History and Social Studies Education

"Imagine our surprise.  Rethinking Schools learned today that for the first time in its more-than-20-year history, our book Rethinking Columbus was banned by a school district: Tucscon AZ.  According to journalist Jeff Biggers, officials with the Tucson Unified School District ordered that teachers pull the book from their classrooms, evidently as an outcome of the school board’s 4-1 vote this week to abolish the Mexican American Studies program."

The battle over 'who's history' get's to be taught in public schools is an ongoing debate that likely will never truly be resolved.  What do you think about Tucson's decision?  What will this mean for their school district?  Who should decide what is in the curriculum?  At what scale should these decisions be made at?   

"The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy." 

This links you to the History/Social Studies element of the Common Core for 9th and 10th grade (look on the sidebar for links to other grade levels). 

"The development of the History Standards was administered by the National Center for History in the Schools at the University of California, Los Angeles under the guidance of the National Council for History Standards. The standards were developed with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the U.S. Department of Education."