A Study On National Standards For History In The United States

In the United States, the curriculum reform in basic education focuses on the formulating of curriculum standards and "Standard-based Reform" in 1990'. The reform of history curriculum is around the National Standards for History. This standard plays an important role in the history education. Detailed study of National Standards for History will help us to grasp the characteristics of this standard. We can also know the implementation of this standard in USA. And some enlightment about the formulating of history standards and "Standard-based Reform" in history education can be gained by comparing the history standards between China and USA.This dissertation is composed of an introduction and a text. Firstly, the introduction briefly concerns the background and significance of this study, the research methods and content framework. The text includes four parts. Part one clarifies the related definition about this dissertation. Part two begins with the historical review of history curriculum in USA. Then the background of National Standards for History is analyzed in detail. Part three states the general situation of the standards, then probes into the characteristics of the standards in curriculum objectives, the selection of subject matter and the organization of subject matter. The factors that cause these characteristics are analyzed later. It also looks into the implementation of the standards in state, district and classroom. It trys to study the standards in theory and practice. Part four compares National Standards for History with the standards in history curriculum in China, providing some useful recommendation for history standards and history education in China.This study indicates: high quality curriculum standards are based on some theories and methods. The process of formulating and perfecting curriculum standards is opening and deveploping. It is important to give full play to the function of the curriculum standards and promote reform of related curriculum fields. Classroom is the final spot of curriculum implementation. Teacher plays an important role in the implementation of history standards in the classroom. It is necessary to give teacher some support.