![]() The pandemic intensified a lack of attention to social studies Elementary teachers receive infrequent professional development in social studies, and they’re less likely to say that they have access to district-provided materials in the subject compared to ELA and math. The researchers found that mean instructional time in the subject decreased by 30 minutes a week.īut it’s not just time spent on instruction. Still, research shows that policy changes over the past two decades have further tipped the scales.Ī 2012 study found that instructional time in social studies dropped after the introduction of the No Child Left Behind Act a decade earlier, which required states to test students each year in reading and math, starting in 3rd grade. Surveys going back to the 1980s showed that K-5 teachers spent about 20 minutes a day on social studies, on average, compared to about 1.5 hours on English/language arts. In a survey conducted during the 2021-22 school year, K-5 teachers said that the average student in their classes spends 3 hours a week in social studies-a third of the time those teachers said they spend in ELA, and less than half of the time they spend in math. More recent results from the RAND Corporation report slightly higher numbers. In 2011-12, the last year for which there is available federal data, 1st through4th grade teachers reported that they spent 2.4 hours a week on social studies, compared to 11.4 in English, 5.9 in math, and 2.5 in science. In elementary school, when students would be building that foundational knowledge, most of the school week is dedicated to other subjects. “You can’t just come in at the middle of it without having some foundational knowledge and skill sets,” she said. Social studies is like any other subject, said Shannon Pugh, the president of the National Council for the Social Studies. Just about half of students said they had taken a class mainly focused on civics, while an additional 32 percent said they had taken a class with some focus.īut they may be coming into middle school with a shaky knowledge base. history 20 percent said they had taken a class with some focus on the subject. Most middle school students study history and civics in some form.Īccording to the NAEP survey data, 68 percent of 8th graders said they had taken a class that was mainly focused on U.S. Social studies has long fought for instructional time and resources Civics and history groups have responded to these results for years with calls for increased funding and support for the subjects.
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