Click here to download the History Summit Message in pdf format. (Or read below for the text only version). Then, add your comments below. Based on feedback from the community, we'll share a final draft at Summit III, scheduled for April 20-21 at the San Jose Hilton.
In case you haven't signed up yet, click here to register for the Summit (or contact our offices at chssp@ucdavis.edu; 530.752.0572)and click here to reserve your room at the Hilton. Act today - spots are filling fast!
I look forward to hearing from you!
Nancy McTygue
CHSSP Executive Director
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Support High-Quality History-Social Science Education
“Unlike many other peoples, Americans are not bound together by a common religion or a common ethnicity. Instead, our binding heritage is a democratic vision of liberty, equality, and justice. If Americans are to preserve that vision and bring it to daily practice, it is imperative that all citizens understand how it was shaped in the past.”
--- Kenneth Jackson, Professor of History at Columbia University & Chair of the Bradley Commission on History in Schools
ACTION NEEDED
We urge school and district leaders, classroom teachers, parents, national, state, and community members to advocate for increased and improved history instruction for all of California’s children. Specifically, we seek to:
- Enforce existing California Education Codes requiring history-social science instruction in elementary (51210) and in secondary schools (51220, 51225.3).
- Ensure a minimum of 50 minutes or one class period per day in standards-aligned history-social science instruction for all K-12 students in California.
- Expand access to existing public funds for teacher training to support high quality research-based professional development specifically in standards-aligned history-social science.
- Document the increasing marginalization of history-social science in California public schools in order to demonstrate the extent of the problem.
- Promote collaboration among scholars, teachers, school administrators, and professional development staff to support high-quality history education professional development and instruction.
A Challenge to Our Democracy
History-Social Science education is in crisis in California. Schools are reducing or eliminating history courses in the lower grades for our struggling students. This especially affects poorest, and often immigrant, students who do not have access to the historical content or skill development the state mandates and assesses.
The discipline of history provides students of all ages an ability to think critically about the past and to understand how the past affects their current circumstances. High-quality history education develops academic literacy in reading, writing, speaking, and critical thinking, as well as discipline-specific skills such as analyzing sources, weighing evidence, supporting an interpretation, and determining historical significance.
The pursuit of historical content knowledge instills a sense of citizenship and belonging to all communities. Ultimately, this will help students mature into informed citizens and leaders prepared to make positive contributions to our increasingly complex and global society and participate fully in our democratic government.
