Report: Pennsylvania civics, U.S. history standards ‘in need of dire revision’

(The Center Square) – A report from the Fordham Institute published this week deemed Pennsylvania’s educational standards for U.S. history and civics inadequate and “in dire need of revision.”

The analysis considered standards for both subjects in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Pennsylvania and nine others – Alaska, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming – received an F grade for academic requirements in both subjects. An additional six states – Idaho, Iowa, Nevada, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Oregon – received a D for civics and an F for U.S. history.

“For a state that gave the nation Benjamin Franklin, Lucretia Mott, and George Marshall, Pennsylvania’s civics standards are a major disappointment,” the report concludes of Pennsylvania’s civics standards. “The content expectations are broadly worded. The skills are boilerplate. The goal of producing active and informed citizens can hardly be detected.”

The analysis went on to describe the state’s civics standards as “needlessly difficult to use” and said its U.S. history standards provide only “vague conceptual generalizations.”

“Pennsylvania simply does not offer U.S. History standards,” the report says. “No content is outlined. Sequence is barely even suggested.”

The Center Square contacted the state Department of Education for comment, but did not receive an immediate response.

Four states – Alabama, California, Massachusetts and Tennessee – and the District of Columbia topped the list with A grades in each respective subject. New York’s civics standards received a grade of B+, though the state did manage to earn an A- for its U.S. history standards.

The report says states with exemplary standards “effectively articulate what every American should know about this country’s democratic institutions, traditions and history.” The states also prioritize the subjects in elementary and middle school and require at least one year of U.S. history and one semester of civics before graduating from high school.

Successful standards also “champion essential civic dispositions” and “emphasize skills that are essential to informed citizenship such as critical thinking, problem analysis, and evaluating, interpreting, and arguing from evidence,” the report states.

Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, served as an external adviser on the report. In the opening pages, he wrote that its “urgently important to teach history and civics from a nonpartisan perspective.”

“The National Constitution Center agrees that the purpose of civics education ‘is to provide a common framework for resolving our differences even as we respect them’ – a framework rooted in the U.S. Constitution,” he said.

According to the report, Pennsylvania and others with inadequate standards can improve by mirroring success in the top states. Some recommendations include strengthening lessons for elementary and middle schools students, developing user friendly standards and documents that aren’t difficult to use, and including U.S. history and civics as part of a high school student’s graduation requirements.

Disclaimer: This content is distributed by The Center Square