American Lesson Plan: Mapping the Landscape of Secondary US History Education

AHA Online | March 14, 2024
Moderator: Katharina Matro, Walter Johnson High School
Nicholas Kryczka, American Historical Association
Whit Barringer, American Historical Association
Scot McFarlane, American Historical Association
"What are schoolchildren being taught about our nation's history?!" Among education reformers and activists, the question raises alarm, often grounded in broad assumptions about the possibility for politics to shape what happens in the classroom. About two years ago, the American Historical Association decided to take the question more literally. In the multistage Mapping the Landscape of Secondary US History Education project, an AHA research team set out to describe the contours of a vast and varied terrain-an empirical grounding for ongoing debates and deliberations about the teaching of the American past. After a year and a half of interviewing social studies administrators, surveying US history teachers, coding state legislation, and appraising district-level curricula, the team has some answers. In this session, the Mapping research team share their research from the field and discuss how history's civic function in K-12 education is faring in a polarized moment.
The AHA initially broadcast this presentation live on March 14, during Civic Learning Week. Due to technical issues that compromised the audio, we opted to re-record the session before posting it online. This gave us the opportunity to consider the more than 70 questions that came in during and after our presentation, which presenters did not have sufficient time to get to during the event, as well as the opportunity to respond to thoughtful suggestions.