Teaching American History with a Global View - April 21, 2008
The U.S Department of Education’s Teaching American History (TAH) grants specify that they are for “traditional American history,” however, all history undeniably takes place within a world context. To assess how the TAH grants incorporate the world, AHA staff surveyed the winning grant applications and found the rest of the world appeared in one in five award recipients from 2001 to 2007…
National History Center Collects Surveys to Study the History Major and Liberal Education - August 13, 2007
Earlier this year, the National History Center (NHC) created the Teagle Foundation Project, through a grant from the Teagle Foundation, to examine the role of historical study in liberal learning.
"No Child" Leaves the Social Studies Behind - July 30, 2007
Moving past the usual alarmist anecdotes, a new study by the Center on Education Policy (CEP) offers hard evidence that the social studies are being squeezed in America’s schools by test-driven pressures imposed by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.
The Journey of a Thousand Miles: New Findings on Attrition from History Ph.D. Programs - July 23, 2007
Less than half of all history doctoral students will complete their studies within ten years, according to a new study from the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), giving history a slightly lower 10-year completion rate than almost all other disciplines.
Nobel Peace Prize Curriculum Available on the Web - July 12, 2007
Can your students name the 22 American Nobel Peace Prize Laureates? The Nobel Peace Laureate Project has developed a high school curriculum to teach students the history of the Nobel Peace Prize and has made it available for free via the internet at http://www.nobelpeacelaureates.org/teach_peace.html.
Where Do We Go from Here? Reinvigorating Historical Education - June 14, 2007
Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein presented opening remarks at yesterday’s National History Center conference “Reforming History Education: New Research on Teaching and Learning.” Weinstein spoke on the necessity of effective historical education, purporting it as a means for “higher advocacy of coherent citizenship.” Weinstein emphasized the link between history education and the vitality of society—a link that experts echoed throughout the day as they debated the problems with history education policy and the future of the field.
Lessons from the Poop Deck - April 26, 2007
Those of us at the AHA who have often daydreamed about a historical high-seas adventure (minus the scurvy) were thrilled to learn that two schools, the University of Pittsburgh and Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, are offering classes this summer onboard the U.S. Brig Niagara, a fully-operational replica of an early 19th-century naval warship.
On the Closing of PhD Programs - February 22, 2007
This past weekend, Cliopatria’s Ralph Luker utilized our History Doctoral Programs in the United States and Canada web site to propose the closing of “marginal” PhD programs in history as a way of reducing the glut of newly minted PhDs on the job market (read his full post). Perhaps illustrating that history repeats itself first as tragedy, then as blog, the Cliopatria discussion brings to mind a memorable discussion from the pages of the AHA Newsletter (the precursor to Perspectives) from the early 1970s…
Workshop for Teaching American History Grant Applicants - January 18, 2007
Those interested in applying for a Department of Education Teaching American History Grant can attend a “technical assistance workshop” designed to help applicants through the grant application process. For more information, including directions to the workshop location, see the TAH website.
Teaching American History Grants - January 11, 2007
This past Monday, January 8th, the U.S. Department of Education began accepting applications for the Teaching American History Grant Program. The Department expects to confer 120 awards pulling from a total of $50,000,000 in funds.
Attention History Educators - December 01, 2006
The most recent edition of the NCH Washington Update, the National Coalition for History’s weekly newsletter, lists content of particular interest to history educators.
Holding Teaching to a Standard - October 19, 2006
As arguments rage about curricular reforms in the school system and the proper balance between “teaching to the test” and classroom innovation, a new web site from the Department of Education on State Education Reforms provides some basic information on the status of such efforts at the state level.
Picture of a Digital Generation - October 15, 2006
We tend to think of computer use and the Internet as all pervasive, but a new report from The National Center for Education Statistics provides some solid data that places those perceptions in context.