Learning History in School: The Impact of Course Work and Instructional Practices on Achievement

Abstract

The connection between high school courses and student knowledge on standardized tesfs has seldom been sf udied in social sf udies fields-and almost never on a national basis and with a wide range of statistical controls. We look at the relationship between course m r k in U.S. hisfo y and perfbrmance on the 1994 NafionaJ Assessment of Educaf ional Progress luf ilizing the 1994 High School Transcript S f udy to measure course enrollrnmts). Wefind that s t u h t s who take more and higher-level course work, who reported greater emphasis on a broad away of historical fupics, and who experienced more "active" insfruction perfbmd bet fey on the NAEP test men aflm adjusting for numerous s tudm t and family characteristics. The findings provide support both fur increasing the amount of hisf o y course work and for en1 ightened insfructional practices. A critical task performed by our nation's schooIs is to establishand sustain an informed citizenry that will not only work to support our democratic system, but will also work to promote the ideaIs of human possibility both individually and communally. Among other things, then, a good school would be one in which its students are afforded ample opportunity to develop, as Jefferson (1779) wrote, "...howledge of those facts, which history exhibit&, that, possessed thereby of the experience of other ages and countries, they may be enabled to h o w ambition under all its shapes, and prompt to exert their natural powers to defeat [tyranny's] purposes." Or, in the more *An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Montreal, April 19-23,1999. We would like to thank John Bremer for his assistance.

An analysis of predictors of history content knowledge: Implications for policy and practice

“…Prior knowledge on the NAEP has previously been examined using High School Transcript Study data provided by NCES. Smith and Niemi (2001) used this data in an earlier examination of NAEP-USH. However, those data were not available for the 2010 NAEP-USH.…”

“…Complicated race and gender connections to the past, students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds often lack cultural capital, receive less parental involvement, and maintain lower academic expectations-all of which negatively impact their student achievement (Berliner, 2006;Lee & Bowen, 2006). Future educational goals also serve as predictors of student engagement and interest in content (De La Paz, 2005;Smith & Niemi, 2001). …”

Determinants of Student Successes in Transition from Basic Education to Secondary Education (TEOG) Examination: An Analysis Related to Non-School Variables

“…Akademik başarıyı öğrencinin cinsiyeti (Keskin ve Sezgin, 2009;Kılıç ve Karadeniz, 2004), okula başlama yaşı (Küçüker, 2016), zekâsı, yetenekleri (Yıldırım, 2000), özgüveni, motivasyonu, kişilik özellikleri (Keskin ve Sezgin, 2009;Nartgün ve Çakır, 2014;Yıldırım, 2000), herhangi bir derse karşı tutumu (Oliver ve Simpson, 1988;Pamuk ve Kiraz, 2016;Pehlivan ve Köseoğlu, 2010;Skouras, 2014), ders çalışma alışkanlıkları (Smith ve Niemi, 2001), ailesi ve öğretmenleri ile kurduğu ilişki (Harding, 2003;Huang, 2008) gibi kişisel değişkenlerle açıklayan çalışmaların yanı sıra, öğretmen yeterlikleri (Darling-Hammond, 2000;Kavak, Aydın ve Akbaba Altun, 2007) ve öğrenciye sağlanan eğitim ortam ve olanakları (Aydoğan, 2012;Sawkins, 2002;Türnüklü, Zoraloğlu ve Gemici, 2001;Yanpar, 1998), öğretimsel liderlik (Şahin, 2011a), okul kültürü (Şahin, 2011b) ile açıklayan araştırmalar da bulunmaktadır. Ayrıca öğrencinin akademik başarısı ile sınav kaygısı arasındaki ilişkiyi inceleyen çalışmaların çokluğu da dikkat çekicidir (Akın, 2008;Austin ve Partridge, 1985;Benjamin, 1991;Birenbaum ve Nasser, 1994;Cassady, 2004;Culler ve Holahan, 1980;Hancock, 2001;Sullivan, 2002).…”

Simulating a Senate Office: The Impact on Student Knowledge and Attitudes

“…Many believe that civic education is a big part of the answer to dealing with disturbing levels of knowledge, cynicism and apathy. Recent work in political science shows that civic education plays an important role in fostering democratic values and teaching young people the skills necessary for participation (Niemi and Junn 1998;Smith and Niemi 2001;Denver and Hands 1990). Despite evidence about the value of civic education, civics courses are increasingly offered as elective rather than required courses at most high schools and universities.…”