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Examining Elementary Social Studies Marginalization: A Multilevel Model
Abstract
Utilizing data from the National Center for Education Statistics Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), a multilevel model (Hierarchical Linear Model) was developed to examine the association of teacher/classroom and state level indicators on reported elementary social studies instructional time. Findings indicated that state testing policy was a significant predictor of elementary teachers' reported time spent on social studies instruction. Teachers' perceptions of workplace autonomy and grade level were also associated with increased time on social studies. Conversely, teacher credentials, classroom socioeconomic contexts, and test design were not substantially associated with social studies instructional time. This study suggests that state policy mandates, grade-specific curricular organization, and teacher disposition have a substantial impact on the prioritization of social studies in US elementary schools.
... In an age of limited elementary social studies time in elementary methods classes and the elementary classroom (Fitchett et al., 2014;Bolick et al., 2010), the need to show the PSTs how to create effective and meaningful lessons efficiently and effectively is a crucial skill. There is also a growing need to teach critical thinking skills regarding various media types even to the youngest learners (Hobbs and Moore, 2013;Russell and Waters, 2021). ...
... Moreover, when used within a critical pedagogical framework like Sabzalian's (2019) critical orientations of Indigenous studies, the PSTs moved beyond just looking at film as merely engaging content and, instead, leveraged the clips to increase Indigenous representation and teach anti-oppressive counter narratives (Rodr ıguez and Swalwell, 2021). This may be especially significant in elementary classrooms, where teachers are often forced to squeeze social studies content into a limited amount of time (Fitchett et al., 2014). However, the use of film to teach with an anti-oppressive approach has its limitations. ...
Purpose
Film has long been an instructional tool in social studies education; however, most research and methods for using film to teach social studies are situated at the secondary level. As such, the purpose of this study was to extend and expand what is known about using film in elementary social studies classrooms. More specifically, this qualitative content analysis study explored how and why elementary pre-service teachers (PSTs) used film clips from Molly of Denali to design critical Indigenous studies lessons. The data offer insight into the possibilities of using film as a strategy to teach anti-oppressive elementary social studies education.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used qualitative content analysis in this study. Data for this study included 17 lesson planning assignments and corresponding written rationales completed by PSTs in an elementary social studies methods course. Data collected as a result of convenience sampling, given both the authors were the instructors of the methods course. To analyze the data, the authors used a multi-step coding process and a combination of inductive and deductive coding.
Findings
Grounded in a framework of anti-oppressive and anti-colonial education, PSTs designed elementary social studies lessons that used film clips from Molly of Denali to increase representation, center a counter-narrative and serve as a motivator. PSTs also infused other sources into their lesson plans, thus extending their lessons beyond the film.
Originality/value
Given the lack of research on how film can be used in elementary social studies classrooms, this study fills a void in the literature. Results of this study suggest that similar to the benefits of using film in secondary classrooms, film can be an engaging and motivating source of information for elementary students. Moreover, when used within a critical pedagogical framework like Sabzalian's (2019) critical orientations of Indigenous studies, film can increase representation and teach anti-oppressive counter-narratives in the elementary classroom.
... f social justice education. Policies mandated by states and the federal government since the passage of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2001 to use high-stakes exams in math and English language arts measure student proficiency and teacher effectiveness has led to a significant decline in instructional time and quality of elementary social studies. Fitchett et. al. (2014) contend that practitioners must be encouraged to be "ambitious teachers" with the autonomy to teach content and skills in spite of standardized testing. However, teachers cannot be empowered to be ambitious educators if they lack support from school leadership. Fitchett et al. (2014) Therefore, educational leaders must support PreK-12 t ...
... However, teachers cannot be empowered to be ambitious educators if they lack support from school leadership. Fitchett et al. (2014) Therefore, educational leaders must support PreK-12 teachers' agency in order to empower PreK-12 students to become socially responsible, civically-engaged citizens. ...
Social inequities have a long history in the United States and beyond, impacting our social, historical, and cultural growth, and our ability to create a welcoming community. 2019 marks the 400th anniversary of 20 Africans delivered to Jamestown, Virginia, the first in this part of the “New World.” It represented the start of the holocaust against blacks and the continuing holocaust against Native Americans all in the interest of money, land, and creating the new nation rooted in inequitable structures that remain today. Continuing federal legislation institutionalized these inequities and reinforced exclusion and exploitation as part of the societal norms on which our nation is anchored. Education played a salient role in the reproduction of these norms through the ideology of the 19th Century common schools, wherein the idea of assimilation was streamlined to a national mindset. Multicultural education is a response to this literal and figurative colonization of bodies and minds.
The authors propose a chapter that will summarize the critical need for educational leaders, both titled and teacher leaders, to help create a space for teachers to work toward explicit inclusion of social justice work in their instructional approaches. While many teachers may intuitively or explicitly understand the need to support marginalized and under-represented students in their classroom, they frequently lack either the pedagogical knowledge of how best to do this or the agency to act upon this knowledge. Alternatively, teachers, being human, must consciously and deliberately work to identify and work against their implicit biases to create brave spaces in their classrooms that promote the development of increased tolerance and advocacy with their students. Educational leaders are in a prime position to both develop new and experiences teachers specifically in the area of social justice work within their classrooms, but also to create a school climate that is social justice minded and teacher empowered.
Students, teachers, and educational leaders are poised to focus on social justice work as part of a comprehensive and deliberate educational approach in part because it lends itself to contemporary educational best practices such as problem- or project-based learning, student research and publication of student work, and action research and professional grown as part of professional learning community approaches to professional learning. Additionally, the social climate, both with the current political tensions and debates as well as the contemporary social issues causes like the Me, Too and Black Lives Matter movements provide real-world connections for students to build social justice understanding on. Finally, an increasing list of children’s literature materials with social justice themes can provide content to support advocacy lessons in the classroom.
https://www.infoagepub.com/products/Bending-the-Arc-Towards-Justice
... In the process the youth volunteers prepared for their future in the world of work, by preparing for university, trade school, or direct entry into employment. Behind, the researchers suspected that many of them had received very little social studies education (Fitchett et al., 2014a). If the preservice teachers did not have much exposure to social studies concepts, the researchers surmised that they would have little to no understanding of the importance of social studies education. ...
... Because many of the preservice teachers in the elementary and middle school social studies methods course likely did not experience robust social studies instruction as elementary and middle school students (Fitchett et al., 2014a) and lacked direct experience with people different from themselves, the researchers sought to explore what their conceptions of social studies education were and how those conceptions changed over the course of a semester of field experience combined with a course focusing on teaching social studies at the elementary and middle school levels. ...
In this paper, the authors provide an illustrative case of how one middle school teacher heavily scaffolded students’ textual engagement with a challenging primary source in purposeful ways to support students in doing interpretive work. Through the details of this teacher’s case, the authors illuminate the complexity and promise of the scaffolding process when teachers are reflective and intentional about what supports are appropriate and necessary for their particular students’ needs. The authors illustrate how the teacher’s heavy scaffolding seemed to be a constructive level of guided practice (“we do” of the gradual release model) rather than too much teacher “I do” considering his lesson objectives, his students’ knowledge and skills, and his interpretive instructional stance.
... In a study of text availability and use during classroom activities in grades 2-4, Jeong et al. (2015) observed that classroom libraries have fewer informational books and that total instructional time with informational text was an average of 1 minute per day in grade 2 and 16 minutes per day in grades 3 and 4. The Common Core recommends a 50-50 split between reading literature and reading informational text, with students learning more in the disciplines to "establish a base of knowledge across a wide range of subject matter by engaging with works of quality and substance" (NGA Center & CCSSO, 2010, p. 7). However, there is evidence that elementary content area instruction continues to be marginalized (Fitchett, Heafner, & Lambert, 2014;Plumley, 2019) and that instruction with informational text is generally limited to ELA instructional blocks (Jeong et al., 2015). ...
... As a result, data collection did not capture any instruction with informational text that might have taken place outside of ELA blocks. However, given the marginalization of elementary science and social studies instruction (Fitchett et al., 2014;Plumley, 2019), there is not a great deal of evidence that this would have impacted our findings significantly. ...
Informational reading instruction plays an important role in early literacy but has traditionally received less emphasis than literary text in elementary classrooms. This mixed‐methods study illuminates trends from observed reading instruction of 77 first‐year elementary teachers, drawing on data from 761 lesson segments scored with the Protocol for Language Arts Teaching Observations, a validated observation protocol. In descriptive analyses, we report on the prevalence of informational lessons across grade levels. Then, we integrate quantitative and qualitative data to describe the quality of informational reading instruction among first‐year teachers. Findings suggest a higher percentage of informational reading lesson segments in early elementary than has been shared in previous studies: 27% of observed reading instruction in grade 1 and 41% of observed reading instruction in grade 2. Quality of informational reading lesson segments varied within and among elements of instruction, with the majority of segments rated as low scoring for strategy use. We use qualitative case sampling to illustrate the characteristics of informational reading instruction across a range of score points. Analysis of lesson segments reveals a range of practices in text‐based instruction, strategy instruction, and representations of content, with the highest quality instruction showing a combination of all three. This study contributes to our understanding of the current landscape of informational reading instruction among first‐year teachers, identifies specific instructional practices that could be the focus of improvement efforts, and weighs in on the debate about strategy instruction versus content instruction.
... In accord with findings from other studies (e.g., Anderson, 2014;Fitchett et al., 2014;Tyner & Kabourek, 2021), the data revealed that regardless of grade level, social studies is a low priority at participants' K-3 classrooms compared to other subjects. Within such a context, participants described three primary motives for teaching social studies. ...
The tenuous state of elementary social studies has been explained by scholars who cite lack of time and curriculum resources devoted to social studies; teachers’ emphasis on tested subjects; and instruction that distorts, trivializes, or omits social studies content. Integrating social studies with other core subjects has been positioned as a viable approach to address some of these challenges, but not all teachers have a healthy understanding of integration as an avenue for robust social studies instruction. This qualitative study explores 14 elementary teachers’ stances to social studies as a core content area—with particular emphasis on content integration—in public schools. By investigating ways in which practicing teachers talk about social studies in their classrooms, this paper adds to the growing body of scholarship documenting the peripheral status of social studies in early grades. Findings offer theoretical implications for interpreting how and why social studies continues to be marginalized in early grades by focusing on participants’ healthy and unhealthy understandings of content integration.
... "If the young learners of this nation are to understand their roles and become effective participants in a democratic society, social studies must be an essential part of the elementary curriculum" (NCSS, 2017, p. 189). Despite these powerful arguments stating the need for social studies education, there is a plethora of literature reporting on the fact that social studies is often marginalized in the elementary curriculum to make more space for additional literacy and mathematics instruction, as they are the subjects most often tested through standardized tests (Bailey et al., 2006;Fitchett et al., 2014;Houser, 1995;Hubbard, 2013). Additionally, the subject of social studies continues to be under attack from state legislatures and local school boards across the country (NCSS, 2021). ...
Purpose
In this article, the authors, a university elementary social studies methods faculty member and a district social studies supervisor, discuss the creation of sustained professional development (PD) for elementary teachers on integrated social studies instruction.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors detail the development of a PD sequence that included two 45-minute whole-group PD sessions and two days of individual and small-group school-day coaching for each school in the district. The ultimate goal of this PD was to provide the classroom teachers with the pedagogical content knowledge to meaningfully integrate social studies and English language arts (ELA) in their classrooms.
Findings
The collaboration between the university faculty member and the district administrator allowed for the development of meaningful, sustained PD for the classroom teachers.
Originality/value
This work has implications related to the development of PD to integrate social studies and ELA for university faculty working with teachers in school-based settings and for school administrators seeking to provide more PD for their teachers.
... This study is contextualized in the more than two decades of the marginalization of elementary social studies (e.g. Fitchett and Heafner, 2010;Fitchett et al., 2014). The limited instructional time devoted to elementary social studies has impacted elementary students, classroom teaching, as well as teacher preparation and on-going teacher professional development. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore decision-making of elementary teachers (n = 5) specific to US/American history content and curricular resources. More specifically for this study, the author asks the following broad research question: When presented with a collection of social studies instructional resources, how do elementary teachers describe the choices they do make/may make?
Design/methodology/approach
In this comparative case study, fifth-grade teachers were interviewed using verbal protocol methodology, they discussed their curriculum, teaching and instructional decisions as each was presented with history/social studies resources associated with newly adopted state standards.
Findings
Findings indicate these elementary teachers have professional freedom to make instructional decisions in the ways they interpreted the standards, design instruction and select materials for social studies.
Originality/value
This study contributes to and extends the research in elementary social studies. Teachers' voices and decisions are presented as intellectual and pedagogical actions associated with teaching elementary school social studies.
... School systems have also neglected to recognize and place value on the civic knowledge of youth from marginalized groups and build bridges between the funds of knowledge youth have and the civic knowledge and skills in the curriculum. These missed opportunities are particularly acute at the elementary level where social studies education suffers from lack of instructional time in the school day (e.g., Fitchett et al., 2014). ...
Social studies education and research can and must play a central role in sustaining democratic societies. As we commemorate the 50th anniversary of this vital journal that aims to strengthen social studies education, democratic societies face numerous serious challenges. Although today’s circumstances are unique, many of our current challenges have existed (and will continue to exist) in some form throughout the history of democracy. In this article, scholars from various sub-fields of social studies education explore how research, scholarship, and practice in the field can address seven of these persistent civic challenges: ecological sustainability, media literacy, equity and inclusion, civic engagement, political pluralism, civic competency, and sociohistorical change. Essays on each of these topics analyze relevant prior research and offer suggestions for how future research and scholarship can explore how educators can help to address these persistent civic challenges, with the goal of supporting robust participatory democracy.
... While secondary classrooms may deliberate public policy issues that inform this question (e.g., Hess & McAvoy, 2015), early childhood classrooms afford spaces for young children to negotiate this question through their embodied, everyday experiences. This question is at the heart of social studies education, yet social studies has been increasingly marginalized or pushed out of elementary and early childhood curricula (e.g., Fitchett, Heafner, & Lambert, 2014;Heafner & Fitchett, 2012). As social studies is pushed out, concurrently schools have readily adopted curricula for "social-emotional learning" (SEL). ...
Available at: https://educate.bankstreet.edu/occasional-paper-series/vol2020/iss43/11/
... These factors could affect TPACK in both PU and PEOU. Finally, research suggests that state policy mandates, grade-specific curricular organization, and teacher disposition have a substantial impact on the prioritization of social studies in elementary schools in the United States (Fitchett et al., 2014). Currently, the subject of social studies is not required to be tested in elementary grades (Florida Department of Education, 2019). ...
This study examines the role that technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) plays in elementary teachers' adoption of 1:1 computing for instruction across the subject areas of mathematics, science, English language arts, and social studies. In particular, the research explored whether teachers' self-reported TPACK moderated the relationship between teachers' perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU) of 1:1 computing for instruction in each of the subject areas. The results indicated that TPACK was a significant moderator of the relationships between PEOU of 1:1 and whole-class science instruction, individualized science instruction, and individualized mathematics instruction. TPACK was also a significant moderator of the relationship between PU of 1:1 and the use of 1:1 for whole-class science instruction and individualized mathematics. TPACK was not a significant moderator of the relationships between PEOU or PU and instruction involving 1:1 in the subjects of English language arts or social studies. These findings suggest that TPACK can strengthen elementary teachers' adoption of 1: 1 for instruction in mathematics and science, but did not support this notion in English language arts or social studies.
... It is my responsibility, not only to teach methods for social studies instruction, but to disrupt future teachers' dangerous narratives, build cultural and equity literacies, and prepare them to do the same with their students and colleagues. Teaching social studies presents a challenge to future teachers who attended public schools during an era in which the subject was marginalized and discouraged in elementary schools because of standardized testing policies (Fitchett, Heafner, & Lambert, 2014). A large part of my course includes critically understanding and teaching multicultural U.S. history. ...
The Covid-19 pandemic caused distance that separated the teacher from the learner as schools and higher education moved to virtual and flexible learning communities. Likewise, at the same time racial tensions were growing further increasing the distance and divide across the country. This positions teacher educators with the responsibility to bridge this distance.
The challenges of preparing educators for activism in a post-Covid educational context that considers cultural literacy, ethical leadership, and community engagement is explored with three narratives. These narratives provide the opportunity to think with and through our commitments in early childhood and elementary teacher education. Collectively, these narratives use the conditions of learning and teaching in a pandemic to consider educational challenges of the past and the things we must do to create a more equitable and just future. We conclude this essay with essential commitments as we work to bridge the distance and build community.
Baker, S. J., McCafferty-Wright, J., Baker, A. M., & Livers, S. D. (2022). Bridging Teacher Candidates, School Communities, and the World During a Pandemic. The Journal of Advancing Education Practice, 3(1). https://openriver.winona.edu/jaep/vol3/iss1/9
... However, social studies teaching and learning continues to be marginalized in elementary classrooms (Heafner and Fitchett, 2012;Leming et al., 2006;McEachron, 2010;NCES, 2018;Van Fossen, 2005). The dearth of social studies instruction has been linked to the removal of social studies content from elementary highstakes testing and core curricula (Au, 2007;Bolick et al., 2010;Fitchett et al., 2014;Heafner, 2018;Rock et al., 2006). As a result, many teacher candidates (TCs) spend the vast majority of their time in the elementary classroom observing and teaching tested subjects, such as mathematics and English language arts (Hubbard, 2013). ...
Purpose
Using morning meeting, an evidence-based practice that is part of the responsive classroom (RC) approach, the authors (two teacher educators [TEs]) created opportunities for teacher candidates (TCs) to experience representations, decompositions and approximations of practice in multiple iterations of an elementary social studies methods course.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors detail how TEs can expose TCs to social studies content (e.g. the National Council for the Social Studies themes) that can be incorporated into structured, daily classroom routines, such as morning meeting.
Findings
The authors include TE-created morning meeting facilitation guides with components such as a morning message, greeting, share, group activity and theme justification. Furthermore, the authors outline TCs' reflections on planning and implementing a morning meeting with a partner in addition to their own reflections on the TCs' feedback.
Originality/value
This work has implications related to TEs and TCs in elementary social studies methods courses as well as current and future students in elementary classrooms.
... 5). As a result, further studies should be conducted in order to analyze whether professional development focused on the content and curricular initiatives of state and national standards can support of in-service and pre-service elementary teachers' preparedness to plan and teach social studies content that meets needs, interests, and cultural assets of communities and students, particularly in school contexts where topics such as Critical Race Theory are banned (O'Kane, 2021;Heafner and Norwood, 2019;Fitchett et al., 2014b;MacPhee and Kaufman, 2014;Grant and Gradwell, 2009). ...
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to ascertain perspectives from pre-service and in-service elementary teachers about challenges they face when teaching social studies, and how their participation in a content-based professional development opportunity can support their preparedness for social studies instruction. Five speakers who were experts in topics such as Native American history, historical preservation, women's history and the Constitution were featured at this workshop.
Design/methodology/approach
Case study methodology with both descriptive and explanatory data collection and analysis methods, which were inclusive of surveys and focus group sessions, was implemented. The National Council for the Social Studies (2017) Powerful and Authentic Social Studies framework was applied in order to examine whether elementary in-service and pre-service teachers participation in this content-focused professional development impacted their preparedness to teach social studies.
Findings
Major findings show that content-specific professional development can support pre-service and in-service elementary teachers' preparation to teach social studies through analysis of historical topics and contemporary issues, as well as mitigate challenges with regard to limited time dedicated to social studies instruction.
Originality/value
In light of the Senate's debate on passing the Educating for Democracy Act concerning funding for civics and history education, the originality of this study highlights the continued need for scholarship on how partnerships between colleges of education, school districts and local educational agencies to provide content-focused professional development can support elementary teachers' ambitious social studies instruction, which can foster greater understandings of historical content and civic participation in democratic society.
... To engage in the disciplinary practices, then, students must understand how to construct and evaluate arguments, and recognize that these arguments can change over time as new evidence is uncovered. Furthermore, the two content areas also share a connection in the context of schooling, as they are often ignored in favor of teaching math and ELA which are heavily tested and thus "matter" more (Blank, 2013; Center on Education Policy, 2008; P. G. Fitchett, Heafner, & Lambert, 2014). ...
Argumentation is a key practice in many disciplines and, as such, is emphasized as an important skill in K-12 education. Despite its relevance to all content areas, little is known about how the same students engage in argumentation in different contexts. Furthermore, there is little research examining how students who are novices in argumentation use evidence to develop and support a claim. This dissertation addresses this issue by studying how students new to the practice engaged in evidence evaluation and argumentation in science and history, and looking at their understanding of evidence and argumentation across disciplines. This case study examines a classroom of third-grade students who had no prior instruction in evidence analysis or argumentation. They engaged in two evidence-based investigations, one in science and one in history. Students were given an investigation question and worked together in small groups to analyze evidence and develop an argument supporting their answer to the question. Data was collected in the form of video recordings of the small group work and students' written responses on graphic organizers that supported evidence analysis and argumentation. Additionally, they completed pre- and post- surveys asking about their beliefs about evidence in science and history and the work of each discipline. In the surveys, students demonstrated a generally limited sense of what evidence is and a stronger understanding of scientific practice in comparison with historical practice. When analyzing evidence in the investigations students did more to identify details and summarize the texts than to make inferences about them, and several interpreted the sources in ways that confirmed their initial ideas. In the argumentation portion, students had difficulty articulating the reasoning behind their evidence, and included evidence that was either inaccurate or did not support their claim. In both tasks, students did not engage in the social aspects of argumentation, namely discussion, and often just took turns stating their ideas. Despite these challenges, the students demonstrated many strengths considering their age and unfamiliarity with the practices. They were able to find details that were relevant to their claim and made inferences about the texts that were often accurate and identified points not explicitly stated. In addition, they successfully incorporated multiple sources and used language markers, like "because," to indicate they were providing justification. These findings suggest that while students of this age level may not have the background knowledge of the practices of evaluating evidence and constructing argument, they do have nascent abilities in both practices. With more support and stronger scaffolds, these students would have likely been very successful. Further research should continue to look at the reading strategies students use as they evaluate evidence and the reasoning students use to link evidence and claims, even if they do not explicitly state it. The methodological implications of the study are discussed, including the importance of using video of student work to analyze their argumentation practice, and the possibilities for future research. The findings also suggest instructional supports such as discussion protocols, graphic organizers, and exposure to accurate representations of historical and scientific practice.
... Further, the lessons they reported seeing were often textbook-based (e.g., Zhao & Hoge, 2005), focused on literacy skills (Boyle-Baise, Hsu, Johnson, Serriere, & Stewart, 2011), or minimized social studies content (DiCamillo, 2010;Slekar, 1998). Despite these challenges, Fitchett, Heafner, and Lambert (2014) noted that elementary teachers who reported more autonomy (i.e., ability to make curricular decisions) reported more time teaching social studies. Huck (2018) documented the experiences of two such elementary teachers, Kim and Nate. ...
... Thus, time devoted to these topics is critical to helping students develop the core understanding needed to engage in civic-related problems outside of the social studies classroom, whether in other content areas or more broadly in their schools and communities (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2018a). However, testing requirements and the pressure to boost math and reading scores, particularly in the elementary years, can often reduce the time available for civic reasoning and discourse by reducing the space for social studies (Fitchett et al., 2014;Thomas, 2005). To compensate for reduced time, teachers often attempt to integrate social studies content with literacy instruction, but researchers studying such integration typically find that literacy becomes the primary goal and other content or skills development is incidental (Boyle-Baise et al., 2008;Brophy & Alleman, 2008). ...
The purpose of this chapter is to synthesize existing literature on how formal learning environments support (or detract from) young people’s civic reasoning, discourse, and (in turn) civic engagement. In addition to relevant literature from several areas of education, the authors incorporate concepts from political science as well as several branches of psychology (including community, developmental, educational, and political psychology) that approach this
topic from different theoretical perspectives. Taking into account the strengths and limitations of available literature, including how well it generalizes across educational settings and contexts, they follow this review with recommendations for strengthening research on this topic and conclude with some initial recommendations for teachers and administrators who seek to develop learning environments to foster students’ civic skills and dispositions in a variety of contexts.
... U.S. schools and teachers face challenges of academic freedom due to mandated high-stakes tests and policies often resulting in academic subjects, such as social studies, being marginalized through decreased instructional time (Fitchett et al., 2014). In U.S. schools, religion is often avoided and considered uncomfortable or too controversial to discuss. ...
Through culturally sustaining teaching, teachers can transform practice and pedagogy to challenge inequities and create a space for affirming students’ diverse religious backgrounds. Teacher educators and teachers must develop this pedagogy to understand diverse student populations and facilitate students becoming citizens who accept and empathize with others who have different religious beliefs and traditions. Our purpose was to explore and select multicultural literature that represents religious diversity for early childhood classrooms. Our search focused on major religions practiced in the U.S., which yielded 549 books. We obtained 436 books; 54 met the rubric criteria with a majority focusing on Judaism. We identified four themes: immigration and refugees, holidays, sharing memories and stories, building understandings and empathy. We offered examples of the themes and an example of implementation in the classroom. We recommended this sample that we believe can foster understanding and respect for diverse religious and cultural groups.
... Previous investigations involved older students in grade 4 and above, and the prior studies with elementary grade students mostly involved students experiencing writing difficulties. Our focus on the typical classroom and social studies is important because there has been a gradual marginalization of the teaching of social studies in the elementary grades (Heafner & Fitchett, 2014). This reduction in social studies instruction likely decreases opportunities for integrating content area learning with reading and writing instruction. ...
This study examined the effectiveness of Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) to improve students’ ability to write expository essays after reading social studies text. Third-grade general education teachers (N = 14) were randomly assigned by clusters to SRSD or a business as usual control condition. One hundred and eighty consented students participated in the full study. Teachers in the SRSD condition participated in 12 h of practice-based professional development (PBPD) before implementing the SRSD intervention. They also received 30-min biweekly coaching sessions across the 16 weeks of the study. Initially, teachers provided SRSD strategy instruction in TIDE (Topic Sentence, Important Details, Explain Details, Ending) for planning and writing expository essays. Then, teachers spent an additional 8 weeks teaching students to use TIDE for close reading, planning, and writing expository essays using social studies text. Multilevel random effects models indicated SRSD students included more genre elements in their expository essays (ESg = 1.07) and produced essays of higher holistic quality (ESg = 0.72) than control students when writing an expository essay using a source text. Students in the SRSD condition also included more genre elements when writing an expository essay drawing content from memory (ESg = 1.09), and outperformed control students on a norm-referenced writing measure (ESg = 0.79). Findings support implementation of the SRSD intervention in general education classrooms within content-areas and underscore future directions for combining writing, reading, and social studies instruction.
... The overwhelming focus on reading skills in these inquiries can likely be attributed to two related factors. First, the influence of standardized testing on elementary schools has led to an increased focus on tested subjects-math and reading-leading to the marginalization of other subjects (D'Souza & Kullberg, 2018;Fitchett & Heafner, 2010;Fitchett, Heafner, & Lambert, 2014;Heafner & Fitchett, 2012). The imperative to prepare students for the upcoming reading (and to a lesser extent, math) tests, and the likelihood that reading instruction dominated the school day, likely influenced the focus on reading. ...
This study of 30 pre-service teachers’ practitioner inquiry papers explores potential pitfalls of practicing inquiry with pre-service teachers. Focusing on the types of questions pre-service teachers ask about student learning, the challenges they face when engaging in inquiry, and the weaknesses of their inquiry products, this paper finds that accountability culture in education, pre-service teachers’ lack of power in the classroom, and deficit thinking left unchallenged by instructors led to weak inquiries. Implications include the need for teacher educators to work with mentor teachers across university and K-12 boundaries, and the need to teach explicitly about the power inquiry holds in neoliberal contexts.
... Unfortunately, within eight years of leaving high school, SWD experience lower rates of community involvement (e.g., volunteer activities, community service, taking classes outside of public school enrollment, belonging to an extracurricular group) than their peers without disabilities (Newman et al., 2011). The importance of community/civic engagement is taught most directly in social studies classes (NCSS, 2013), but an emphasis on high-stakes testing in reading, combined with legislative priorities in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), has pushed social studies to the margins of the school curriculum (Fitchett et al., 2014). ...
Compared to other academic content areas, educational researchers conduct relatively few empirical studies focused on students’ civics knowledge and teachers then have fewer opportunities to learn about research-based practices. A mixed-methods study was undertaken with 326 high school students (n = 52 with disabilities) and 21 social studies and special education teachers. Results indicated 12th-grade students with disabilities scored significantly lower than their peers on a formative assessment of civics knowledge; students with and without disabilities identified school as their primary source of civics knowledge; and interviews with high school special education and social studies teachers revealed several areas for future research and promising practices teachers can use with their students.
... In an era of high-stakes testing in reading and mathematics, as well as an increased legislative focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, social studies has been pushed to the margins of the school curriculum (Fitchett et al., 2014;Hartshorne et al., 2019). In the documented instances when social studies interventions are evaluated by researchers in schools for students with EBD or LD, the focus is most often on geography, history, and text-based content acquisition and comprehension (Garwood, McKenna, et al., 2019;Wissinger & Ciullo, 2018). ...
Significant disparities in civics achievement between students with disabilities and their peers constitute an urgent need to support and improve civics education and outcomes for students receiving special education services related to emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) and learning disabilities (LD). In the documented instances when social studies interventions are evaluated by researchers in schools for students with EBD or LD, the focus is most often on geography, history, and text-based content acquisition and comprehension. However, the information learned during civics instruction most directly prepares students for active participation in their communities.
Work-related stress is a negative physical or emotional response to perceived imbalance between one's job demands and his ability to meet these demands. This study examined work related stress as determinant for poor health conditions among Christian religious managers in Lagos State. Descriptive research design was used while 450 Christian religious managers were sampled using the multistage sampling technique of simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques. The research instrument used was a self-developed "Work Related Stress and Poor Health Conditions Questionnaire (WRSPHCQ)". The research instrument which was distributed and collected on the spot while Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.76 was obtained. Chi-Square (X 2) and Linear regression were used in testing the stated hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. In conclusion there was significant occurrence of work-related stress (X 2 =313.04, p<0.05) and significant relationship between work related stress and sleep disorder among Christian religious managers in Lagos State (F=348.076; p<0.05). Based on this study, it was recommended that Christian religious managers should be encouraged on a need to adopt balanced work schedule with regular days off, vacations and relaxations that will help ameliorate work related stress.
This descriptive qualitative study examined how the Storypath (also known as Storyline) approach to teaching social studies involves elementary school students in action civics (authentic civic activities, self-chosen issues, ongoing reflection, decisions valued). Storypath, a project-based approach, utilizes the story structure to frame learning through an inquiry process whereby students consider an overarching question about a topic, create a relevant setting, become characters in the setting, and engage in the plot of the story (critical incidents). This Storypath engaged a class of ethnically and culturally diverse fifth graders in creating a music company (setting) dedicated to producing songs for social change. As company employees (characters), students researched issues they chose (affirming their agency in the learning process), then created songs and music videos for social impact. The arts (songs and videos) and technology (digital media) became integral to students’ efforts as they created and recorded music to share with the world. Students responded to Padlet and worksheet prompts, wrote song lyrics, and recorded music videos which all were analyzed to address this research question: What did authentic civic advocacy through creating music within the Storypath approach reveal about elementary students’ civic disciplinary knowledge, thinking, and skills? Findings revealed two overarching types of thinking: civic and political. Evidence indicates that civic thinking was justice-oriented for social well-being while political thinking was influence-oriented for strategic impact. This suggests that the Storypath implemented in this study can engage elementary school students in authentic civic advocacy within the classroom to cultivate civic and political thinking for meaningful participation in democratic life beyond the classroom.
This chapter explores the transformative impact of social innovation in elementary education. It traces the historical progression from standardized curricula to inclusive, personalized approaches, underpinned by technological advancements. Emphasizing empirical and diverse research methods, it identifies key challenges and informs the development of equitable educational strategies. The chapter discusses contemporary trends like digital literacy and social-emotional learning, highlighting the importance of government policy and leadership in navigating social innovation challenges. Concluding with a future outlook, it aligns with Education 4.0 and smart learning environments, envisioning an integrated, technologically enriched, student-focused educational landscape.
The study explored teachers' experiences in the teaching of Social Studies subject at Junior Secondary School in selected schools of Zambia. Employing the qualitative interpretivism research paradigm, the investigation utilized purposive sampling to select participants. Data collection instruments included interview guides for Head of Departments (HODs), Focus Group Discussions (FDGs), and observation checklists for Social Studies Teachers who included Civic Education instructors. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse the collected data. The study revealed a multifaceted perspective on the integration of Civic Education into the Social Studies curriculum. While the integration offered the advantage of streamlining the examination process by consolidating subjects, it also introduced challenges such as content overload, diminished academic performance, resource inadequacies, time constraints in completing the syllabus, elevated pressures on untrained educators, and deficiencies in teaching competency, skills, and techniques. Drawing from these findings, recommendations were made, including the need for the Ministry of General Education (MoGE) to increase the training of Social Studies teachers, provision of essential teaching resources to schools, engagement in seminars, workshops, and continuous professional development (CPDs), and enhancement of school infrastructure. Furthermore, the study proposes that the government should provide support to educators involved in the creation of Social Studies teaching materials, encourage action research practices among teachers, foster collaboration among colleagues to share best teaching practices, and allocate increased funding to schools
Instructional coaching is increasingly regarded as an essential feature of professional development, but no research exists on content-specific instructional coaching for history teachers. The study examines data from a coaching program in which history teacher leaders served as novice coaches for their colleagues. We found that coached teachers, as a whole, improved in discussion facilitation. Case analysis of two successful and two less successful coach–teacher pairings revealed that successful coaches were more likely to focus on eliciting students’ argumentative discourse whereas less successful coach planning sessions focused on discrete historical content knowledge and the disciplinary heuristics of historical thinking. It appears that coaching that emphasized a conceptual redirection toward inquiry and a pedagogical toolkit for fostering student discourse was more closely tied to growth in discussion facilitation and opportunities for student historical reasoning than a coaching approach more narrowly focused on historical concepts.
Many suggest that the declining national confidence in its governmental institutions and the political divisiveness in the USA is due to the lack of civic education most adults received in their K-12 schooling experience. Numerous calls for the revitalization of civic education have emerged and these take many forms. This chapter explores the current landscape of civic education in K-12 schooling and seeks to understand the potential influence of each in promoting social justice aims of civic education. The compelling question addressed is: Is civics education a viable path for promoting the social justice aims of K-12 education?
This article reports the results of a six-year longitudinal interpretative case study on the development of five elementary teachers’ beliefs and practices related to historical inquiry. Using activity theory as the lens, the researcher found: (1) the teachers’ conceptual tools remained relatively consistent over time, and they believed inquiry was the instructional method best aligned with their beliefs; (2) although the teachers occasionally used historical inquiry, it did not become a regular part of their practice; and (3) the teachers described their school contexts and a lack of practical tools as major barriers to implementing inquiry-based instruction. This study highlights the need for more support and time for inquiry-based history instruction at the elementary level.
In this 6-year longitudinal interpretative case study, the researcher examined four white elementary teachers’ beliefs and practices related to teaching race. Interview, observation, and classroom artefact data were collected from their teacher preparation program through their fifth year in the classroom. Using critical race theory and critical whiteness as the lens, the researcher found: (1) A division exists between tolerance- and equity-oriented teachers. (2) While two teachers had relatively fixed orientations, two teachers shifted their orientations over time; these shifts related to their school culture and their professional development opportunities. (3) The teachers were more likely to teach about race in schools where they had dedicated time for social studies. This study revealed the influence that teacher preparation and school context had on the white teachers’ development in teaching about race. This study also drew connections between teacher preparation programs and race-related practices during the teachers’ beginning years.
لتعليم الدراسات الاجتماعية أهمية كبيرة في تنشئة مواطني المستقبل وجعلهم مؤهلين وفاعلين، ومن أجل الحصول على تعليم دراسات اجتماعية مستدام يسهم في تأهيل الطلاب فإن السن المبكرة لهم تكسب الوعي وامتلاك المعارف والمهارات والمواقف. في مرحلة الطفولة المبكرة (الروضة والصفوف الأولية من1-3) يكون تدريس الدراسات الاجتماعية عن طريق التنمية الاجتماعية: التاريخ والجغرافيا والاقتصاد والمواطنة... حيث هي مجال تعليمي شامل ومتداخل التخصصات. إن تجربة إعداد مقررات الدراسات الاجتماعية لمراحل الطفولة المبكرة (من 4 إلى 8 سنوات) وإدراجها في عملية التدريس هو نظام جديد في تعليم المملكة العربية السعودية ويهدف إلى تزويد الأطفال بالمعارف والمهارات والكفاءات الاجتماعية، وربطهم بالحياة اليومية والتجارب السابقة، ويعمل على بناء هيكلة مناسبة في التعلم تقوم على تعدد التخصصات وتنوع الموضوعات القائمة على المشاريع بوصفها ديناميات مهمة. في نطاق التنمية الاجتماعية يخدم تدريس الدراسات الاجتماعية مجالات مهمة مثل: المهارات الاجتماعية والتاريخية والجغرافية والوعي بالمواطنة ومهاراتها المحلية والعالمية. وفي هذا السياق، يجب أن يقوم تدريس الدراسات الاجتماعية في مرحلة الطفولة المبكرة على طرائق شاملة مبنية على مراجعة الأدبيات الوطنية والدولية، وعلى تقييم المناهج والأساليب التعليمية ودور المعلم والبيئة التعليمية والمواد والموارد، وثم جعل أبعاد التقييم ضمن نطاق الديناميات الأساسية ومبادئ التعلم لتلك المرحلة. أخيراً، يكون عرض التوصيات بعد تحديد كفاءات ومهارات الدراسات الاجتماعية في مرحلة الطفولة المبكرة، ومعرفة كيفية تأهيل المعلمين وتطوير كفاءاتهم التدريسية، وبعد عمل الدراسات التجريبية والوحدات التدريبية من أجل التنفيذ.
The purpose of this study is to ascertain perspectives from pre-service and in-service elementary teachers on whether edTPA impacted their preparedness to teach social studies. Major findings show that while study participants found some benefits from edTPA for preparing to teach social studies, pre-service and in-service elementary teachers face significant challenges including time constraints, marginalized emphasis on teaching social studies, facilitating conversations about current events and contemporary issues, and accessing relevant professional development that can support their teaching of content-specific topics with inquiry-based pedagogies such as the National Council for the Social Studies (2013) College, Career, and Civic Life Framework. Recommendations for future studies include examining how partnerships between colleges of education, school districts, and local educational agencies can support pre-service and in-service elementary teachers’ ambitious social studies teaching by focusing on content that highlights contributions of underrepresented historical figures and events, implementing curriculum that promotes inquiry skills, and applying knowledge of the contexts in which they teach to meet the diverse needs of students.
Social science education aims to enable people to acquire the knowledge and abilities necessary to lead a normal social life. However, social science is often neglected in basic education compared with languages and mathematics, thus affecting students’ learning motivation and achievements. In this study, a digital game-based review system was designed for fourth-grade students in Taiwan taking a social science course. The students could review the unit content through the completion of game tasks. The concepts of the forgetting curve, hierarchy of learning, and formative assessment were incorporated into the game design to solidify memory and optimize learning effectiveness. The effects of the game on learning effectiveness, motivation, attitude, and interest were investigated, and learning behavior patterns were assessed through lag sequential analysis. The findings may serve as a reference for improving elementary school social science education.
This study investigates the trajectories of intended critical thinking in a social context present in the K-5 social studies content standards of six states. It considers how the nature of context-based critical thinking present in the standards’ benchmarks is represented. The findings reveal a complex dynamic in K-5 social studies content standards, which fundamentally expect young learners to advance their critical thinking in social context. But the content standards promote inconsistent critical thinking in a social context across grade levels. The sophistication of context-based critical thinking decreases within the standards as students advance through the grades. As such, implications for elementary social studies education in terms of how standards reflect official stances from the state on the nature of social studies in elementary education are discussed.
This qualitative case study explored an eighth-grade social studies classroom where the teacher uses StudyCasts as an instructional strategy with his students. Teacher-led StudyCasts were utilized as a way for his students to remember content for upcoming tests. Additionally, his students created their own StudyCasts in the classroom to review social studies content. The study revealed an increase in student engagement, improved communication skills, and introduced an alternative method to study and prepare for classroom content and summative assessments. This study discussed the benefits and limitations of the use of this technology in the social studies classroom. Currently, a limited amount of studies explore the use of StudyCasts in social studies and middle-level education. This study extends the literature in this emerging area.
The authors explore a teacher's 10-year journey to foster his urban middle school students' public voice and then their ability to engage in participatory politics. The authors first provide a conceptual and experiential context for how the teacher came to question whether cultivating 8th grade students' online public voice in a U.S. history was enough. Second, they discuss how two teachers created online interschool deliberations about contemporary issues and how a third teacher used low and high tech to enable her students to take civic action. Third, they discuss the essential elements of an online participatory learning space. Fourth, they address the challenges of integrating digital deliberations about contemporary public issues and online civic action into a U.S. history curriculum. Finally, they present how they adapted a site devoted to deliberations about just war in the context of U.S. history to a focus on just action in a contemporary setting.
Purpose
As accountability policies worldwide press for higher student achievement, schools across the globe are enacting a host of reform efforts with varied outcomes. Mounting evidence suggests reforms, which encourage greater collaboration among teachers, may ultimately support increased student learning. Specifically, this study aims to investigate the relationship between human and social and student achievement outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
In exploring this idea, the authors draw on human and social capital and examine the influence of these forms of capital on student achievement using social network analysis and hierarchical linear modeling.
Findings
The results indicate that teacher human and social capital each have a significant and positive relationship with student achievement. Moreover, both teacher human and social capital together have an even stronger effect on student achievement than either human or social capital alone.
Originality/value
As more schools across the globe adopt structures for teacher collaboration and the development of learning communities, there is a need to better understand how schools may capitalize on these opportunities in ways that yield improved student learning. Our work sheds new light on these critical foundational elements of human and social capital that are individually and collectively associated with student achievement.
Deep social studies-based engagement is critical in early childhood to provide a foundation for later learning and increasingly mature understandings. Skills and attitudes necessary for active citizenship should be fostered in prekindergarten “in a way which is appealing and pleasurable (Casey, DiCarlo, & Sheldon, 2019 Casey, E. M. , DiCarlo, C. , & Sheldon, K. (2019). Growing democratic citizenship competencies: Fostering social studies understandings through inquiry learning in the preschool garden. The Journal of Social Studies 43(4), 361–373. [Google Scholar], p. 1)”. The National Council for the Social Studies College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework is written for kindergarten through 12th grade, but could it a guide for successful inquiries with children in prekindergarten? If so, could the framework also provide a helpful tool for early childhood educators unsure of how to create inquiry experiences? This study’s purpose was to examine the experiences and outcomes of eleven prekindergarten students and their teacher as they explored landmarks over a five-week inquiry using the C3 Framework. Qualitative analyses of data sources suggest the C3 Framework guided inquiry on landmarks led to the formation of foundational geographical schemas in the children and supportive inquiry pedagogy schemas for the teacher.
This study investigated approaches to the elementary social studies methods syllabus from instructors of courses across the United States. Using qualitative content analysis, we explored 48 methods syllabi using a deductive framework of Information Based Systems of education, Transformation Based Systems of Education, and Inquiry Based Systems of education. Ultimately, we determined that over half (n = 27) of the collected syllabi reflected an Information Based System of education meant to prepare students for certification, lesson and unit planning, and best practice social studies instruction. Fewer (n = 14) prepared pre-service teachers to challenge official knowledge and position social studies instruction within socio-political realities of students and fewer still prepared pre-service teachers to center inquiry-based instruction guided by the C3 Framework (n = 11). We position these findings within dominant trends in elementary social studies scholarship and conclude that too few methods courses reflect the scholarly trend toward transformative, justice-oriented, or inquiry-based elementary social studies.
This article explores depictions of the American Civil Rights Movement in award-winning children’s picture books published between 2010 and 2018. Specifically, we focused on 25 books chosen by the American Library Association (ALA) and the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) for inclusion on their yearly book lists. We included books about events or figures of the long Civil Rights Movement as well as notable African-American “firsts” or famous cultural figures whose experiences with racial discrimination and/or engagement with activism during this time period were depicted. Using qualitative content analysis, we explored the extent to which books expanded or limited six common and inaccurate narratives of the movement. Ultimately, we found that the majority of award-winning books we analyzed present a limited portrayal of the Civil Rights Movement, often depicting racism as confined solely to the South, failing to depict sexism against women within the movement, reducing the demands of the movement to solely desegregation, and presenting heroes of the movement rather than collectives. While we see many of these books as limiting, we close with suggestions for using these texts in ways that can expand students’ understandings of the Civil Rights Movement.
This book documents the "brave new world" of teacher, administrator, school, and student accountability that has swept across the United States in recent years. Its particular vantage point is the perspective of dozens of new teachers trying to make their way through their first months and years working in schools in the New York City metropolitan area. The issues they grapple with are not, however, unique to this context, but common problems found today in urban, suburban, and rural schools across the United States. The stories in this book offer a compelling portrait of these teachers' encounters with the new culture of accountability and the strategies they develop for coping, even succeeding, within such demanding settings. Learning to Teach in an Age of Accountability: *introduces research on teaching and engages the "big ideas" concerning teacher research, highlighting what we know and where that leads us; *offers a rich set of teacher narratives that are organized to widen the angle of vision from biography, to classrooms, schools, and society; and *includes questions and activities to encourage discussion and further research about the ideas raised; and *addresses the possibilities for best practice and curricular decision making in light of the issues and ideas presented in the book. This volume--unique in its portrayal of new teachers' encounters with issues of accountability--makes a singular contribution to the educational literature on new teachers. It is relevant to everyone interested in the contemporary world of teaching, and is particularly appropriate as a text for preservice and in-service students. All readers who believe that the key to a good school lies in attracting and keeping good teachers will find the issues presented here both personally engaging and deeply troubling. © 2004 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.
The de-valuing of social studies is becoming prevalent as schools shift emphasis to other subjects addressing national and state accountability. The teacher candidate perspective is presented from an original study regarding the de-emphasis of social studies in elementary schools (Rock, Heafner, O'Connor, Passe, Oldendorf, Good, & Byrd, 2006). Teacher candidates gathered data during their clinical experiences, from five teacher preparation programs in North Carolina. Teacher candidates recognized difficulty in finding instructional time for the entire curriculum, conveyed social studies is de-valued in the elementary curriculum, stated integration is important to social studies instruction, and recognized it is their responsibility social studies is taught. Keywords: social studies, elementary, teacher preparation, marginalization, instructional time, integration, social studies instruction.
This article contributes new understanding to a small but critical body of research indicating that high-stakes testing in reading/language arts and mathematics is contributing to marginalization of social studies in the elementary school curriculum across the US. It provides evidence from interviews with fifth-grade teachers that the "squeeze" on history-social science occurs disproportionately in low-performing schools with large minority and low-income populations, where curricular mandates prevail. The interviews shed light on elementary teachers' decision-making in history-social science and how it is influenced by state testing, local community pressures, as well as other influences. It indicates the need for more extensive qualitative study and concludes with a research design to guide future investigations.
A classroom teacher asked two colleagues in his district to keep a daily record of their aims, methods, materials, and great discussions in two courses each: one state-tested, the other an untested elective course with no state curriculum. Each week during the study, the teacher reviewed these logs with his colleagues in separate interviews. Data analysis revealed a complete split between the courses : ambitious history teaching activities in the electives, and rote-learning emphasizing coverage and facts in the state-tested courses, demonstrating a dramatic impact of state testing on daily teaching comparable to results of tracking studies, and contrary to prior research on testing in social studies.
The purpose of this study was to explore the nationwide historic trend of elementary social studies marginalization compared to math, science, and language arts. Incorporating 17 years of data from the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) Schools and Staffing Survey, the authors conducted comparative analyses to investigate differences in instructional time between elementary social studies and other core subject areas. In addition, variance of social studies instructional time was examined across grade levels and survey years. The results indicate that social studies instruction has remained a subsidiary part of K-5 curriculum over the last two decades. Moreover, between grade-level analyses shows a trend toward greater attention to social studies in intermediate grades (3–5) compared to primary grades (K-2). A significant decline in social studies instruction coincided with educational policy that places greater importance on mathematics and language arts. The authors conclude that while No Child Left Behind legislation has magnified trends in decreased instructional time for social studies, this federal mandate is not the sole reason for the decline of social studies within elementary curriculum. They argue that the marginalization of social studies is an enduring trend over the last two decades, a byproduct of an educational policy shift toward national standardization.
This article illustrates the efforts of educators in North Carolina to advocate for the social studies in an age of high-stakes assessment and tight budgets. Although this story begins with one state, the marginalization of social studies in elementary schools is a nationwide problem. The federal No Child Left Behind law (NCLB) is due for reauthorization, and committees in the House and Senate have begun their deliberations; so now is the time to become informed about the issue and get involved. 1
Using the method of qualitative metasynthesis, this study analyzes 49 qualitative studies to interrogate how high-stakes testing affects curriculum, defined here as embodying content, knowledge form, and pedagogy. The findings from this study complicate the understanding of the relationship between high-stakes testing and classroom practice by identifying contradictory trends. The primary effect of high-stakes testing is that curricular content is narrowed to tested subjects, subject area knowledge is fragmented into test-related pieces, and teachers increase the use of teacher-centered pedagogies. However, this study also finds that, in a significant minority of cases, certain types of high-stakes tests have led to curricular content expansion, the integration of knowledge, and more student-centered, cooperative pedagogies. Thus the findings of the study suggest that the nature of high-stakes-test-induced curricular control is highly dependent on the structures of the tests themselves.
Under the curricular and pedagogical impositions of scripted lessons and mandated curriculum, patterns associated nationwide with high-stakes testing, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, and the phenomenon known as the “narrowing of curriculum,” new teachers in New York City (NYC) find their personal and professional identity thwarted, creativity and autonomy undermined, and ability to forge relationships with students diminished—all critical factors in their expressed job satisfaction. These indirect consequences of accountability regimen as it operates in NYC may exacerbate new teacher attrition, especially from schools serving low-income students. The data reported here suggest a mixed picture of frustration and anger, alongside determination, resistance, and resilience in the face of these impositions. Responses vary by school and grade level, lending support to the notion that the organizational environment serves as a critical factor in teachers' early career decisions about staying or leaving a school or the profession.
This article examines the literature related to the marginalization of social studies through the lens of elementary social studies teacher education. This study presents the case of two different states wherein one state, Virginia, tests social studies in elementary schools and another state, North Carolina, where social studies is not tested until middle school. The data gathered from both states were originally analyzed to shed light on the question of testing's effect on teacher preparation and subsequent curriculum enactment. Data collected from the study suggest that factors such as field experiences, programs of study, and methods instruction impact teacher education in elementary social studies in more important ways than student testing.
All students must have access to the general education curriculum (Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, 2004 ; No Child Left Behind Act, 2001 ). Current literature provides best practices in social studies instruction for middle and high school students with disabilities in general education settings. However, there is a paucity of current research describing what manner(s) of social studies instruction occurs, if any, in self-contained settings. The purpose of this article is to describe an initial research study conducted to examine how special educators perceive and practice social studies instruction at the elementary level with students with disabilities in self-contained settings.
This paper examines how a beginning teacher in Virginia and a beginning teacher in Florida make sense of the high-stakes tests in their state. By examining beginning teachers in two states where the tests are so very different, we gain important insight into whether there are similarities and differences across states and how the nature of the test affects the teaching and learning of history. We first offer insight into the context of accountability in Virginia and Florida and then discuss what ambitious teaching and learning look like in these states as informed by the literature. Then, we turn to our research methods, findings, and implications for the field of social studies.
Background/Context
In response to state-level test-based accountability and the federal No Child Left Behind Act, school administrators increasingly view centralized curriculum and prescribed instructional strategies as the most direct means of increasing student performance. This movement toward standardization reduces teachers’ autonomy and control over their classroom practices. The consequences of test-based accountability on teacher practice are often conceptualized as a tension between teacher professionalism and standardization.
Focus of Study
This case study investigates the classroom instruction of an experienced teacher in an elementary school where the principal supported teachers’ autonomy and authority over curriculum and instruction. Examining her instructional practice in social studies, a subject not included in state testing, we demonstrate how specific teaching dilemmas that arose in response to state testing led to a new type of professionalism that we call constrained professionalism.
Setting
This qualitative case study focuses on social studies instruction in a fifth-grade classroom at a rural elementary school in southern California serving a low-income, diverse student population with a large percentage of English language learners. The school was selected for two reasons: (1) as a low-performing but improving elementary school as measured by state testing, the school was under pressure to continue to raise student test scores, and (2) social studies continued to be part of the elementary curriculum.
Data Collection/Analysis
Data collection extended over a 10-month period and included observation and videotaping of social studies lessons, interviews with the teacher and principal, and document collection. Observation and videotaping covered virtually all the social lessons during the school year in the teacher's classroom, a total of 66 lessons.
Findings/Results
As state-mandated testing was instituted, administrative support of teacher autonomy continued, but constraints on this teacher's decisions emerged as instructional time and resources shifted to language arts and mathematics. Although able to make independent decisions, this qualified teacher did not teach social studies in the way she believed would best serve her students’ needs and interests.
Conclusions
This case study demonstrates how teachers’ professional discretion is being minimized in subtle yet consequential ways amid high-stakes testing, even in subject areas not tested by the state. Constrained professionalism represents a new situation in which teachers retain autonomy in classroom practices, but their decisions are significantly circumscribed by contextual pressures and time demands that devalue their professional experience, judgment, and expertise.
Background/Context
Recent research indicates that social studies is being “squeezed” from the elementary curriculum as instructional time is shifted to language arts and mathematics in response to state testing and the federal No Child Left Behind Act, especially in schools serving poor students and students of color. However, less is known about the specific curricular and instructional choices teachers make as they confront reduced instructional time for social studies, and the enacted curriculum resulting from these choices.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to analyze what happens to the enacted curriculum in social studies in elementary schools where instructional time for social studies was reduced in response to state testing in language arts and mathematics.
Setting
This research was conducted at a rural elementary school in Southern California serving poor Latino, African-American, and White students, a low performing yet improving school as measured by state testing in language arts and mathematics.
Research Design
A ten-month qualitative case study of social studies curriculum and instruction was conducted in one fourth-grade and two fifth-grade classrooms at one elementary school.
Data Collection and Analysis
Data collection consisted of observation and videotaping of classroom lessons and activities in social studies during the 2002-2003 school year in three teachers’ classrooms, consisting of a total of 125 videotaped observations. Interviews with teachers, students, and the principal, and the collection and analysis of student work and curricular materials supplemented this data. For this article, data analysis was based on the coding of field notes, analysis of transcripts of lessons and activities, and teacher interviews, to understand the curricular and instructional choices teachers made in social studies and the effect of these choices on the enacted curriculum.
Findings/Results
Reduced instructional time in social studies has resulted in a reduction of the scope of the curriculum, the curtailment or elimination of opportunities to promote students’ higher order thinking, and an increased emphasis at times on the simple reproduction of content knowledge.
Conclusions/Recommendations
The institution of a system of accountability meant to improve teaching and learning for all students is instead undermining the quality of students’ education in social studies, especially at low performing elementary schools serving poor students and students of color. As instructional time is shifted to language arts and mathematics the scope of the social studies curriculum and opportunities for thoughtfulness that would deepen students’ understanding of history are being squeezed from the enacted curriculum.
This chapter focuses on assessment of social studies in the elementary classroom. It includes sections on a brief history of assessment in social studies, the present, a broader view of assessment and evaluation; and context for social studies assessment. It discusses the principles for planning and implementing activities with an eye toward assessment and social studies standards, as they link to classroom assessment. It also offers a set of guiding principles. The authors briefly summarize the history of assessment and its posture in the classroom. They highlight instruments that have been designed to measure elements of the social studies curriculum. The chapter traces the shift from a rather relaxed approach to current efforts to make assessment an integral part of the social studies program. The authors' position is that assessment should become so well integrated that it becomes a part of instruction. One section of the chapter addresses the multifaceted assignment that subsumes more than one type of activity and production and that extends over a period of time. The final section addresses social studies standards and their potential influence at the classroom level. It concludes with a set of guiding principles developed by the authors for creating, monitoring, and implementing powerful social studies assessment practices.
This book is a must have for faculty and students in the field of social studies education, and broadly relevant across the fields of curriculum studies and educational policy.
This book, resulting from a collaboration among an educational psychologist, a social studies educator, and a primary teacher, describes in rich detail and illustrates with excerpts from recorded lessons how primary teachers can engage their students in social studies lessons and activities that are structured around powerful ideas and have applications to their lives outside of school. The teaching portrayed connects concepts and skills emphasized in national and state standards, taught in ways that build on students' prior experiences in their local communities and connect with their family backgrounds and home cultures. The analyses include rich descriptions of the teacher-student interactions that occur during lessons, detailed information about how and why the teacher adapted lesson plans to meet her students' background experiences and adjusted these plans to take advantage of teachable moments that emerged during lessons, and what all of this might imply concerning principles of practice. The principles are widely applicable in elementary schools across the country, as well as across the curriculum (not just in social studies) and across the elementary grades (not just the primary grades).
There are growing concerns among social studies professionals that social studies instruction is disappearing from elementary schools. These concerns have become more pressing as educational policies emphasize core curricula of reading, writing, mathematics, and science. Questions arise as to how social studies can resume its traditional role as one of these core curricula. One possibility is to have social studies included in the accountability movement through testing. This article contemplates the role of testing in impacting social studies instruction in the elementary curriculum through a comparative analysis of data collected from a study of practicing elementary teachers in two states: one in which social studies instruction is tested and the other in which social studies instruction is not tested.
The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of high-stakes tests on teachers’ instructional practices. Data were obtained from a survey instrument given to a stratified random sample of Mississippi social studies teachers who teach the same content that is tested on their state’s high school graduation examination. An analysis found teachers spending the most time preparing students for the examination were more likely to use traditional, teacher-centered practices such as textbooks, multiple-choice questions, lecturing, and textbook-based assignments. Also, teachers’ use of instructional practices was most influenced by factors relating to sanctions attached to the examination rather than items such as personal desire or belief about using “best” practices.
This paper reports findings from a study that examines the content and goals of an undergraduate social studies methods course and compares them to the beliefs, planning, and classroom practices of three elementary education student teachers. Furthermore, the study examines the factors which constrain and those which support the student teachers’ beliefs and practices in their efforts to teach social studies.
Every few years in the United States, history teachers go through what some believe is an embarrassing national ritual. A representative group of students sit down to take a standardized U.S. history test, and the results show varied success. Sizable percentages of students score at or below a "basic" understanding of the country "s history. Pundits seize on these results to argue that not only are students woefully ignorant about history, but history teachers are simply not doing an adequate job teaching historical facts. The overly common practice of teaching history as a series of dates, memorizing the textbook, and taking notes on teachers " lectures ensues. In stark contrast, social studies educators like Bruce A. VanSledright argue instead for a more inquiry-oriented approach to history teaching and learning that fosters a sense of citizenship through the critical skills of historical investigation. Detailed case studies of exemplar teachers are included in this timely book to make visible, in an easily comprehensible way, the thought processes of skilled teachers. Each case is then unpacked further to clearly address the question of what history teachers need to know to teach in an investigative way. The Challenge of Rethinking History Educationis a must read for anyone looking for a guide to both the theory and practice of what it means to teach historical thinking, to engage in investigative practice with students, and to increase students " capacity to critically read and assess the nature of the complex culture in which they live.
The purpose of this study was to examine secondary social studies teachers ’ professional characteristics and workplace perceptions in order to better understand who represents social education in the twenty-first century. Utilizing data from the National Center for Educational Statistics Schools and Staffing Survey, parametric and non-parametric inferential tests were employed to compare secondary social studies practitioners with other core subjects (math, science, and English) in demographics, academic credentials, and Workplace perceptions. In addition, selected characteristics were analyzed within the context of school ecological factors. Key results indicated that social studies remains a predominately White, male-dominated field. Compared to other core subjects, social studies practitioners tended to be more qualified to teach their discipline while collaborating less with peers in the workplace. Among school environment factors, social studies teachers were inclined to selfsegregate due to race. Moreover, the least qualified social studies practitioners Were more likely to work with the most “at-risk” school populations. These findings illustrated that social studies teachers' characteristics have not substantially changed over the last three decades, and a subpar level of social studies education is afforded the neediest learners.
Using data from the National Center for Educational Statistics research spanning fifteen years, researchers examined the impact of national educational policy implementation on the role of social studies in elementary schools. Specifically, with the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2007 and the continuation of federal-mandated testing of English language arts (ELA) and mathematics in grades three through five, researchers sought to understand how policy decisions to extend testing to science affected teacher decisions in regard to instructional time allocations for core subject areas of ELA, mathematics, science, and social studies in elementary schools. Results of this quantitative study offer large-scale evidence of the declining role of social studies in an era in which testing is clearly linked to subject-area importance. Findings provide an overview of the national scope of testing and the ramifications for social studies in elementary schools. Researchers conclude that curriculum standardization, accountability, and high-stakes testing have had adverse affects on social studies time allotments in comparison to tested subjects.
Elementary social studies has used the same scope and sequence for more than a half century despite significant changes in society. Efforts to reform the curriculum are adversely impacted by inertia, tradition, the culture wars, traditional state autonomy in setting curriculum, publishers, and competition between disciplines for space within the curriculum. The pressure exerted on teachers and schools by the No Child Left Behind Act to emphasize basic skills can result in the further marginalization of social studies at the elementary level unless a consensus can be built around a new curriculum. By including all social studies disciplines, drawing on the time-honored conceptual structures of individual social studies disciplines, and relying on the current standards of social studies learned societies, educators could frame a new social studies curriculum that addresses the interests of most stakeholders and offers meaningful social studies education to elementary students.
In this paper, I explore two questions. One asks where teachers locate authority over their content and pedagogical decisions. Here I describe and illustrate the swirl of personal, organizational, and policy factors teachers cite as influencing their instruction. The second question focuses on the nature of these factors and asks what relationships exist among them. Here I suggest that influences run as cross-currents, definable in one sense, but mixing and merging in another. I conclude with three considerations which explore the stance one takes on influences, the relationship between influence and authority, and assumptions about changing teachers' practices.
This article presents recent findings from several long-term qualitative investigations of co-teaching in science and social studies content-area classes, in which collaborating teachers and students with and without disabilities were observed and interviewed regarding effective practices and challenges associated with inclusion. In some sites, collaborating teachers were provided with research-based effective strategies and materials for including students with disabilities in specific activities. Results were equivocal in that in some cases, collaboration was extremely effective and conducive for promoting success for students with disabilities in inclusive classes. In others, challenges remained that presented barriers for successful collaboration and inclusion for students with disabilities. Important mediating variables were identified as academic content knowledge, high-stakes testing, and co-teacher compatibility. Findings are discussed with respect to both successes and remaining challenges.
Elementary social studies is “on the back burner.” Heavy competition for resources, low student interest and teacher concern, and a highly sanitized and uneven curriculum are among the conditions underlying its under representation. Among the various effects of this back burner status, limited opportunity for substantive social development is perhaps the most important. Moving social studies to the forefront of the curriculum will require an understanding of the interrelated nature of the underlying conditions and an appreciation of the classroom practitioners' considerable influence upon curriculum and instruction.
The imposition of the audit culture on schooling has severely limited teachers’ freedom and dignity, exacerbating traditions of teacher education and employment that are infantilizing. If teachers are to participate in the politics that determine curriculum and pedagogy, education programs must provide differentiated credentials that welcome adults into teaching and offer insight into the processes of political organizing and public speech.
"Johnny" may be learning more about reading and mathematics, but he may have little time to study the discoveries of Columbus, the tenets of the U.S. Constitution, or the social and political causes of the Civil War. Those time-honored topics--as well as lesser-known events and figures throughout history--are fighting to maintain their place in the curriculum, many experts say, as schools allocate more time and attention to reading and math instruction to meet state and federal goals for student achievement. Although evidence is mostly anecdotal, history educators say there is a groundswell of concern from teachers and parents around the country. There are also widespread reports of schools pinching valuable minutes from the school day--some from social studies, others from the arts, physical education, foreign language, and other subjects--to make room for more reading activities and math lessons. The National Council for History Education, which represents history teachers and scholars, is circulating a statement on what it sees as "A Crisis in History." Signed by dozens of prominent historians and educators, it calls for the infusion of more history into reading programs and instruction at large. Although history is considered a core subject under the No Child Left Behind Act, the pressure to meet reading and mathematics standards has forced schools and teachers to make tough decisions on what to teach, and how much time to devote to each subject.
Studies of elementary school social studies since the late 1970s, largely from an objective-quantitative perspective, have painted a dire picture but have paid little attention to what teachers are actually doing in the classroom. Researchers have found that little instructional time is spent on social studies, that the textbooks on this subject are severely lacking, that teachers seem uncertain about what should be taught, and that students lack enthusiasm for the subject. However, one must be cautious about over generalizing. There is great variability among teachers, and social studies instruction is sometimes excellent. It is likely that surveys underestimate the amount of time devoted to social studies as materials used for language arts, reading, music, and art often incorporate social studies content and concepts. When considering priorities, without a firm foundation in reading and writing, learning in social studies is impeded, and mathematical skills are essential for functioning in modern society. Therefore attention to reading, writing, and mathematics at the expense of social studies is understandable. More research from an interpretive-qualitative perspective is needed to help construct a more meaningful characterization of what goes on in classrooms, especially what students are thinking and how they are reacting. The ultimate concern must be with student outcomes. A 51-item bibliography is included. (JB)