Panel approves change to social studies curriculum
Contributing authors: Associated Press
New guidelines for social studies education have been endorsed by a Nevada panel despite criticism that the standards are too vague.
“We’re not reinventing the wheel,” said Sue Davis, Washoe County School District social studies program coordinator, on Friday. “This is something that’s … a trend nationwide. It’s not just unique to Nevada.”
Davis was a member of the state-appointed panel that revised the standards, the Social Studies Standards Revision Committee. The new standards for civics, economics, geography and history include benchmarks each year for first- to 12th-graders, convert standards that were divided into four separate documents into one and teach history in themes verses chronologically.
“So, instead of (teaching) chronologically from 1500 to 1750, now it’s thematic,” Davis said.
The revised teaching standard would still cover 1400 to present, but it will teach themes that include “nation building,” “social justice” and “global perspective,” she said.
The state Council to Establish Academic Standards unanimously approved the new standards on Thursday after being assured that the standards were minimum guidelines for what should be taught.
The guidelines adopted by the panel now will go to the Nevada Board of Education, which has final say.
The council’s chairwoman, state Sen. Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas, said she is concerned with the new approach that gives school districts the discretion of how long to focus on one particular area of history.
“We just get bits and pieces of history when the kids need to know all our history,” Cegavske said. “You need to know where you’ve been to know where you’re going.”
Joe Enge, a former history teacher and Carson City school board member, argued that the new standards favor a thematic, big-ideas approach to history rather than teaching the subject chronologically. He said the new approach is “like constructing a roof without any walls or a foundation. It just doesn’t work.”
Education officials countered that history education emphasizing only memorization is shallow, and the subject is too broad not to be taught without some themes to organize the material.
Revised guidelines
- Propose benchmarks each year for grades 1-12.
- Convert standards that were divided into four separate documents into one easy-to-read one. Teach history in themes verses chronologically.
This article appeared originally in Reno Gazette-Journal.
