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About the Bradley Commission on
History in Schools, and the seminal history education
document Building a History Curriculum: Guidelines
for Teaching History in Schools
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Development and Goals
The
Bradley Commission on History in Schools was formed in 1987 in
response to concerns regarding the quality and quantity of the
history taught in American classrooms. The group was comprised
of 16 of the most respected members of the history profession,
including former presidents of each of the major professional
organizations in history and a number of award-winning history
teachers and writers. It was chaired by Kenneth T. Jackson, who
went on, along with 189 concerned historians and educators, to
form the National Council for History Education (NCHE) in 1990.
The Commission's work was funded by the Lynde and Harry Bradley
Foundation.
Upon
forming, the Bradley Commission established two goals for itself:
- Explore
the conditions that contribute to, or impede, the effective
teaching of history in American schools, from kindergarten through
grade 12.
- Make
recommendations on the curricular role of history, and on how
all of those concerned—teachers, students, parents, school
administrators, university professors, publishers, and boards
of education—may improve the teaching of history as the
core of social studies in the schools.
The
Bradley Commission focused on curriculum. Later guidelines in
professional development and pedagogy, as well as the central
foundations for the National Standards for History, were
based on its work. The Bradley Commission's recommendations were
articulated in Building a History Curriculum: Guidelines for
Teaching History in Schools, first printed in 1988. The document
was published and printed as a Second Edition in 2000, and underwent
a second printing as recently as 2003.
Organization and Structure
 Building a History Curriculum establishes
a rationale for studying history in schools, and makes nine recommendations
regarding state and local policies. Principally, however, it sets
forth a consensus of perspectives and ways of "historical thinking"
that far transcend specific and useful facts. As the Commission
words it: "'What of it?' is a worthy question and it requires
an answer." To nurture these habits of mind, the Commission established
a core set of Vital Themes and Narratives (see sidebar), which
formed the foundation for its selection and articulation of three
sets of Topics of Study: American History, Western Civilization
and World History.
The
document goes on to discuss several potential patterns of vertical
articulation (course structure over a sequence of grades) for
early, middle and high school grades, as well as a discussion
of issues related to determining structures and priorities of
these courses. It concludes with a very relevant and timeless
discussion of methods, modes, and connections of various forms
of historical study.
For
more information specifically dealing with history
education standards, check out the report About
the National Standards for History.
You
may be interested in additional history
education materials. Check out Designed Instruction's
LearningLeads™ resources below:
LearningLeads™
Curriculum and Learning Strand overview page: Learning
Through Context (contains numerous articles, research, and
instructional strategies, and activities related to teaching with
primary and secondary historical source documents)
LearningLeads™
home page (contains numerous other K-12 instructional resources)
For
more information dealing with education
standards, go to Designed Instruction's standards
services page.
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