Analyzing Social Issues Related to Teaching about the Federal Budget, Federal Debt, and Budget Deficit in Fifty State High School Social Studies Standards

Abstract

This study of all fifty state, high school social studies curriculum standards found a lack of attention in the vast majority of state standards to the federal budget, federal debt, and budget deficit, topics of significant concern. These concepts are important to teaching about economics in the United States since they lie at the center of contemporary debates about the health of the nation's economy and its long-term viability. Our research discovered broad variation among states in the degree of specificity about teaching these economic concepts. We discuss specific ways in which some of the economic concepts found in state social studies standards might be used to infuse content about federal budget, federal debt, and budget deficit into high school social studies courses, critical topics in light of contemporary debates about the future of American entitlement programs and the federal government.

The Role of Language and Literacy in K-5 Science and Social Studies Standards

“…For example, Troia and Olinghouse (2013) analyzed the extent to which the CCSS ELA standards addressed 36 evidence-based practices of writing assessment and instruction. Marri, Crocco, Shuttleworth, Gaudelli, and Grolnick (2012) analyzed state social studies standards to determine the amount and types of attention devoted to economics education. Across these examples, researchers argue for a focus on the content of standards documents because expectations for student learning likely influence the instruction students receive.…”

Economics and the civic mission of social studies education: Two critiques of neoclassicism

“…One study examined state standards, one study critiqued neoclassical curricula but was written before the publication of the 1997 version of the Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics ( Voluntary Standards hereafter), while the other studies address the 2010 Voluntary Standards directly. Marri et al (2012a) analyzed economics standards for all 50 states for mention of the federal debt or deficit. They found that “our review yields one major conclusion: almost universally, state standards pay little or no attention to the federal budget, the budget deficit, or the federal debt” (p. 135).…”

“…Social studies, a field that embraces and encourages the discussion of controversial issues, should be concerned about a curriculum that is admittedly free of “frictions” and “unresolvable conflict” which includes race, class, and gender (Weintraub, 2002) and that withholds the vital information people need in order to vote, make decisions, and engage in civil dialogue. Moreover, Marri and collaborators (Gans, 2015; Marri et.al., 2012a, 2012b) stressed the importance of students learning about the national debt and deficit because of the affect it has on their lives and wallets, and, yet, the sense-making tools students have at their disposal, neoclassic economic theory, could be insufficient to students’ abilities to fully understand the affective, political and social consequences of the national debt and deficit and its discursive deployment by politicians. In other words, in neoclassicism, humans have a very small, very specific, role to play (that of rational actor) with little room to imagine other possible subject positions and solutions to social problems.…”

Self-Efficacy of US High School Teachers Teaching the Federal Budget, National Debt and Budget Deficit: A Mixed-Methods Case Study

“…However, most youth in the USA do not have an adequate awareness of the concepts of the federal budget, national debt and budget deficit (Marri et al, 2012). Biennial findings of the Council for Economic Education on the state of economics education in the USA similarly agree that federal budget, national debt and budget deficit topics are not adequately treated at the secondary level (Marri et al, 2011).…”