American Education

American Education has three main themes. First, school reforms reflect changes in society. Second, school reforms often have elements in common with or are reactions to previous reforms. Third, if citizens are aware of the history of school reforms, they will be able to make more informed decisions about the schools they want now and in the future.

The first four lessons explore chronologically the four main reform movements in American history—the common school movement, child-centered reforms, equality of educational opportunity, and the excellence reform movement. Students create a tracking chart to compare the social changes, the goals, and the actual reforms of the movements. Lessons 5 through 10 explore more specific issues with the excellence movement and continuing social problems that affect schools. Lesson 11 explores how technology has and will continue to have an impact on schools. Lesson 12 provides a review of the reform movements studied in the unit and an assessment in which students determine the social changes that people in their community would like to see and how schools might be able to help bring about those changes.

About the Series:

Social Studies curriculum units contain complete lesson plans with preliminary and follow-up work, teacher notes with background and rationale, ready-to-use worksheets, and suggested answers for student questions. These materials encourage the development of thinking , reading, speaking, research, and writing skills as well as critical thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.