1st Edition
Social Studies in the New Education Policy Era Conversations on Purposes, Perspectives, and Practices
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