Current Issues and Obstacles in K-12 Education

My presentation will focus on current challenges and obstacles to high quality history education in secondary schools. While great strides are being made to improve the quality of history education in some K-12 schools, including a greater emphasis on historical thinking and utilizing primary sources, history instruction is being reduced or eliminated at elementary and middle school across the nation. The impact of state history standards, standardized testing, mandated curriculum, and the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 will be examined. Research on the marginalization of history, will be presented along with a discussion of how this reduction denies many children the opportunities and benefits afforded by quality history instruction.