South Carolina's U.S. History Curriculum Standards Earn 'Best-In-Nation' Rating In New Report

South Carolina’s curriculum standards in U.S. History are the country’s  best, according to a national report card released Wednesday.

The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, which graded each state’s U.S. History standards on clarity and specificity as well as content and rigor, described most state efforts as “mediocre to awful.”  A total of 28 states received grades of D or F.

“Just one state – South Carolina – has standards strong enough to earn a straight A,” the Fordham Institute report said.  “The Palmetto State deserves praise for having brought the necessary focus, rigor and innovation to this essential element of a comprehensive education.”

Curriculum standards outline what students are expected to learn as they take various subjects in grades K-12.  According to Fordham, a state’s standards send powerful signals to schools, teachers, parents, textbook publishers, colleges and test makers, and do a great deal to shape the curriculum that children actually receive in each subject.

“These bleak findings tell us what we already suspected – U.S. history standards across the land are alarmingly weak,” said Fordham Institute President Chester E. Finn, Jr. “No wonder so many Americans know so little about our nation’s past. Yet this subject is essential to an educated citizenry.”

State Superintendent of Education Mick Zais said curriculum standards are the foundation for classroom instruction, and that Fordham’s praise for South Carolina’s U.S. History standards was encouraging. But he said strong curriculum standards don’t guarantee strong academic performance.

“Standards outline our expectations for classroom instruction,” Zais said. “But world-class standards don’t guarantee world-class results. We have to make sure teachers are covering the right material with their students. We have to make sure they’re properly trained and have the materials and support they need.  And we need a system that gives teachers flexibility in creating classroom lessons, holds them accountable for their performance and rewards them when they succeed.”

Fordham said strong standards provide “coherent, chronological views of historical content rather than themes; they systematically identify real people and specific events, explaining their significance; they honor historical balance and context. By contrast, the weakest standards generally ignore chronology in favor of social studies themes; minimize real people and specific events in favor of broad generalizations; seek to mold students toward specific political outlooks rather than to encourage historical comprehension or independent critical thought.”

Today’s report singled out for special praise South Carolina’s efforts to assist history teachers with “unique” support documents that include model lesson plans, suggested teacher resources and teaching strategies, and testing tips to see if students are learning effectively.

“These provide a detailed explanatory text for every grade and course and link each to the numbered standards and indicators,” Fordham said of the support documents.  “A descriptive narrative then lays out the history that ‘is essential for students to know,’ while a subsequent segment discusses supplementary detail that ‘is not essential for students to know.’  Finally, ‘assessment guidelines’ reiterate points and issues that pupils should be able to explain.”

Zais noted that although student scores on South Carolina’s high school U.S. History and the Constitution end-of-course exams improved in 2010, more than half of student test-takers made failing grades.

“That shouldn’t be acceptable to anyone,” he said.  “One positive result of today’s Fordham report is that districts and schools may be convinced to take better advantage of the support materials that are available to them.”

Fordham’s reviews of state U.S. History standards were conducted by Sheldon M. Stern, an historian formerly at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, and Jeremy A. Stern, an historian and education consultant.

The last Fordham review of U.S. History standards occurred in 2003, and the Institute singled out South Carolina for improvements made since then.

“South Carolina, both by revising its standards and adding innovative expository “support documents,” rose from a mediocre C to an outstanding A and now has the best U.S. History standards in the land,” today’s report said.

Zais said the state would not rest on its laurels, noting that a review of social studies standards is currently under way that offers a fresh opportunity to review course structure, pacing and organization. “We can always improve,” he said. “We can always get better.”