Covering Social Studies in a Divided America

Social studies is vital for young people: It helps them build literacy and critical thinking skills, and to develop an understanding of how societies and their systems came to be. Markedly, it’s one of the only subjects in which students might see themselves, their local culture or their families reflected in the classroom, which experts affirm is transformational for academic gains and a sense of belonging. 

Today, its place and composition in schools face consistent political threat. At its core, the subject addresses the question of who and what is worth knowing. 

Accordingly, it’s vital journalists understand the state of social studies education and cover it with appropriate nuance. This resource provides reporters with story ideas, advice from experts and tips for building trust with sources on this now frequently restricted subject. 

Understanding the Scope and Impacts of Restrictive Laws

Since 2021, at least 44 states have introduced bills or taken steps to limit how teachers can discuss racism and sexism.  Additionally, 20 states have explicitly banned or restricted discussions about racism, gender or current events.

These laws affect K-12 social studies instruction, with some teachers unable to label historical events – such as the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 – as racist. Other educators are avoiding discussing certain history and civics topics altogether. 

Conservative politicians at local, state and federal levels have led these legislative efforts, seeking in part to root out “unpatriotic” or negative teachings of American history as systemically racist, claiming students are being “indoctrinated” by “divisive concepts.” 

In Texas, the fights have led to changes in statewide curricula and textbooks, and in Oklahoma, new teachers coming from out of state were briefly given ideological tests before obtaining licensure.  

These partisan efforts go against the hopes of many teachers and students.

“Teachers in our sample consistently express a strong and praiseworthy professional commitment to partisan neutrality in the classroom. Teachers want students to read and understand founding documents to prepare them for informed civic engagement. They also want them to grapple with the complex history and legacies of racism and slavery,” stated a 2024 report from the American Historical Association (AHA). The report analyzed standards and legislation across the nation as well as extensive interviews and surveys of middle and high school social studies teachers in nine states.

The restrictive laws and actions have been difficult for educators to understand, and for reporters to cover, since many mischaracterized what is being taught in schools and often contained sweeping or vague language. Frequently, politicians have deemphasized the importance of accurate lessons on the violent parts of American history, with an argued goal to prevent white students from feeling uncomfortable. However, lessons that teach accurate history of slavery or Native American genocide, like Facing History and Ourselves, are proven to boost engagement for all students. 

More recent conservative actions that target diversity, equity and inclusion programs maintain that such programs are performative, unsuccessful, or provide unjust advantages to historically underserved groups. These political actions have often misconstrued what DEI is, who it helps, and why the programs were developed in the first place: to correct the impacts of discrimination. 

Recent research on the impact of these laws on teachers and lessons shows a cumulative chilling effect. 

Across all K-12 grades or subject areas, two thirds of teachers polled nationally in 2023 said they decided to limit instruction on political and social issues on their own, according to RAND, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization. At least 55% of teachers who aren’t subject to any state or local restrictions voluntarily changed their teaching, citing fear of upsetting parents and uncertainty of their district administration’s support. RAND’s research is ongoing, part of its “State of the American Teacher” project, which polls 25,000 teachers across the country in a nationally representative demographic sample. 

A much higher share of teachers limit instruction in Florida, Arkansas, and other places where local restrictions are prevalent and may threaten licenses, according to RAND policy researcher Ashley Woo, who added that teachers overwhelmingly perceive such restrictions as negative for learning. 

“They often raise things like feeling these policies would make it harder for them to teach the content that they’re supposed to be teaching, and they also worry often about the consequences of these policies for students’ sense of belonging,” Woo added.

At the same time, AHA’s report digs into the nuances of this national portrait in secondary history instruction. Its 2024 “American Lesson Plan” report found that the vast majority of middle and high school history educators “do not face regular political objections to the way they teach U.S. History. Far from fending off throngs of critics, many struggle to get parents, students, and even administrators to care about history at all.” 

But the report also found that in some political hot spots, including Florida and Texas school districts, punitive legislation threatens licenses and censors classrooms. In coverage, reporters should understand the mounting research on laws and actions restricting what is taught and discussed in social studies classrooms; examine the breadth of the studies,  research samples and methodology; and include these nuances as context for their reporting. 

Know What IS Being Taught and What Teachers Say About Their Jobs

The AHA report found that secondary history teachers were not in fact putting their thumbs on a political scale, but they were challenged by insufficient resources, time and support. 

“We did not find indoctrination, politicization or deliberate classroom malpractice. A lack of resources, instructional time and professional respect represent far clearer threats to the integrity of history education across the United States,” according to the association’s “American Lesson Plan” report. 

AHA’s research also found that slavery is widely taught as the inciting cause of the Civil War. Teachers’ favorite and highest-priority content areas were the American Revolution and founding of the republic, World War II and the Civil Rights Movement. Educators wish they had more training, specifically to teach precolonial Native America and events since the 1970s. In addition, they have taken to prioritizing more primary documents “so that sources can ‘speak for themselves’ without teacher interpretation.” 

While disproportionately the topic of recent legislation, historically social studies has received much less support and attention than math and literacy, especially by administrators eagerly focused on maintaining high test scores. Instructional time is substantially diminished in early grades; standards differ greatly state to state; and some educators question if the lack of testing contributes to its lower instructional priority. Only 15 states require some kind of standardized U.S. History test as a prerequisite to graduate high school, according to Education Week. 

“Teachers in my experience are worried that history and civics are being pushed to the margins as there’s such a focus on the ELA and mathematics and state testing requirements. It does tend to minimize the amount of thought and time that’s spent on social studies instruction,” said Melissa Sadorf, a lifelong educator and now executive director of the National Rural Education Association, which includes administrators, teachers, researchers and others. 

Include Classrooms and Context

Journalism can fill a void to challenge myths about what’s being taught for families, policymakers and the historical record. Moving beyond politicians’ talking points, experts also encourage reporters to develop story ideas informed by the people most impacted by their decisions: students, parents and teachers. 

Reporters should also investigate whether there are local updates that buck national trends, such as more time spent on local history and civil rights in Alabama. They should consider what educators are doing, in New Hampshire for instance, as legal challenges make their way through courts.

Getting into actual classrooms is key. Examples include this piece about Oregon’s new Pacific Islander courses for high schoolers.

To build sources, Education Week’s Sarah Schwartz recommends connecting with individual states’ social studies organizations, teaching award recipients, and education advisory councils for civics and social studies. It may be useful, too, to look at the next generation of teachers in training. What local universities prepare the most teachers, and what are their social studies classes preparing  – or not preparing – teachers for?

Experts also urge reporters to use specific descriptions and plain language in lieu of charged, misused terms like “divisive” or “indoctrination.” When interviewing a source who has used these terms, Schwartz recommends probing further: “What is the part of [the activity] that’s a problem, and why?” In coverage, reporters can quickly include a phrase or line explaining how the term has historically been altered from its original context or definition. 

Debunk Myths or Narratives in Your Area 

Brian Knowles, an educator with decades of experience developing curricula and teaching Black history across Florida districts, said that a lack of specificity in coverage of the Advanced Placement African American Studies’ shutdown in his state “created the impression that all African American studies programs and teaching were moved out of every classroom in Florida, which was not true.” 

Black history had been required in public instruction there since 1994, but the so-called Stop WOKE Act in 2022 restricted how race could be taught. In many districts and classrooms, those lessons continue. Repetitive coverage of the shutdown of a single AP course, though indicative of larger issues, overshadowed countless other stories. 

“People weren’t talking about the work that was still being done,” said Knowles, who still teaches across districts and has authored curricula for four secondary social studies courses – including Hip Hop literature and social structures in precolonial Africa. 

Reporters may also ask young people and educators about the value of contested courses and content, beyond stating the fact they are challenged.  A single ethnic studies course, for instance, was empowering for former educator Brian Rashad Fuller. In his memoir, “Being Black in America’s Schools,” he writes that an ethnic studies course  provided the “theory and evidence behind many of mine and my family’s experiences. It was as if up until this point, I had been in a battle without armor.”