National Center for History in the Schools

The National Standards for History, revised to the present version in 1996, address one of the major goals for national education reform developed within the past decade. First envisioned by President George Bush and the nation's governors in their historic summit meeting in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1989, this reform agenda took shape in the National Education Goals jointly adopted by the National Governors' Association and President Bush a year later. These Goals were subsequently incorporated into legislation by the Congress and signed into law in the GOALS 2000, Educate America Act of March 1994. Broadly supported by the American people, their state governors, their legislators in the United States Congress, and two successive presidential administrations, these National Education Goals have represented a genuine bipartisan approach to education reform.

The revised National History Standards have served as a template for the more than 30 states that have developed state standards for history as well as serving as lesson guides for such diverse projects as lessons accompanying National Park Service Web sites, the Military District of Washington's "Spirit of America" curriculum, Oregon Public Broadcasting's upcoming Web-based series "Turning Points in US History," the Theolonious Monk Jazz Institute history/jazz curriculum, lesson plans to accompany the Eisenhower archives, and many others. They are made available free on the Web site of the National Center for History in the Schools, UCLA (NCHS) and are also available in book form. In the last ten years, NCHS has published over 35 primary source-based reproducible US history teaching units that conform to the standards.

Since history can be a contentious field of curriculum, there have been many who have wondered if a national consensus could be forged concerning what all students should have opportunity to learn about our history as Americans, and of the peoples of all racial, religious, ethnic, and national backgrounds who have been a part of our story. The responsiveness, enormous good will, and dogged determination of so many from all political viewpoints to meet this challenge during the development and revision of these standards has reinforced our confidence in the inherent strength and capabilities of this nation to undertake the steps necessary for bringing to all students the benefits of an endeavor to raise the standards for learning history in our schools. The revised National History Standards represent a framework for that endeavor, a first step which we hope many will build upon to the benefit of our youth and nation.

>>>Continued: Development of the National Standards