1st Edition

Social Studies in the New Education Policy Era Conversations on Purposes, Perspectives, and Practices

Edited By Paul G. Fitchett, Kevin W. Meuwissen Copyright 2018
    276 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    276 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Social Studies in the New Education Policy Era is a series of compelling open-ended education policy dialogues among various social studies scholars and stakeholders. By facilitating conversations about the relationships among policy, practice, and research in social studies education, this collection illuminates various positions—some similar, some divergent—on contested issues in the field, from the effects of standardized curriculum and assessment mandates on K–12 teaching to the appropriate roles of social studies educators as public policy advocates. Chapter authors bring diverse professional experiences to the questions at hand, offering readers multiple perspectives from which to delve into well-informed discussions about social studies education in past, present, and future policy contexts.

    Collectively, their commentaries aim to inspire, challenge, and ultimately strengthen readers’ beliefs about the place of social studies in present and future education policy environments.

    Table of Contents

    Introduction

    Social studies in the new education policy era: Introducing conversations on purposes, perspectives, and practices

    Kevin W. Meuwissen, University of Rochester

    Paul G. Fitchett, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

     

    Section I - Purposes: The uncomfortable gap between what social studies purports to do and how it is positioned in K-12 education

    CHAPTER 1: "Why are there disparities among the general public, policymakers, and social studies educators relative to the aims of the social studies curriculum, and what should be done about them?"

    Defining Social Studies: The Key to Bridging Gaps

    Jeff Passe, California State Polytechnic University Pomona

     

    Disparate Aims for the Social Studies Curriculum

    Stephen J. Thornton, University of South Florida

     

    Passe’s Response to Thornton

     

    Thornton’s Response to Passe

     

    CHAPTER 2: "To what extent are social studies standards useful and consequential as policy tools at state, district, and classroom levels?"

    Policy As Metaphor

    S.G. Grant, Binghamton University

     

    Social Studies Standards: Too Little For Too Long

    Tim Slekar, Edgewood College

     

    Grant’s Response to Slekar

     

    Slekar’s Response to Grant

     

    CHAPTER 3: "How might policy tools and activities contribute to reprioritizing social studies education in elementary-level curriculum and instruction?"

    The Promise of Policy and Action for the Reprioritization of Social Studies

    Tina L. Heafner, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

     

    Promoting Elementary Social Studies through Policy: Possibilities within Multiple Contexts of Schooling

    Judith L. Pace, University of San Francisco

     

    Heafner’s Response to Pace

     

    Pace’s Response to Heafner

     

    Section II - Perspectives: Disciplinary viewpoints on social studies education policy

    CHAPTER 4: "Can education policies be effective tools for encouraging youth civic engagement and activism in schools?"

    The possibilities of policy relative to the purposes of civic education

    Peter Levine, Tufts University

     

    Legislate conditions, not curriculum and pedagogy

    Beth Rubin, Rutgers University

     

    Levine’s Response to Rubin

     

    Rubin’s Response to Levine

     

    CHAPTER 5: "How and to what extent does education policy unite the discipline of history to the academic subject of social studies, and is this a fruitful union?"

    Finding possible policy directions in the shared purposes of history and social studies education: A Canadian perspective

    Alan Sears, University of New Brunswick

     

    Building consensus around a roadmap for inquiry in the United States

    John K. Lee, North Carolina State University & Kathy Swan, University of Kentucky

     

    Sears’s Response to Lee and Swan

     

    Lee and Swan’s Response to Sears

     

    CHAPTER 6: "What is the potential impact of the C3 as a policy tool on curriculum development in traditionally underrepresented social studies disciplines?"

    Economic Education: Social Studies’ "Marginal" Discipline

    Phillip J. VanFossen, Purdue University

     

    Best of Times, Worst of Times: Geography Education Today

    Sarah Bednarz, Texas A & M University

     

    VanFossen’s Response to Bednarz

     

    Bednarz’s Response to VanFossen

     

    Section III - Practices: How policy impacts the enactment of curriculum and instruction in the social studies

     

    CHAPTER 7: "Should a stronger policy emphasis be placed on domain-specific high-leverage practices or core practices in history/social studies teaching?"

    From Defining Content to Supporting Instruction: A Case for Core Practice Policy

    Brad Fogo, San Francisco State University

     

    "High-Leverage Practices in the Social Studies? Not so Fast": Cautious Considerations for Teaching and Learning Policy

    Stephanie van Hover, University of Virginia

     

    Fogo Response to van Hover

     

    van Hover Response to Fogo

     

    CHAPTER 8: "What kinds of assessment policies, practices, and tools do social studies learners and teachers deserve, and why?"

    Reframing the Narrative: Research on How Students Learn as the Basis for Assessment Policy

    Bruce VanSledright, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

     

    The Center Fails: Devolving Assessment Authority to Educators

    Gabriel A. Reich, Virginia Commonwealth University

     

    VanSledright Response to Reich

     

    Reich Response to VanSledright

     

    CHAPTER 9: "What roles should federal and/or state departments of education play in social studies learning, teaching, and curriculum?"

    Revising federal assessment policy and reprioritizing social studies education across states

    Bruce Lesh, Maryland State Department of Education

     

    When good ideas make bad policies: Having the courage to change

    David Gerwin, Queens College/CUNY

     

    Lesh’s Response to Reich

     

    Gerwin’s Response to Gerwin

     

    Section IV - Advocacy: Policy activity and activism among teachers, teacher educators, and researchers in the social studies

     

     

     

     

    CHAPTER 10: "What policy priorities should social studies education, as a field, advocate, and why?"

    Prioritizing policy in the social studies: Orientation, context, and criteria

    Todd Dinkelman, University of Georgia

     

    Proposing A Seven-Step Social Studies Policy Advocacy Strategy

    Michelle M. Herczog, Past President, National Council for the Social Studies

     

    Dinkelman’s Response to Herczog

     

    Herczog’s Response to Dinkelman

     

    CHAPTER 11: "How might public policy engagement and political activism be situated within social studies teacher education programs?"

    Teachers and teacher educators as public policy actors in today’s charged classrooms

    Margaret Smith Crocco, Michigan State University

     

    Critical democratic teacher education as policy engagement and political activism

    Steven Camicia, Utah State University

     

    Crocco’s Response to Camicia

     

    Camicia’s Response to Crocco

     

    CHAPTER 12: "What can the field of social studies education learn from policy research and reform in other domains?"

    Policy Parables: Lessons of Education Policy from Outside the Social Studies

    Paul G. Fitchett, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

     

    Divergence and values in education policy: Lessons from other academic domains

    Kevin W. Meuwissen, University of Rochester

     

    Fitchett’s Response to Meuwissen

     

    Meuwissen’s Response to Fitchett

     

    Biography

    Paul G. Fitchett, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA

    Kevin W. Meuwissen, University of Rochester, USA

    'In Social Studies in the New Education Policy Era, Editors Paul Fitchett and Kevin Meuwissen pose significant policy-related questions to 22 social studies scholars and professionals. The result is a series of engaging and thought-provoking conversations between pairs of contributors about the past, current, and potential role of policies and political actors in social studies education. The lively dialogue between contributors reveals shared and divergent perspectives, and often suggests the complexity of policy in relation to impacts and contexts. In-depth conversations focused on policy and policy advocacy in social studies are rare; I believe the informative and spirited dialogue in this book will serve as the basis for much needed further discussion among all who care about the future of social studies education.' — Patricia G. Avery, Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Minnesota