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.
About the Project
Mapping the Landscape of Secondary US History Education is the AHA’s multistage effort to provide a research-based grounding for ongoing civic deliberations about the teaching of US history in American classrooms. The AHA seeks to cut through political caricatures of American history classrooms and pose a more direct question: What are American schoolchildren supposed to be taught about US history?
The Mapping project deploys a variety of sources and methods to describe how layers of decision-making at the state, district, and schoolhouse affect curriculum. The project combines appraisals of state-level standards and legislation in all 50 states with a deep-dive sample of nine states, where we fielded a survey with over 3,000 educators, interviewed hundreds more teachers and administrators, and collected curricular materials from vendors, districts, and teachers. The resulting report provides a clear and evidence-based picture of the 21st-century history education landscape.
Good Question: Right-Sizing Inquiry with History Teachers
In this essay for the #AHRSyllabus project in the American Historical Review, Whitney E Barringer, Scot McFarlane, and Nicholas Kryczka trace curricular initiatives around “inquiry” from the late nineteenth century to the present moment to suggest a set of best practices for today’s classroom that can, in their words, allow “students to see what history can do for them, and what they must do for themselves.”
In the Media
Past Events & Recordings
AHA Congressional Briefing
The AHA hosted a Congressional Briefing sharing findings from the AHA's report, American Lesson Plan: Teaching US History in Secondary Schools. The briefing summarized key findings from the most comprehensive study of secondary US history education undertaken in the 21st century.
Moderator James Grossman (AHA) and panelists Nicholas Kryczka (AHA), Brenda Santos (Brown Univ.), and Jonathan Zimmerman (Univ. of Pennsylvania) discussed the American Lesson Plan report and its implications for education policy.
What are Schoolchildren Learning About US History? Four Takeaways in Five Minutes
AHA research coordinator Nick Kryczka gave a 5-minute overview of the AHA's Mapping the Landscape of Secondary US History Education initiative as part of the CivXNow Research and Best Practice Affinity Group Monthly Brownbag on March 20, 2024.
American Lesson Plan: Mapping the Landscape of Secondary US History Education
Moderated by Katharina Matro (Walter Johnson High School and American Historical Assn.), this event featured AHA researchers Nick Kryczka, Whit Barringer Scot McFarlane.
History, the Past, and Public Culture: Results from a National Survey
This project aspired to take America’s historical pulse by assessing public perceptions of, and engagement with, the discipline of history and the past. The 40-question survey explored the public’s definition of the term “history,” where audiences access history, which sources of history are perceived to be reliable, their historical learning experiences, attitudes toward historical revision, correlations between civic engagement and an interest in history, and the perceived value of history.