Sam Wineburg elected to the National Academy of Education for scholarship in history education

Sam Wineburg, a leading scholar in the teaching and learning of history, was elected earlier this month to membership in the National Academy of Education.

Founded in 1965, the NAEd advances high quality education research and its use in policy formation and practice. Members serve on panels that address pressing issues in education, and are engaged in the academy’s professional development programs that focus on preparing the next generation of scholars.

Wineburg is one of 16 exceptional scholars welcomed into the academy this year. He joins more than 20 of his Stanford colleagues — the most of any university.

"These individuals represent the rich diversity of fields that study education," said Michael Feuer, president of NAEd. "We are honored to welcome them."

Wineburg is the Margaret Jacks Professor of Education at Stanford and founder of the Stanford History Education Group, which aims to improve history instruction in the U.S. and abroad.

His scholarship engages questions of identity and history, and his interests have spanned from how primary sources are used and interpreted by teachers and learners to issues of teacher assessment.

Wineburg's research led to the development of a free online history curriculum called Reading Like a Historian that has been downloaded more than 1.7 million times and adopted in school districts nationwide, including Los Angeles Unified.

Wineburg’s book, Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts, won the 2002 Frederic W. Ness Award from the Association of American Colleges and Universities. Wineburg received his PhD from Stanford after studying at Brown University and University of California, Berkeley.

The NAEd consists of 192 U.S. members and 11 foreign associates who are elected on the basis of outstanding scholarship related to education. Individual academy members submit nominations once a year for review and election by the organization’s membership.