Academics Blast State History, Geography Standards

By Kathleen Kennedy Manzo

Washington

More than eight years after a consensus of the nation's governors called for all students to master challenging subject matter in the core disciplines, most state content standards in history and geography barely make the grade, two new reports argue.

"In most of the country, the academic expectations for these crucial subjects are flabby and vague," Chester E. Finn Jr., the president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, said. The Washington-based foundation commissioned the pair of reports released at a press conference here last week.

Among the 37 states with history standards, the 38 states with geography standards, and the District of Columbia, only a handful garnered A's and B's, and about half received failing grades. Standards in the two subject areas, according to the reports,...