National Center for History in the Schools

Development of the National Standards for History

The National History Standards Project was born in a robust climate of bipartisan support for a national program of education reform. Initially co-funded in the spring of 1992 by the National Endowment for the Humanities, chaired by Lynne Cheney, and by the United States Department of Education, headed by then Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander, the project sought to develop broad national consensus for what constitutes excellence in the teaching and learning of history in the nation's schools. Developed through a broad-based national consensus-building process, this task has involved working toward agreement both on the larger purposes of history in the school curriculum and on the more specific history understandings and thinking processes all students should have equal opportunity to acquire over twelve years of precollegiate education.

The National Council for History Standards, the policy-setting body responsible for providing policy direction and oversight of the Project, consisted of 30 members, including the present or immediate past presidents of such large-membership organizations directly responsible for the content and teaching of history as the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the Council of State Social Studies Specialists, the National Council for the Social Studies, the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, the National Council for History Education, and the Organization of History Teachers. In addition, members included the Director and Associate Director of the Social Studies Development Center, supervisory and curriculum development staff of county and city school districts, experienced classroom teachers, and distinguished historians in the fields of United States and World History.

Nine Organizational Focus Groups of between 15 and 29 members each, chosen by the leadership of their respective organizations, were contracted with to provide important advisory, review, and consulting services to the Project. Organizations providing this special service included the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the American Historical Association, the World History Association, the National Council for the Social Studies, the Organization of American Historians, the National Council for History Education, the Council of State Social Studies Specialists, and the Organization of History Teachers.

Three Curriculum Task Forces were formed, totaling more than 50 members, with responsibility for developing the standards for students in grades kindergarten through four, and for students in grades five through twelve in the fields of United States and World History. Composed of veteran classroom teachers from throughout the United States who had been recommended by the many organizations participating in this Project, and of recognized scholars of United States and World History with deep commitments to history education in schools, these groups have worked for many months in grade-alike writing teams and in meetings of the whole to ensure continuity of standards across all levels of schooling, elementary through high school.

The United States and World History Standards were revised in early 1996. The revisions are responsive to the recommendations of two panels of distinguished educators and public figures that were organized by the Council for Basic Education and funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Spencer Foundation. A newly-formed Advisory Board to the National Center for History in the Schools appraised the revisions and made important contributions to the final version. Their work, like that of the panelists convened by the Council for Basic Education, should be seen-and appreciated-as a part of the effort to achieve a participatory and wide-reaching consensus on what constitutes historical literacy in this nation.