Spotlight on Washington: The History of Science in Policy

Vol. 41, No. 2, April 2012
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The following articles are excerpted from the website of the Coalition for History, an organization promoting the teaching of history in the United States. Links to the full versions of each article appear below. Since the HSS is an international society, members who reside outside the U.S. are requested to send education and policy news from their respective countries.

Teachinghistory.org Releases Updated Report on State of History Education

Teachinghistory.org recently announced that an addendum to the 2010 Report on the State of History Education is now available. This supplement tracks policy changes regarding the teaching of U.S. history between August 2008 and September 2010 in all fifty states and the District of Columbia.

Findings include the following:

Common Core State Standards, President Obama's Race to the Top initiative, state finances, the creation of the Social Studies Assessment, Curriculum and Instruction program, and the Consortium for a Well-Rounded Education have impacted state standards and policy.
Between September 2008 and August 2010, twelve states and the District of Columbia revised their history/social studies state standards. Iowa remains the only state without any history/social studies standards, preferring local control of the curriculum.
World history trails U.S. history in state requirements: thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia require a course in U.S. history for graduation, while only twenty-two states and the District of Columbia require a course in world history. Out of twenty-six states that require history testing, twenty-four include American history content, while only 15 require world history assessment.
Social Studies/History testing included more constructed responses such as essays or short answers in 2010 than in past years. Of the twenty-six states that required history/social studies testing in 2010, half required some kind of constructed response as opposed to 42% (11 out of 25) in 2008.

To complement the report addendum, Teachinghistory.org has also updated its database of state standards to reflect changes since 2008. This is the only comprehensive compilation of state standards available online. It is fully searchable by state and grade.

U.S. House of Representative Panel Passes Resolution Cutting K–12 History Funds

On February 28, the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce approved two pieces of legislation to rewrite the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). One bill, the "Encouraging Innovation and Effective Teachers Act" includes earlier legislation (H.R. 1891) that would eliminate more than 70 Department of Education programs including Teaching American History grants.

Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Program Application Period Open

The Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Program for 2012, is accepting applications until 23 April 2012. This U.S. program "provides grants to support overseas projects in training, research, and curriculum development in modern foreign languages and area studies for teachers, students, and faculty engaged in a common endeavor."

National Humanities Alliance Executive Director Jessica Irons Stepping Down

In January, U.S. National Humanities Alliance (NHA) Executive Director Jessica Jones Irons announced that she was stepping down effective 1 February 2012.

Report Calls for Greater Emphasis on Civic Learning in Higher Education

A report from the U.S. National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement, A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy's Future, urges educators and public leaders to advance a 21st century vision of college learning for all students—a vision with civic learning and democratic engagement an expected part of every student's college education.

NARA Seeks Input on "Managing Government Records" Presidential Directive

The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration recently announced the start of a public information gathering effort related to the Presidential Memorandum on Managing Government Records. The Memorandum was issued on 28 November 2011 and directs agencies to develop a 21st-century framework for records management.

NEH Names Wendell E. Berry to Deliver 2012 Jefferson Lecture

Wendell E. Berry, noted poet, essayist, novelist, farmer, and conservationist, will deliver the 2012 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities. The annual lecture, sponsored by the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), is the most prestigious honor the federal government bestows for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities.

AHA Initiates Nationwide Project to Define "Core of Historical Study"

The American Historical Association (AHA) is initiating a nationwide, faculty-led project (the history "Tuning" initiative) to articulate the core of historical study and to identify what a student should understand and be able to do at the completion of a history degree program.

NEH Announces "Digging Into Data" Challenge Grant Awardees

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and seven global partners recently awarded approximately $4.8 million to international research teams investigating how computational techniques may be applied to "big data"—the massive multi-source datasets made possible by modern technology.

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