place single subject credentialing programs within the academic discipline as opposed to within the school of education. (CMK)

Describes the new place for geography in the various university departments in New Zealand that have been reconfigured by university-wide restructuring. Discusses the implications of the restructuring on university geography in New Zealand focusing on the problems in relation to the administrative changes, such as the flow of students in the…

This report, submitted to the U.S. Department of Education, contains summary details of Delaware students' growth in the areas of reading, mathematics, writing, science and social studies. The results reported herein are part of a long-term effort to gather data on Delaware students' educational progress and use the data to inform decisions about…

This publication is an annual revision of a May 1976 survey to develop a profile of social studies course offerings and requirements in grades K-12 for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Information about social studies testing for each state and the District of Columbia was added in 1988. Information about statewide assessment…

Asserts that history departments in undergraduate programs should train secondary social studies teachers. Asserts that history professors are content experts and previously may have been successful secondary teachers, willing to experiment with teaching methods. Discusses how history departments can train secondary social studies teachers. (CMK)