WHAT HISTORY TEACHERS ARE ACTUALLY TEACHING

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Too often, the contentious debate about history taught in U.S. secondary schools lacks evidence drawn from careful research about what students are learning. “American Lesson Plan,” from the American Historical Association, summarizes a two-year exploration of secondary history education. The project combined a 50-state review of standards and legislation with a close examination of local contexts (towns, suburbs, and cities) in nine states. The report outlines four main findings:

  • Secondary U.S. history teachers are professionals who are concerned mostly with helping their students learn central elements of our nation’s history. The researchers did not find indoctrination, politicization, or deliberate classroom malpractice.
  • Teachers make important curricular decisions with direct influence over what students are expected to learn. They retain substantial discretion over what they use in their daily work.
  • Free online resources outweigh traditional textbooks. U.S. history teachers rely on a short list of trusted sites led by federal institutions including the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and Smithsonian museums.
  • Room for improvement remains. A lack of resources, instructional time, and professional respect are among the clearest threats to the integrity of history education across the U.S.

Read the report at bit.ly/40oFJu3.

FOUR-DAY SCHOOL WEEKS AND EMPLOYEE TURNOVER

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A report from the Annenberg Institute—part of its EdWorkingPapers series—looks at the impact of a four-day school week (4dsw) on employee turnover in Oregon, where the practice is widespread. Authors Aaron J. Ainsworth, Emily K. Penner, and Yujia Liu found that adopting a four-day week increased turnover among teachers, but turnover rates among non-teaching staff were largely unchanged. “The findings suggest,” they write, “that policymakers interested in implementing 4dsw for improved school employee retention should exercise caution and be attentive to the full set of incentives offered to staff.” Read the report at bit.ly/3U6p7TN.

PRINCIPAL PREPARATION AND DEVELOPMENT

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A RAND Corporation survey of 156 U.S. school districts looked at their principal pipeline activities in seven areas: leader standards, principal preparation, selective hiring and placement, on-the-job support and evaluation, principal supervision, leader tracking systems, and systems of support. The researchers also looked at how districts compared according to size. Among the key findings of the “Spring 2024 American School District Panel Survey:”

  • Assistant principalship is the main pathway to principalship in large districts (10,000 students or more) and medium districts (3,000 to 9,999 students) but not in small districts (less than 3,000 students).
  • Of the seven areas examined, districts most commonly provided written leader standards for principals and on-the-job supports for novice principals. Leader tracking systems and dedicated support staff were the least common activities.
  • A greater share of large districts than small districts invested in all seven domains of principal pipeline activities.

Read the survey findings at bit.ly/4dPfIHl.

WHY NASSP PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IS WORTH ATTENDING

Sammy Smith. PHOTO COURTESY OF SAMMY SMITH

NASSP’s webinars offer school leaders a great way to stay up to date on the latest education trends. Just ask Sammy Smith. The principal of DeRidder High School in DeRidder, LA, found an NASSP series on AI in education and instruction to be especially timely and informative. “Having these training opportunities in a webinar format easily fits into an administrator’s jam-packed schedule,” he says. “Just as we can’t always leave to attend training off campus, it’s also difficult for us to carve out even an hour of time in a day to take part in a webinar such as this.” Smith adds that he’s excited about the next professional development opportunities that NASSP will provide, and he encourages every high school administrator to take advantage of these webinars. Read more at bit.ly/4f4DRuj.