Guidance & Support
Every state, federal district, and US territory has adopted some form of academic standards for history and social studies instruction in public schools between kindergarten and twelfth grade (K–12).
The AHA is prepared to support standards revision in any way that education agencies and other stakeholders find helpful. Our organization has an unusually broad perspective on state K-12 standards.
American Lesson Plan: Teaching US History in Secondary Schools
The AHA’s 2024 report shares findings from the most comprehensive study of secondary US history education undertaken in the 21st century. AHA researchers appraised standards and legislation in all 50 states, conducted a survey of over 3,000 middle and high school US history educators, interviewed over 200 teachers and administrators, and reviewed thousands of pages of instructional materials from small towns to sprawling suburbs to big cities. The report provides empirical evidence and rigorous analysis to inform current debates over how history is taught in our schools.
Recent Actions
October 2, 2024
AHA Research Coordinator Interviewed on All Things Considered
September 19, 2024
AHA Publishes Major Report on Secondary US History Education
AHA Testimony Before Legislatures and Boards of Education
“You cannot censor your way to great schools.”
- Julia Brookins (AHA) before the Texas State Board of Education
AHA staff and Council members have written articles and made public appearances highlighting the challenges teachers and educators face from legislation restricting the teaching of “divisive concepts" and issues related to teaching history with integrity.
Legislative Advocacy Letters: Behind the Scenes at the AHA
What is the process of putting together a letter responding to state legislatures? Read more in Perspectives on History.
AHA Initiatives
The AHA, our members, and other historians find ourselves on the front lines of a conflict over America’s past, confronting opponents who are actively promoting ignorance in service of misleading notions of unity. Through Teaching History with Integrity, the AHA leads or participates in several initiatives to provide resources and support for history educators facing intensifying controversies about the teaching of the American past.
Freedom to Learn
The AHA’s Freedom to Learn initiative educates historians and others on how to advocate publicly for honest history education, responds directly to the bills themselves, and creates resources to help teachers directly affected by these bills think about how to maintain the integrity of their history courses.
Teaching with Integrity: Historians Speak
These videos feature historians describing how exploring America's past honestly in the classroom benefits the nation's students, and how the freedom to learn also strengthens our shared democracy.
Mapping the Landscape of Secondary US History Education
Americans care about how their history is taught, but they don't always agree. Mapping the Landscape of Secondary US History Education is the AHA’s multi-stage effort to provide a research-based grounding for ongoing civic deliberations about the teaching of US history in American classrooms.
Support the AHA
The AHA advocates on behalf of historians and history students everywhere, and promotes history’s importance and the critical role history plays in public life.
AHA News
Joint Statement on Legislative Efforts to Restrict Education about Racism in American History
In June 2021, the American Association of University Professors, the American Historical Association, the Association of American Colleges & Universities, and PEN America authored a joint statement stating their “firm opposition” to legislation that would restrict the discussion of “divisive concepts” in public education institutions.
History, the Past, and Public Culture: Results from a National Survey
With funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the AHA partnered with Fairleigh Dickinson University to develop and implement a national survey to assess public perceptions of, and engagement with, the discipline of history and the past.
#AHRSyllabus
The #AHRSyllabus is a collaborative project designed to help teachers and students look "under the hood" at how historians in the early 21st century do the work of history. Each contribution to the syllabus features a practical hands-on teaching module that foregrounds innovative uses of historical method in the classroom.
Resources for Educators
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework
In 2013, the AHA, National Council for the Social Studies, and 13 other professional organizations collaborated to produce the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards. This document continues to influence education policy at the classroom, district, and state level.
Flashpoints: Free Speech in American History, Culture, and Society
PEN America and the AHA developed the Flashpoints event series to present the history of free speech in American democracy to public audiences around the United States.
For Educators: Explaining Today
In 2022, the American Historical Association, the National Council for the Social Studies, the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education, and New American History hosted a series of listening sessions for K-12 educators and higher education faculty.