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High Expectations

Where Did Social Studies Go Wrong?

Kathleen Porter-Magee James Leming Lucien Ellington
8.1.2003
8.1.2003

This new report from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation consists of penetrating critiques by renegade social studies educators who fault the regnant teaching methods and curricular ideas of their field and suggest how it can be reformed. While nearly everyone recognizes that American students don't know much about history and civics, these analysts probe the causes of this ignorance-and lay primary responsibility at the feet of the social studies "establishment" to which they belong.


Policy Priority:
High Expectations
Topics:
Curriculum & Instruction
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Kathleen Porter-Magee is managing partner of Leadership Roundtable. To read more, visit their Substack blog, Renewal.

James Leming

Lucien Ellington is UC professor of Education at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Ellington teaches courses in social studies education and East Asian history, and is editor of Education About Asia.  He also has considerable experience with K-12 curricula, works with the Core Knowledge Foundation, and has evaluated and developed world history standards and materials for states as well as private…

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