The Framework for History and Social Science: Charting a New Course

The Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks serve as the critical element in curriculum alignment and provide students, teachers, and parents with clear descriptions of what students are to know and be able to do in the core curriculum areas. Each framework is based upon guiding principles that serve as the scaffold for learning standards. In turn, the learning standards, skills and concepts are organized into grade level expectations and provide educators with the blueprint for curriculum organization and sound instructional practice.

MASCD believes educators in Massachusetts need clearly written standards for curriculum development as presented in the frameworks. In order to ensure that children benefit from the implementation of those standards in a sensible and professional manner, MASCD recommends the following:

• Review the curriculum frameworks according to a regular, predictable cycle.
• Restore the Massachusetts Common Core of Learning and Charting the Course: the Common Chapters of the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks as the guiding documents for all of the frameworks.
• Implement changes in the MCAS tests to reflect revisions in a curriculum framework five years after the revision is made.
• Build the instructional focus of each framework in a developmentally appropriate way.

More specifically, as the State Board of Education engages in a revision of the History and Social Sciences Curriculum Framework, MASCD recommends the following:

• Ensure that changes in the framework reflect the consensus of opinion in the education profession as represented by the national standards.
• Focus learning standards on the development of a reflective, democratic citizenship that respects each citizen's and our nation's role within a global context.
• Be sure the learning standards represent important knowledge and skills children need to know from the social and behavioral sciences.
• Integrate art, music, and literature into the learning standards whenever possible.
• Sequence content and skills to reinforce learning, thinking, and knowledge at each grade level so the framework is not represented or perceived to be merely a list of "facts" to be memorized.
• Hold schools and children accountable for the revised learning standards no sooner than five years after any revisions are made to the framework.

The first publication of the curriculum frameworks was accompanied by the publication of the Massachusetts Common Core of Learning and Charting the Course: the Common Chapters of the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. These seminal documents were well received by educators across the state as coherent guidelines for both the development and implementation of the curriculum frameworks. Throughout the 1994-95 school year, the Department of Education led a broad-based, participatory process, which resulted in the development of frameworks in the seven core academic areas.

Each framework translated the broad vision of the Common Core of Learning and the Common Chapters into three important products:

• Content and Learning Standards: statements that describe in detail what students are expected to know and do,
• Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Practices: recommended pedagogical approaches that teachers can effectively use to teach high order thinking skills at the heart of the discipline,
• Structuring Schools to Support Learning-Centered Classrooms: resources to organize schools and classrooms for successful learning.

With the first publication of the curriculum frameworks, the Department of Education made a commitment to support on-going professional development to assist local school districts in the implementation of the new standards and to ensure a periodic review of each framework. The manner in which revisions have been undertaken, especially with respect to the History and Social Sciences Curriculum Framework, has been problematic for schools, teachers, and students.

The publication of the draft revision of the History and Social Sciences Curriculum Framework in December 2001 is the third version of the framework in seven years. This "history" of the History and Social Sciences Curriculum Framework has included considerable debate and caused concern and confusion for educators in districts throughout Massachusetts. The first version of the framework, approved in 1995, emphasized the interdisciplinary connections of history, economics and civics and the higher order thinking skills articulated in the Common Core. The second version, approved in 1997, sequenced specific content and skills in history, geography, civics, and government, which the Massachusetts Board of Education believed to be essential to the "... study of human experience, past and present, and to the development of educated and responsible citizens" (Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Framework, 1997, Introduction) and introduced the concept of "Core Knowledge" topics through an integrated and sequential study of United States and World History. This framework drew upon the work of the Bradley Commission, several national standards documents, and the frameworks from California, Virginia, and other states. With the proposed third version (December 200 1) the four disciplines of history, geography, economics, and civics and government are integrated in the learning standards and skills for grades PreK-8. In grades 9-12, the four disciplines are presented as separate learning standards for United States and World History.

This "history" of the History and Social Science Curriculum Framework creates a major dilemma for educators. Changes in curriculum require substantial planning and involvement of teachers, administrators, school committees, and parents. Program planning, course development, piloting of new approaches, evaluation of effectiveness, teacher training, review of materials, and budgeting for new materials and staff all take considerable time, effort, and funding.

We need to learn lessons from this "history." It is impossible for any school district to invest the time, effort, and funding necessary to translate standards into effective classroom practice unless there is an assurance that the standards will be in place for at least five years prior to holding school districts and students accountable.

It is essential that the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks remain the same for a significant period of time and undergo revisions according to a defined and predictable schedule.

MASCD urges educators across the Commonwealth to be active participants in the review of the curriculum frameworks. Through participation in these revisions, Massachusetts's educators have the potential to shape a coherent curriculum and improve student learning.

Spring 2002

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