I am working on a doctoral dissertation in which I am comparing certain aspects of history education in China, Germany and the United States. I'd like to get my hands on the history textbooks an average American high school student might come across during his or her high school studies. I have some questions:
I’m under the impression that history education at high school level is incorporated under the umbrella term “social science” . Am I correct to assume that this does not mean, however, that all subjects under this umbrella (sociology, political science, history etc.) are not taught simultaneously in the same course and during the same classes, but rather so that there are still “history” courses for example?
At what administrative level are the targets and plans of history education formulated; nationwide, states individually or at county level for example?
Where can I acquire teaching plans and curricula as well as information about the contents, aims and targets of individual courses?
How many history courses are there and is there variation between states/counties/schools?
Which of these course are mandatory, which ones are optional and is there variation between states/counties/schools?
Where do the textbooks used in history classes originate from and is there variation between states/counties/schools?
Are the textbooks publicly available and is there variation between states/counties/schools? Do teachers have their own separate books which include pedagogical advice, additional information etc? If so, are they also publicly available?
Would the best option atm be to contact schools in (a) certain area(s) and ask the teachers in schools in that area which books they are using and then get my hands on those?
Thanks for the answers already in advance.
Whoa there buddy, this is going to be more complicated than you're probably expecting. I'll give you answers as best I can.
Yes, history is generally grouped with "social studies" or "social sciences", and yes, that's a blanket term. Most students still have history courses labeled as such. When I was in high school ages ago, I took Econ and Government in 9th grade, World History in 10th grade, the second half of US history in 11th grade (first half, up to 1850, was 8th grade), and European history in 12th grade (as an elective, others took other classes). I should also note that beyond Govt. and Econ, there were no other non-history "social studies" classes that I can recall. Now when I was younger, in middle school and elementary school, we had "social studies" that included everything from basic geography to history to government. But it was all really basic stuff to introduce students who had never encountered it before.
School boards are responsible for curriculum content. It depends on the state how that's organized. Famously, the entire state of Texas has a single school board that determines curriculum for the entire state. I grew up in a town where the school board was a city-level institution (elected, of course), but there are also many a city that has several school districts, meaning several independent school boards all within a single city (not necessarily even a large city). Generally speaking, local school boards are more common than state-level boards.
You can probably get suggested material directly from the publishers - they're out to make money and would likely sell you whatever you want. They might even be willing to give you review copies. As regards getting individual teaching plans, that's likely going to vary teacher to teacher, and certainly from school district to school district. Texas, because of the size of the market and because its a single board choosing for the entire state, has an oversize influence on text books throughout the country (publishers only publish so many varieties, after all, so they want as many of their books to conform to Texas's standard as possible), so that might be a good place to start, but you'll have to keep in mind that there are almost limitless possibilities, given the number of school boards in the entire country. You might also look into scholars who have published academically on this topic - there might be compendium resources or databases that I'm not familiar with, and those folks would know of their existence.
The variations are practically limitless. There are certain national standards, like Common Core, but they are not evenly adopted and are actively opposed in some places. The rule in your research will probably end up being that "there are more exceptions to the rule than cases that follow it".
This depends entirely on the local school board. It varies from locale to locale, both what classes are offered, at what level they are offered, and what's mandatory and what's not. For example, in my 12th grade year, I chose to take European history. If I had not chosen that, I would have had to take something else (can't recall my choices). In another school, those choice would have been different, let alone in another school district.
Variation in text books is pretty wide. School boards choose which text books to use in their classrooms. There is a large text book publishing industry that caters to school boards. As I mentioned before, check out the works chosen by the Texas school board, since it has an out-sized influence on the whole. But not all districts use the same books, so that's only a starting point. Teachers' editions are quite common.
Textbooks are often publicly available at libraries, if you're willing to look for them. If you know what you're looking for, you can also buy them online at sites like Amazon. But which books are used varies by school district, so there could be dozens of examples, all of which get use in this or that school district. Age comes into play here as well. Obviously not all school districts can replace all text books every year, so some districts will have newer books than others. Variation is nearly limitless, given the number of school districts.
I would actually go directly to the school boards themselves - ask them if they have a list of acceptable text books for their district. I would then contact the publishers and explain your doing research and emphasize that you're going to be using their books in an educational setting, etc. and you might get lucky and they'll send you a free "review" copy. I've gotten a few textbooks that way. Alternatively, if you have research funding you can use, you can just buy them. But that will get expensive very quickly. Failing that, you can try inter-library loan if you're connected to a library that offers that service.
Good luck. You have an absolutely gargantuan task in front of you. Hope I could offer some help.