Writer Warns Of Lack Of Social Studies Focus Under Common Core

Marc Brasof of the National Constitution Center writes at the Philadelphia Public Schools Notebook (11/15) about the gradual decline in social studies instruction in US schools in recent decades, concurrent with an increase in classroom time devoted to math and English. The piece attributes this shift to No Child Left Behind's focus on those two subjects, adding, "This is an important lesson to consider when states, responsible for establishing learning standards for public schools, are now agreeing to implement the new national curriculum standards known as the Common Core. ... Although some scholars have found that the arguments in support of Common Core are flawed, more troubling is the quality of these standards in terms of history and civic education."