Date: December 15, 1999
Contact: Public Affairs Office
(202) 336-5700

APA CREATES NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR THE TEACHING OF HIGH SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY

Washington, DC - More than 800,000 high school students enroll in psychology courses every year. This month, the American Psychological Association (APA) will release National Standards for the Teaching of High School Psychology, a document created for policy makers, educational administrators and teachers which outlines what high school psychology students should be taught.

The standards, created by an APA task force of psychologists and psychology educators, are designed to guide curriculum development by providing content outlines, performance standards, and performance indicators.

The standards furthermore set-out five major goals for high school psychology curricula. They are:

• Emphasizing the importance of the scientific foundations and applications of psychology;
• Demonstrating the breadth of the field of psychology in high school course of study;
• Integrating diversity issues into the curriculum;
• Promoting action learning and critical thinking strategies; and,
• Making effective use of technology in the psychology classroom.

The APA Task Force believes that the distribution of the standards will have a positive effect on the teaching of high school psychology nationwide. "With this document," states Task Force Chairperson Laura Maitland of Mepham High School in Bellmore, NY, "teachers are now provided with the information they need to create balanced lesson plans that represent all the domains of psychology. Whether a teacher is certified in Social Studies, Science, English, Mathematics, or Health Education, that teacher will now know what an appropriate introduction psychology course should include."

In it's final report, the Task Force recommended the following teaching/learning techniques: active and collaborative learning, research projects, community service, and activities that heighten understanding of diversity in behavior.

"As our society's population changes, the population of some communities may not change. For many students, their high school population is not representative of the overall national population. Their experience may not expose them to the diversity in our country. The psychology course is an excellent way to expose them to this diversity," the task force concludes.

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Copies of the full task force report and the Standards document are available from the APA Education Directorate at (202) 336-6076 or on the web at http://www.apa.org/ed/natlstandards.html