Posted on October 2, 2003

Education

American students consistently rank history as one of their least favorite subjects. Moreover, far too many history teachers have never seriously studied the subject, and it's usually left out of state testing and accountability systems. As part of its initiative to improve social studies education, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute has released Effective State Standards for U.S. History: A 2003 Report Card (103 pages, PDF). The report documents the quality of history classes in forty-eight states and the District of Columbia and finds that there is considerable room for improvement: Eleven states earned a grade of A or B, while thirty-one received a D or F. Prepared by Sheldon Stern, a historian at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, the report also features evaluations of history education in each state, an appendix (13 pages, PDF) of state rankings, and conclusions and recommendations.