Development and Goals

The National Standards for History, revised and updated in 1996 to combine standards for grades K-4 with standards in both United States and World History for grades 5-12, represents the work of more than thirty professional organizations and scores of history teachers from across the nation. The document was developed through the National Center for History in the Schools at UCLA, under the guidance of the National Council for History Standards, and with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the U.S. Department of Education.

The document supports three overarching goals for students:

• knowledge of history, a precondition of political intelligence;
• abilities to inquire into issues in society, leading to the informed and discriminating citizenship essential to participation in democratic processes and fulfillment of our nation's ideals; and
• appreciation of the world's many cultures, shared humanity and common problems.

Organization and Structure

The National Standards for History describe two types of standards (historical thinking skills and historical understandings) across two grade bands (K-4 and 5-12).

Historical thinking skills are spread among five categories, as follows:

Thinking Standard Category 1: Chronological Thinking
Thinking Standard Category 2: Historical Comprehension
Thinking Standard Category 3: Historical Analysis and Interpretation
Thinking Standard Category 4: Historical Research Capabilities
Thinking Standard Category 5: Historical Issues-Analysis and Decision-Making

These five categories of historical thinking standards exist at grades K-4 and 5-12, but there are some differences between the two grade groups in the standards (expressed by letters, e.g., 1A, 1B, etc.) associated with each. In general, the grades K-4 historical thinking skills reflect the need for children to differentiate past, present, and future time; raise questions; seek and evaluate evidence; compare and analyze historical stories, illustrations, and records from the past; interpret the historical record; and construct historical narratives of their own. The historical thinking skills at grades 5-12 reflect the need for students to evaluate evidence, develop comparative and causal analyses, interpret the historical record, and construct sound historical arguments and perspectives on which informed decisions in contemporary life can be based.

Historical understandings include the history of families, communities, states, the nation, and the world. The focus at grades K-4 is on the history of all five, while at grades 5-12 it is on the last two (the nation and the world). These understandings are drawn from the record of human aspirations, strivings, accomplishments, and failures in at least five spheres of human activity: social, political, scientific/technological, economic, and cultural (philosophical/religious/aesthetic). At grades 5-12, they also provide students the historical perspectives required to analyze contemporary issues and problems confronting citizens today. Historical thinking and understanding do not, of course, develop independently of one another.

In grades K-4, the standards for historical understandings (total of 8 standards) are organized under four topics:

Topic 1: Living and Working Together in Families and Communities, Now and Long Ago
Topic 2: The History of the Students' Own State or Region
Topic 3: The History of the United States: Democratic Principles and Values and the Peoples from Many Cultures Who Contributed to Its Cultural, Economic and Political Heritage
Topic 4: The History of Peoples of Many Cultures around the World

Two standards are included under the first topic, one under the second topic, three under the third, and two under the fourth.

In grades 5-12, the standards for historical understandings are organized under two main courses of study: United States History and World History.

The United States History standards (total of 31) for grades 5-12 are organized under ten chronological eras, as follows:

Era 1: Three Worlds Meet (Beginnings to 1620)
Era 2: Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763)
Era 3: Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820s)
Era 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
Era 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900)
Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930)
Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945)
Era 9: Postwar United States (1945-1970s)
Era 10: Contemporary United States (1968-present)

The World History standards (total of 46) are organized under nine chronological eras (as well as World History Across the Eras, which spans all eras 1-9), as follows:

Era 1: The Beginnings of Human Society
Era 2: Early Civilizations and the Emergence of Pastoral Peoples, 4000-1000 BCE
Era 3: Classical Traditions, Major Religions, and Giant Empires, 1000 BCE-300 CE
Era 4: Expanding Zones of Exchange and Encounter, 300-1000 CE
Era 5: Intensified Hemispheric Interactions, 1000-1500 CE
Era 6: The Emergence of the First Global Age, 1450-1770
Era 7: An Age of Revolutions, 1750-1914
Era 8: A Half-Century of Crisis and Achievement, 1900-1945
Era 9: The 20th Century Since 1945: Promises and Paradoxes
World History Across the Eras

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.