Myths of High School Social Studies

1. Myths of High School Social Studies Results from a National Random Survey NCSS Vital Issues Session November 14, 2009 Atlanta, GA

2. Presenters • James Leming Character Education Associates • Lucien Ellington University of Tennessee at Chattanooga • Mark Schug Mark Schug Consulting • David Dieterle Walsh College

3. The Research • National random telephone survey of 1,201 high school social studies teachers • Funded by the Bradley Foundation and a US Department of Education Excellence in Education grant from the Council on Economic Education • Data collected between December 2007 and April 2008 • Multi-step sampling process beginning with the NCES nationally representative random sample of public high schools (grades 9-12) • Schools were stratified by size, region, urbanicity • Initial calls to front office. Random alphabetization used to identify teachers. Strict replacement procedures used to replace refusals from schools and/or teachers. • Sampling error of +/- 2.8% for total sample and +/- 5.7% for subject matter subsamples.

4. Myth: Definition • A popular belief or story that has become associated with a person, institution, or occurrence, especially one considered to illustrate a cultural ideal. • A fiction or half-truth, especially one that forms part of an ideology.

5. The Myths • High school social studies teachers highly value their professional teacher education coursework. • Digital resources such as the internet are quickly causing social studies textbooks to become obsolete instructional tools. • High school social studies teachers eschew whole class instruction. • High school social studies teachers’ greatest professional development needs focus on differentiating instruction, classroom management, diversity, and constructivist pedagogy. • Social studies teachers (American history, civics and world history) believe it is important to focus on the role of significant individuals and heroes and heroines in shaping the world today.

6. The Myths (2) • High school social studies teachers emphasize teaching facts and concepts as an important rationale for their respective subject matters. • State and district testing significantly influences high school social studies instruction. • Economics is a fundamental social studies subject in most states. • High school economics teachers utilize the same teaching methods as other social studies teachers. • High school social studies teachers view themselves as objective in their approach to instruction.

7. Myth 1 High school social studies teachers highly value their professional teacher education coursework.

8. Myth 1 Findings IQ 25: Please rate the quality of the following aspects of the teacher preparation program that you received in college, and if applicable, in graduate school. (% saying very good)

9. Myth 2 Digital resources such as the internet are quickly causing social studies textbooks to become obsolete instructional tools.

10. Myth 2 Findings Textbook Usage – By Years of Experience Q20A. Which of the following best represents the use of textbooks in your current teaching?

11. Myth 3 High school social studies teachers eschew whole class instruction.

12. Myth 3 Findings (1) Q19. On which of the following did you spend the majority of time in your MOST RECENT class period?

13. Myth 3 Findings (2) IQ18. Please tell me the frequency of the following activities in your classes. (% saying or almost every every class)

14. Myth 4 High school social studies teachers’ greatest professional development needs focus on differentiating instruction, classroom management, diversity, and constructivist pedagogy.

15. Myth 4 Findings The question: Respondents were asked to assess the importance of a variety of professional development needs on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 means a very low need and 10 means a high need.

16. Myth 4 Findings The results: % saying 8, 9, 10—high need area

17. Myth 5 Social studies teachers (American history, civics and world history) believe it is important to focus on the role of significant individuals and heroes and heroines in shaping the world today.

18. Myth 5 Findings: US history Most Important Topics to emphasize in the U.S. History in the curriculum Q7 A/B Considering all the reasons we have discussed regarding where the emphasis should be in the U.S. History curriculum which do you think should receive the most/second most emphasis?

19. Myth 5 Findings: Civics Most Important Topics to Emphasize in the Civics Curriculum Q13F/G. Considering all the reasons we have discussed regarding where the emphasis should be in the civics curriculum, which do you think should receive the most/second-most emphasis?

20. Myth 5 Findings: World History Most important topics to emphasize in the world history curriculum Q 9 A/B Considering all the reasons we have discussed for teaching world history, what do you consider to be the most/second most important reason?

21. Myth 6 High school social studies teachers emphasize teaching facts and concepts as an important rationale for their respective subject matters.

22. Myth 6 Findings: US history

23. Myth 6 Findings: Civics

24. Myth 6 Findings: World History

25. Myth 6 Findings: Economics

26. Myth 7 State and district testing significantly influences high school social studies instruction.

27. Myth 7 Findings

28. Myth 8 Economics is a fundamental social studies subject in most states.

29. Myth 8 Findings (1)

30. Myth 8 Findings (2)

31. Myth 9 High school economics teachers utilize the same teaching methods as other social studies teachers.

32. Myth 9 Findings IQ18. Please tell me the frequency of the following activities in your classes. (% saying every class or almost every class)

33. Myth 10 High school social studies teachers view themselves as objective in their approach to instruction.

34. Myth 10 Findings

35. Myth 10 Findings (2)

36. The End