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History of the American
Association for
Teaching & CurriculumIn the United States, most areas of scholarly investigation emerged as
recognized fields of study about a hundred years ago. One of the events that
made this possible was the founding of national learned societies devoted to the
advancement of scholarship in their respective fields. Examples of the newly
formed learned societies are the American Historical Association (1884), the
American Economic Association (1885), the American Philosophical Association
(1901) , the American Political Science Association (1903), and the American
Academy of Religion (1909).
The scholarly field of teaching and curriculum, however, was not represented in
the formation of the early American scholarly organizations, even though
university departments that encompassed both the scholarly and the professional
study of teaching and curriculum had been established prior to the end of the
nineteenth century. Several types of groups were formed eventually, those
concerned primarily with the rights and responsibility of teachers (unions),
ones recognizing honor performance (e.g., Kappa Delta Pi) and organizations
whose members interests are primarily K-12 content and methods (e.g., ASCD, IRA)
or had a narrow focus in one field of education, such as philosophy or
educational policy.
An important historical event in the development of organizations dealing with
the scholarly field of teaching and curriculum was the founding of the American
Association for Teaching and Curriculum (AATC) on October 1, 1993. The members
of the AATC believed that the time was long overdue to recognize teaching and
curriculum as a basic field of scholarly study, to constitute a national learned
society for the scholarly field of teaching and curriculum (teaching is the more
inclusive concept; curriculum is an integral part of teaching--the “what to
teach” aspect). In the larger universities, faculty members identified with this
field of scholarly study typically affiliated with departments of curriculum and
instruction, teacher education, and elementary and secondary education. Jack
Laska, became the first secretary-treasurer of AATC.
The purpose of the organization as originally defined in Article 1, Section 2 of
the AATC Constitution:
To promote the scholarly study of teaching and curriculum, all analytical and
interpretive approaches that are appropriate for the scholarly study of teaching
and curriculum shall be encouraged.
AATC is dedicated to advancing the concepts of the organization and its
purpose. Original History by Nannette McLain, 2001
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