Frequently Asked Questions

What is Facing History and Ourselves?
What is Facing History's philosophy?
What is Facing History's classroom model?
How does Facing History incorporate research and scholarship?
What are Facing History's resources?
What does Facing History provide educators?
How does Facing History evaluate its programs?
How does Facing History affect students?
How does Facing History connect the community and the classroom?
Who does Facing History reach?

What Is Facing History and Ourselves?
Facing History and Ourselves is an international educational non-profit organization that engages middle and high school teachers and their students in an examination of racism, prejudice, and antisemitism by relating the past to the world today.

Facing History believes that the study of history is a moral enterprise. By studying the historical development of the Holocaust and other examples of genocide or collective violence, students learn the essential connection between history and the moral choices they face in their own lives.

What Is Facing History's Philosophy?
Facing History and Ourselves helps students find meaning in the past and recognize the need for participation and responsible decision-making.

Students must know not only the triumphs of history, but also the failures, the tragedies and the humiliations. Facing History believes that students must be trusted to examine history in all of its complexities, including its legacies of prejudice and discrimination, resilience and courage. This trust encourages young people to develop a voice in the conversations of their peer culture, as well as in the critical discussions and debates of their community and nation.

Facing History's philosophy is shaped by cognitive and moral development theory, which promotes an understanding of different perspectives, competing truths, and the need to comprehend one's own motives and those of others. Facing History fosters cognitive growth and historical understanding through content that continually complicates students' thinking. Adolescence is a time when young people are developing abstract reasoning and beginning to make independent moral judgements. Students need to reflect on their thinking in order to become aware of their own development.

Facing History and Ourselves is devoted to teaching about the dangers of indifference and the value of civility. Our programs and resources help educators confront the complexities of history in ways that promote critical and creative thinking about the challenges we face and the opportunities we have for positive change.

What Is Facing History's Classroom Model?
Facing History and Ourselves provides a educational framework- called the "scope and sequence"- that links history and ethics. Our programs and materials explore universal themes in a particular history using an interdisciplinary approach to citizenship education.

The Facing History model engages students in an exploration of individual and group identity and their impact on membership in a society, looking at critical periods in history. Facing History's fundamental case study examines the failure of democracy in Germany, the rise of domination of Nazism, and the Holocaust. Students explore the choices people made as individuals, members of groups, and citizens of nations, including a consideration of the role of perpetrators and victims, as well as of bystanders and rescuers.

Using the core case study, students gain insights into the fragility of democracy, and the importance of prevention. As they learn about the humiliation and murder of millions, students come to realize that the Holocaust was not inevitable.

After examining issues of memory and judgment, students explore ways the past influences the present and shapes the future. Connections are made between history and the moral choices individuals confront in their own lives as democratic participants in an increasingly global society. Learn more about our scope and sequence

How Does Facing History Incorporate Research and Scholarship?
Facing History and Ourselves engages in a range of research and development to deepen our understanding of history to keep our program timely and relevant. A National Board of Scholars help enrich our thinking on past and current events, and guide the development of Facing History's curricular materials. Scholars also share their insights and research first-hand with educators at various workshops and seminars. Learn more about the role of research and development

What Are Facing History's Resources?
Facing History regularly produces classroom resources to deepen conversations around themes central to the Facing History program. Learn more about our unique resources

Educators who have attended Facing History and Ourselves' professional development have access to a lending library of videos, books, and other materials that are circulated nationally. In addition, they have access to all of Facing History's online resources. The website provides an opportunity for educators to engage with their peers and Facing History staff in a series of deepening collaborations around content, methodology and community-building. Learn how to join the Facing History educator network.

What Does Facing History Provide Educators?
Facing History and Ourselves' professional development focuses on the teacher as a key agent for educational change. It provides educators with tools for analyzing history and ethics, and responding to issues of racism, prejudice and antisemitism. Facing History offers:

• Workshops, seminars, and conferences that introduce Facing History's classroom model and content, and offer unique opportunities to interact with scholars and explore innovative teaching practices.
• Materials that can be adapted to students in history, language arts, science, and art classes.
• Continued support-including individual consultations with Facing History staff, access to speakers, and use of the Facing History Resource Center.
• Interdisciplinary models for linking the classroom to the community.

How Does Facing History Evaluate Its Programs?
Facing History continually conducts evaluations to ensure that those who participate in professional development and follow-up activities are able to utilize the methodologies and resources offered to address issues of social responsibility with adolescents. The overall goal is to make sure that the program is implemented in a way that realizes the essential elements, while allowing individual sites to craft a program that reflects unique needs.

Participating teachers complete surveys and provide feedback that is used to monitor the effectiveness of training activities. Participants in Facing History activities also keep journals that record their responses to sessions. These journals also serve as evaluation tools for reviewing program quality. Site visits, classroom observations, telephone interviews, reviews of lesson plans, and other examples of participants' written work are all forms of data used to measure actual implementation of Facing History concepts in the classroom. Learn more about evaluation

How Does Facing History Affect Students?
A number of external evaluations demonstrated increased knowledge of historical content, greater capacity for moral reasoning, empathy, and social interest, and improved self-perception. (Brabeck 1994, Presseisen 1995, Glynn 1982, Bardige 1983). In 1996, Facing History conducted a study, funded by the Carnegie Corporation, to evaluate the impact of the program and to study whether Facing History does promote the creation of a more informed and humane citizenry.

The study showed, among students:

• Increased relationship maturity
• Increased student engagement
• Decreased fighting behavior
• Promotion of resiliency and prevention of anti-social behavior
• Decreased racist attitudes
• Increased student interest in other ethnic groups
• Improved attitudes and behavior

Learn more about evaluation

How Does Facing History Connect the Community and the Classroom?
Because no child or classroom exists in isolation, many of Facing History and Ourselves' initiatives involve the entire community: parents, law enforcement officials, business and community leaders, and other citizens.

Facing History provides the larger community with opportunities for learning about history, ethics, adolescent development, and other topics related to Facing History's mission through adult education programs, community events, publications, the Facing History website, participation in its boards and committees, exhibitions and other volunteer efforts, as well as the national speakers bureau.

Who Does Facing History Reach?
Founded in 1976 in Massachusetts by two middle school teachers - one of whom is our executive director, Margot Stern Strom - Facing History has grown from an innovative social studies course taught in a single school district into an organization with nince offices throughout the U.S. and Europe; international partners in South Africa, Rwanda, Colombia, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Bosnia, Israel, Canada and Northern Ireland; and a comprehensive website for teachers - all of which support an active network of 25,000 educators and a growing world-wide community. Through these educators, Facing History reaches an estimated 1.8 million students annually with important lessons of genocide, mass violence, and civic responsibility.