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This article examines the literature related to the marginalization of social studies through the lens of elementary social studies teacher education. This study presents the case of two different states wherein one state, Virginia, tests social studies in elementary schools and another state, North Carolina, where social studies is not tested until middle school. The data gathered from both states were originally analyzed to shed light on the question of testing's effect on teacher preparation and subsequent curriculum enactment. Data collected from the study suggest that factors such as field experiences, programs of study, and methods instruction impact teacher education in elementary social studies in more important ways than student testing.

Given the current marginalization of social studies education in schools, this paper explores the social studies centered community-school model of Elsie Ripley Clapp, who was a significant educator, scholar, and leader within progressive education. A former graduate assistant of John Dewey, Clapp put progressive pedagogical ideology into practice in the 1920s and 1930s through her curriculum development and administrative leadership in rural schools such as: the Ballard School in Kentucky and the Arthurdale Schools in West Virginia. She developed a social studies focused, experiential curriculum rooted in her vision of schools as democratic spaces. First, biographical information about Clapp’s life, educational experiences, and commitment to social justice is provided. Second, Clapp’s community school model at the Ballard School is explored. The model, which united people across social class and centered on local history, geography, and economics, provides implications for how we might re-envision our current approaches to social studies education.

Understanding social studies programs at science, technology, mathematics and engineering (STEM) schools is becoming increasingly important as the number of STEM schools grows. This study undertook a qualitative investigation into social studies programs at two STEM high schools. Interviews from social studies teachers, principals, and students were transcribed, coded, and analyzed. Additional data was collected through observation and document analysis. Findings highlighted social studies teachers’ perceptions that a strong social studies curriculum is essential to STEM education; the opportunities of interdisciplinary and technology integration afforded to social studies STEM teachers; and some of the challenges of teaching social studies in a STEM school. The researcher discusses the implications of these findings for stakeholders in the social studies to ensure citizens are equipped with the needed skill, knowledge, and dispositions to compete in a global and multicultural age.

This article contributes new understanding to a small but critical body of research indicating that high-stakes testing in reading/language arts and mathematics is contributing to marginalization of social studies in the elementary school curriculum across the US. It provides evidence from interviews with fifth-grade teachers that the “squeeze” on history-social science occurs disproportionately in low-performing schools with large minority and low-income populations, where curricular mandates prevail. The interviews shed light on elementary teachers' decision-making in history-social science and how it is influenced by state testing, local community pressures, as well as other influences. It indicates the need for more extensive qualitative study and concludes with a research design to guide future investigations.

The majority of states and school systems within the USA have implemented the Common Core State Standards, but with this implementation and focus on language arts and mathematics, many believe that social studies education has lagged. The purpose of this paper is to investigate preservice teachers’ social studies self-efficacy, experiences, and beliefs. Participants were preservice teachers in a required education course. During this course, preservice teachers were required to complete a 20-hour practicum within a school. Participants completed a teacher social studies self-efficacy scale, as well as a reflection questionnaire and course discussions. Results showed that preservice teachers reported that they did not have social studies experiences within the practicum. Implications of this study support preservice teachers having additional social studies education and C3 Framework mastery experiences.

With regard to the teacher’s sense of efficacy scale, descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations) were calculated. Following qualitative tradition (Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Miles and Huberman, 1994), the author used a constant comparative method to code the reflection questionnaire and group discussions. This included calculating answers and coding themes across the sources. These data gleaned insight into the participants’ experiences within the course and practicum regarding the domain of social studies education.

To answer research question 1, means and standard deviations were calculated. Using the social studies teacher’s sense of efficacy scale, participants reported M=6.4, SD=1.25. Research question 2 concerned whether or not participants were given a mastery experience (practicum/tutoring) in social studies. Moreover, if they were not given such an experience, in what domain did they work? Results indicated that a few participants (19 percent) stated that they had an opportunity to tutor in social studies. Most reported that the majority of their tutoring is in reading (58 percent) or mathematics (24 percent).

The findings from this study inform social studies research as it focuses on teacher social studies self-efficacy and mastery experiences within a practicum. First, preservice teachers in this study had relatively low self-efficacy beliefs in the domain of social studies. Second, the participants had very few mastery experiences in social studies. Finally, preservice teachers seem to feel that they will enjoy teaching social studies, and they did learn social studies within their schools.

Teacher educators are constrained in the time that they have to impart knowledge, pedagogy, and efficacy beliefs on preservice teachers. While evolving legislative mandates are at the forefront of many aspects of teaching, a teacher’s belief in his or her ability to teach may be what leads to perseverance in the classroom. Experiences within social studies classrooms and a use of the C3 Framework will help to highlight teachers’ and students’ growth within the domain of social studies. This study highlights the need for more mastery experiences in social studies as a way of strengthening new teachers’ content knowledge.

The future of social studies education within the classroom seems to be a dire situation. The consequence of the marginalization of social studies within the classroom is twofold. First, students to do have direct social studies instruction. Second, preservice teachers do not have an opportunity to observe or teach within this domain. As stated earlier, legislation is guiding classroom instruction. However, if teachers and schools are informed, social studies education does not have to disappear from student’s classroom time. School systems and teachers who have not yet done so should begin to consider using the C3 Framework.

The need to understand preservice teachers’ social studies self-efficacy beliefs is of importance given the constraints that they will most likely be facing once they enter the classroom. In other words, if preservice teachers are expected to teach children social studies, teacher educators should understand their learning of and beliefs about teaching in this domain. This study focused on preservice teachers’ self-efficacy and social studies beliefs. This study highlights the need for more mastery experiences in social studies as a way of strengthening new teachers’ content knowledge. Today, there are limitations wherein preservice teachers do not have many experiences with social studies. Future approaches should focus on offering more mastery experiences to preservice teachers.

There are growing concerns among social studies professionals that social studies instruction is disappearing from elementary schools. These concerns have become more pressing as educational policies emphasize core curricula of reading, writing, mathematics, and science. Questions arise as to how social studies can resume its traditional role as one of these core curricula. One possibility is to have social studies included in the accountability movement through testing. This article contemplates the role of testing in impacting social studies instruction in the elementary curriculum through a comparative analysis of data collected from a study of practicing elementary teachers in two states: one in which social studies instruction is tested and the other in which social studies instruction is not tested.

As school districts continue to devalue social studies through a narrowed focus on English language arts (ELA) and mathematics, this study investigated elements of curricular control in a district lacking a formal, purchased curricular program in the elementary grades. Without prescribed and scripted lessons, it was hypothesized that teacher autonomy would allow greater opportunities to investigate social studies concepts and skills.

Without prescribed and scripted lessons, it was hypothesized that teacher autonomy would allow greater opportunities to investigate social studies concepts and skills. Bernstein's theory of pedagogic discourse guided this study's analysis of power and control. This manuscript describes a micro-level discourse analysis that applies Gee's tools on interview data from two teachers.

Findings demonstrate some opportunities for teacher autonomy, but hierarchical control from administration persists and influences teacher decision-making. As researchers continue to argue for the increased presence of elementary social studies, this study demonstrates that the lack of a formal scripted curricular program presents opportunities for teachers, but administrative control endures and hinders teacher autonomy and instructional decision-making.

The data size and number of participants in this study may present limitations that impact generalizability. However, the focus for this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the messaging from two teachers. Comparability and translatability were identified as factors for research design to establish legitimacy (LeCompte and Preissle, 1993).

When considering implications from this study, two elements are considered. First, the continued devaluation of social studies persists, despite the implementation of Common Core standards. As a result, other measures must be investigated and implemented to ensure the subject is elevated to a more prominent position representative of its importance to a democracy. To accomplish this goal, teacher input and autonomy must also be respected to ensure a quality curriculum is utilized in the classroom. While teachers may exert control, albeit limited, in their instructional decision-making, many others are reliant on purchased programs that do not allow even this narrow classroom influence.

In this study, teachers' language use demonstrated external administrative control as well as autonomous decision-making. Their assigned schedule privileged ELA and math through the allocation of time. Moreover, administrators stated that social studies is not a priority, a sentiment counter to participants' values. Therefore, while they recognized the inherent benefit of the subject to their students, hierarchical power controlled the classification and framing of instruction. A weakened classification and framing structure must be sought to allow more opportunities for purposeful integration of content through messaging systems that are more responsive to students' needs.

Elementary students in North Carolina are not required to take social studies standardized tests. As a result, assumptions about social studies instruction have emerged. The assumptions represent perceptions or misperceptions about whether the subject is being taught, whether it is valued, and whether there are pressures to ignore social studies to focus on tested subjects. Data from a multi-university, longitudinal study examining the state of social studies in elementary grades are highlighted. Selected findings from the statewide research provide a framework for considering the assumptions. Recommendations suggest a team approach to advocating for the social studies.

This study sought to identify teachers' overall experiences in teaching social studies, the considerations they make in planning and implementing social studies lessons in the absence of mandated curriculum, approaches to social studies instruction and the role of legislation on social studies instruction.

Two practicing teachers at different grade levels participated in this study to allow for comparative case study analysis. Teachers were observed teaching social studies lessons and then were interviewed to gain an understanding of their perspectives on teaching social studies at the elementary level and the role that administrative and legislative messaging played in their decision-making.

The lack of a scripted and formal program for social studies created opportunities for teacher autonomy and content integration in lessons. This is especially true for teachers that place a high value on social studies content and skills. Persistent issues, such as limited time and mandated testing pressures, continue to create barriers that teachers must work to overcome.

Since teachers play a critical role in the enactment of policy and curriculum, when a formal curriculum program is absent, opportunities arise. Control of the classroom and inherent messaging therein continues to create a high value battleground. When teachers are given the autonomy to set lesson outcomes, opportunities for quality instruction, such as project based learning and content integration, are possible.

Students often do not understand the relevance of social studies, are not interested in it, and some early childhood students confuse it with other disciplines. Various external and internal factors prevent teachers from providing meaningful social studies instruction; however, practical solutions can be approached more appropriately and interestingly through collaboration. A team of second grade teachers’ participation in lesson study, a 50 plus-year old Japanese collaborative model, and implications of their activities for 41 students are reported in this interpretative case study. Data concerning students’ perceptions of their social studies classroom environments and attitudes about social studies lessons were collected before and after the lesson study, using surveys and focus group interviews. There were slight changes, both positive and negative, in students’ perceptions of their social studies learning environments, though they were puzzled about the discipline of social studies. Early childhood stakeholders benefit from learning what young students articulate about social studies and social studies learning environments. The description of team collaboration, with early childhood social studies, could be helpful also to teachers engaging in job-embedded professional development.