Are Curricular and Assessment Sprawl to Blame?
Efforts to improve social studies at the elementary level have not fared well in recent years. Federal demands for greater emphasis on mathematics and reading instruction have had a direct impact on social studies instruction–eroding elementary teachers’ time and energy for the subject. In spite of this changing context, many states still test social studies at the elementary level, and school districts have made efforts to address this area of weakness in the curriculum. However, the barriers to implementing effective professional development at the elementary level in social studies make addressing the problem of low achievement difficult. The experience of directing an 18-month project designed to integrate literacy and social studies instruction through professional development has pointed to significant barriers in the way social studies has been structured and delivered in the curriculum, as well as the difficulties involved in testing fifth-grade social studies knowledge. While
