Arkansas Historians Fear Short Shrift

Advocates for state and local history in Arkansas are worried that recent changes to the social studies standards might cause educators to stop teaching the state’s history.

A state law requires schools to offer a unit on Arkansas history in each elementary grade. Students must also take at least a semester of such history at some point in grades 7-12.

Until this school year, the state had a separate set of standards for Arkansas history. But, in the summer of 2006, a panel convened by the state education department decided to integrate Arkansas-history standards into the rest of the...