Social Studies
Read more about social studies in K-12 schools, including history and civic
Revising America's Racist Past
How the 'critical race theory' debate is crashing headlong into efforts to update social studies standards.
- Social Studies Opinion How We Get Holocaust Education WrongInternational Holocaust Remembrance Day is a good moment to shake up how we teach students the truth about Jewish history, writes Luke Berryman.Social Studies Critical Race Theory and the Fight Over History Standards: 6 Things to KnowEdWeek examined how the backlash to classroom discussions on race has set back efforts to expand what students learn about American history.Social Studies What's the History of Reconstruction? In Many States, Students Don't Get the Whole PictureA new report finds that state standards muddy the significance of the era, omit key understandings, or promote false narratives.Social Studies Opinion The U.S. Capitol Insurrection Was a Case Study in White Privilege. Teach It That WayLast year, I watched the Jan. 6 riots wondering what would have happened if the rioters had been Black. It's time to talk to students about it.Social Studies Opinion My Students Still Have Questions About the Capitol Riot. They Deserve Honest AnswersJan. 6, 2021, is a lesson plan for the difficult but critical U.S. history that often gets left out of textbooks, writes a history teacher.Social Studies Q&A Tackling Polarization Via a 'Cross-Partisan' Approach to Civics EducationTeenagers appreciate space to discuss and debate without fear of being placed in an ideological box, says civics educator Sanda Balaban.Social Studies Opinion Teaching About Slavery in the United States? Start With HonestyStrategies have to include teachers acknowledging what they don't know and recognizing they have to convey some ugly truths.Social Studies Opinion We Lived Through History on 9/11. Our Students Are Doing the Same TodayOn the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, a teacher explains how to help students understand the day's significance.Social Studies Teachers Rally Against Laws Aimed at Limiting Classroom Discussion of RacismSome teachers are speaking out against new legislation. But others are holding back, for fear of repercussions.Social Studies Opinion Why Do Native People Disappear From Textbooks After the 1890s?How we teach American history has direct consequences for Native students today, writes a Navajo Technical University professor.Social Studies Explainer Who Decides What History We Teach? An ExplainerEducation Week breaks down how politics has long been embedded in this decision, and how new laws may affect the process.Social Studies Opinion Q&A Collections: Teaching Social StudiesLinks to 10 years of posts with commentaries from over 100 social studies educators.Social Studies Illinois Becomes First State to Require Teaching Asian American History in Public SchoolsThe law is the latest in a series of new requirements the governor has signed that aim to make the teaching of history more inclusive.Social Studies Opinion Juneteenth Meets Anti-Critical Race Theory Laws: Where Do Teachers Go From Here?No, talking to students about our history will not teach them to hate this country.Social Studies 'A Conspiracy of Silence': Tulsa Race Massacre Was Absent From Schools for GenerationsMany were well into adulthood when they learned Black Wall Street had existed in Tulsa and had been razed in a spree of white violence.