ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses collaborative discussion about learning outcomes in history/social studies and to identify and research the practices that contribute to student learning. It focuses on how the question posed for surfaces issues and raises questions that should and could lead to generative dialogue about core practice in social studies/history. The national emphasis on core practices—or high-leverage practices—reflects a shift in the field of teacher education from "what teachers know and believe to a greater focus on what teachers do". Core practices are an interesting idea with the potential to transform teacher preparation so long as one attend to the interactional, contextual, and improvisational nature of teaching and do not lose sight of cultural competencies. History/social studies would have to engage in long, difficult, possibly contentious discussions about the goals of the subjects, what student learning outcomes look like, how one measure them in a valid and thoughtful way, and then identify what core practices contributes to student learning.
