2 New Volumes of Standards for History Unveiled

By Karen Diegmueller

Two new volumes of national standards for history were unveiled last week, presenting a sweeping view of the world that few precollegiate students have likely encountered before.

With intentionally little fanfare, the National Center for History in the Schools at the University of California at Los Angeles released voluntary benchmarks in the study of history for K-4 students and world-history standards for middle and high school students.

Until recently, the content-standards developers had planned to present their work in Washington to Sheldon Hackney, the chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, one of the major...