Oklahoma was one of only 16 states nationwide to receive a passing grade in history instruction standards as part of a national report the Thomas B. Fordham Institute released today.
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About two-thirds of states received a D or F on the report, while Oklahoma earned a B - or 129 out of a possible 170 points. Only eight states - California, Massachusetts, Virginia, Indiana, Georgia, New York, Minnesota and South Carolina - earned an A.
According to the group's Web site, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute is a nonprofit organization that believes "all children deserve a high quality K-12 education at the school of their choice.
Historian Walter Russell Mead, who also is the Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, conducted the study based on published state standards. He also took into account Advanced Placement and SAT II tests, sometimes called SAT subject tests.
Knowledge of world history is key to giving students a coherent understanding of world issues and the foundation for smart future foreign policy decisions, Mead said.
Oklahoma has been a standards-based state since the 1990s, so the results weren't too surprising, said state schools Superintendent Sandy Garrett.
But she thinks the state can do better.
"We've reviewed, revised, hopefully made more clear and succinct, and teachers around the state have had a big influence on how those (standards) are shaped, she said.
Oklahoma history standards are part of the Priority Academic Student Skills for social studies.
Mead said social studies is more broad and less memorable for students than world history, because it focuses on abstract concepts rather than specific people or events. For example, students would have a harder time understanding the conflict between farmers and nomads in the ancient Middle East, Mead said.
"But if you say, after the nomads sacked the city, they built a pyramid 60 feet tall with the skulls of their victims,' you've seen something that kids are likely to remember and be curious about and want to know more about, he said.
Mead proposed changing the balance in history education to reduce Eurocentrism and the piecemeal approach in which students often are taught about countries and cultures.
The report included suggestions for improvement, such as greater focus on world history before sixth grade and better coverage of post-World War II and other modern events.
"This is a changing situation and we need to update constantly, so we will be doing that, Garrett said. "I'd like to see us focus on the A.
