Conclusions and Recommendations

At first, the course emphasized philosophy and adjustment. This was an accurate reflection of psychology at the time. The scientific nature of psychology became dominant in the second half of the 19th century; however, the high school course often remained focused on personal adjustment. APA, TOPSS, the College Board’s Advanced Placement Psychology examination, the National Standards for High School Psychology Curricula, and other factors have helped move the high school course toward a more scientific foundation. However, the psychology course’s traditional placement in social studies departments, public misunderstanding of the nature of psychological science, school tradition, the complexity of improving teacher preparation and certification, and the lack of availability of science graduation credit on a state-by-state basis have hindered psychology being taught as a science course in schools across the country.

We believe the case for recognizing psychology as a science is sound and critically important. The major science institutions in the United States recognize the role that psychology plays in the scientific realm. For example, the National Science Foundation, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science all have sections devoted to behavioral science. Further, the Association of American Medical Colleges has revised the MCAT so that a quarter of its content involves behavioral and social science.

The primary responsibility for publicizing this case and developing an agenda for making necessary changes in high school psychology courses rests with TOPSS and the APA’s Education and Science Directorates. This agenda must include a continued emphasis on assisting educators in developing courses that teach the science of psychology.

As such, we call for the active support of all those in APA to advance the declarations and recommendations made in this document. We also invite all psychologists and psychology educators at all levels to personally advocate for recognition of psychology as science within their communities.

APA and TOPSS must also advocate among other national science and science education organizations and should solicit the assistance of these organizations in the effort to increase emphasis on the scientific nature of all high school psychology courses.

We also urge all of those interested in promoting scientific literacy to assist us in moving this cause forward, including our colleagues at national, state, and local science and science education organizations, state and local governments, state boards of education, state offices of education, curriculum directors, administrators and science educators at all levels. A scientifically literate citizenship is a shared and reachable goal, but we must unite to further our common interests.

• The authors propose that APA and TOPSS recommend that schools incorporate the term “psychological science” as their departmental designation for psychology.
• The authors urge TOPSS to work in partnership with the APA Committee on Associate and Baccalaureate Education’s (CABE) Introductory Psychology Initiative in establishing the curricular connections between high school and college-level introductory psychology courses.
• High school teachers must be adequately trained to teach the science of psychology. Most teachers are traditionally trained in social studies. Teacher certification is a complex issue as each state/district has differing requirements (see Weaver et al, 2018, for advocacy recommendations for supporting a psychology teaching credential in all 50 states). The authors suggest that if a teacher is deemed qualified to teach psychology, their department is not the key issue, but strongly recommend that appropriate professional development be made available to all psychology teachers. The authors believe that APA, with recent advances in online education and training, is in a strong position to offer such vital training to teachers.