By way of background, our Social Science department is in the process of re-evaluating its entire course catalog; the whole scope and sequence of courses is on the table. Our most senior teacher has been at the school for 35 years and doesn’t remember a similar conversation during his tenure.

155 alumni from the past six years were surveyed in regards to their Social Science education while in high school. In response to the question “How well did the Social Science courses prepare you for college level social science courses? How could they better meet your needs as a college student?” some notable student responses include:

• “Essay writing and critical analysis skills”
• "I was well prepared  – maybe a bit more writing for social sciences, though”
• “More longer papers, at least 5 plus”
• “Could have better introduced me to college-level research, though”
• “I would maybe place a larger emphasis on creating and writing academic research papers, as that was an area of deficiency for me as I have gone through college.”
• “I would have loved to learn how to do research better at SI and how to write better research papers/analyze sources.”
• “One thing I could have benefitted more from would be learning how to analyze and read a research article.”

In a survey of college professors, with 16 respondents, across social science departments, the following are relevant responses to the question “If you were able to design a high school curriculum, what would be your priorities?”:

• “More focus on researching, the ability to synthesize disparate pieces of information, and the ability to form reasonable but unpopular opinions based on that research.”
• “I would require students to write papers that require both a rhetorical style of argument (start with a hypothesis and a position, then find specific examples to support this position in the paper) AS WELL AS a true social scientific approach (ask a question without leaning towards a specific position, develop a hypothesis, systematically gather and analyze the data, present results and discussion). Most of the time, I get students who have only been trained in the rhetorical way of writing a paper.”
• “I would prioritize critical thinking and analytical skills within different sub-fields in Social Science and the Humanities. Get students familiar with different research methodologies and different writing styles in social science and the humanities. Get them to understand that what constitutes evidence and the way you articulate a cohesive well-argued paper or research project differs across fields within the social science and the humanities.”

As a follow-up to the surveys sent across the country, we also did interviews. When asked about reading and writing, a full-time assistant professor of Economics at the University of San Francisco told me:

They need to be able to read and understand text on the level of The Economist or Scientific American. I need to be able to hand them two long-form articles, let them read them, and they need to be able to tell me what was similar and different.

In regards to citations, I don’t care about formats, whether Chicago, MLA or APA. I do care – deeply – about plagiarism. As such, teaching citation or attribution, is critically important. I expect them to know why it’s important, and *generally* how to do it — I’ll give them my own specifics though. They just need to be on-board with actually doing it. All the time.

We have students do Advanced Placement-style free-response questions for each unit, but based on the findings above the Psychology program is interested in developing a college-level research and writing assignment.