skip to main content

Advocacy Toolkit for the National Standards for High School Psychology Curricula

For Teachers and Advocates
High school classroom

This toolkit is designed to support high-quality teaching of high school psychology in all 50 states and in Washington, DC, by promoting the broad dissemination and implementation of APA’s National Standards for High School Psychology Curricula. APA and the APA Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (TOPSS) encourage all psychology teachers, school districts, state boards of education, and other stakeholders to use, adopt, or adapt these curriculum standards in order to ensure that psychology is being taught with the same rigor expected of other sciences at the secondary school level.

National Standards for High School Psychology Curricula: Best Practices in Advocacy

This October 2022 webinar provided high school psychology teachers and their allies with best practices in advocating for APA’s revised National Standards to state boards of education. Listen to opening remarks on the standards (2:58), best practices in using story-telling, written communication, and in-person contact to advocate for change (11:37), and a success story of advocating for the standards with a state board of education (35:05).

Resources for outreach to other psychology teachers

One of the most powerful ways teachers can help to disseminate the standards is to reach out to their colleagues and friends. To support you with this outreach, we’ve compiled some messaging points (PDF, 80KB)opens in new window that highlight the importance of teaching a high-quality psychology course. Feel free to include these points in your outreach, along with any additional resources you think might be informative. Some links to consider sharing include:

Dissemination to school districts

Another way you can help support the dissemination of the standards is to reach out to school or district administrators, such as superintendents, curriculum chairs, or principals. Some states may leave curriculum decisions up to individual school districts.

Dissemination to state boards of education

Despite the fact that the National Standards were first published in 1999, as of fall 2022, only 15 states* have psychology standards. Teachers reaching out directly to their state boards of education can be an incredibly impactful way to encourage standards adoption. Teachers and their allies are encouraged to use the following materials: 

  • This draft letter (DOC, 32KB)opens in new window may be useful in outreach to state boards of education. Teachers are encouraged to use and/or modify this letter in their outreach efforts. Personalizing this letter to highlight state-specific information can be powerful. APA has started developing state fact sheets that summarize whether each state does or does not have psychology standards, which curriculum standards various states have, and relevant contacts. Teachers can contact TOPSS to request a fact sheet. Teachers and allies are encouraged to ask for follow up in-person meetings or meetings over the phone to discuss these issues face-to-face with state-level contacts. This draft letter can be used as an initial point of contact.

Each state approaches curriculum standards in a unique way, and outreach to state boards of education must be targeted to refer to where each state is in terms of current standards status, and what process each state follows in considering curriculum standards.

Please contact TOPSS if you’d like assistance in determining who to contact in your state, or for other supporting materials for effective advocacy efforts.

* Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin currently have psychology curriculum standards.

Social media

Teachers are encouraged to use these social media graphics alongside any outreach efforts on the National Standards.

High school classroom

Download full-sized version of the imageopens in new window

High school classroom

Download full-sized version of the imageopens in new window

Contact

We hope advocates will keep APA informed on any efforts to disseminate the National Standards. If you make progress with contacts to your school district or your state department of education, we would like to hear from you. Please contact the APA Office on Precollege and Undergraduate Education with any updates or questions.

Thank you for joining APA in advocating for these important curriculum standards. We greatly appreciate your time and work.

Last updated: December 2022Date created: November 2022