Research Interests
Walter Parker
I am a professor emeritus of civic education and (by courtesy) political science at the University of Washington, a senior fellow at the Center for Ethics in Education at the University of Wisconsin, a member of the National Academy of Education, and a fellow of the American Educational Research Association. My specializations are social studies curriculum and instruction K-12 and the civic development of youth. My new book is "Education for Liberal Democracy: Using Classroom Discussion to Build Knowledge and Voice" (2023). See my CV for other publications, courses taught, positions held, and memberships.
I continue work on three projects: One aims to restore a robust social studies curriculum to the elementary and middle grades. Without this foundation in the lower grades, middle and high school coursework has too little to build on. A second project examines civic education in the USA and elsewhere. What is the aim of civic education in a liberal democracy (aka constitutional republic)? Who creates its curriculum? What curriculum have they created? A third aims to create a more engaging and more rigorous form of high school coursework--one that doesn't mistake fast-paced instruction for deeper learning. Working closely with classroom teachers, my team developed a project-based approach to the high school AP Government course. Its innovations include cyclical learning of core concepts alongside immersion in political simulations.
Multimedia
See my CV
Books & Monographs
Parker, W. C. (2023). Education for Liberal Democracy: Using Classroom Discussion to Build Knowledge and Voice. New York: Teachers College Press.
Beck, T. A. & Parker, W. C. (2022). Social Studies in Elementary Education (16th ed.). New York: Pearson.
Parker, W. C. (2015). Social Studies Today: Research and Practice (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.
Banks, J. A., Banks, C. A. M., Cortes, C. E., Hahn, C. L., Merryfield, M. M., Moodley, K. A., Murphy-Shigematsu, S., Osler, A., Park, C., and Parker, W. C. (2005). Democracy and Diversity: Principles and Concepts for Educating citizens in a Global Age. Seattle: Center for Multicultural Education, University of Washington.
Parker, W. C. (2003). Teaching Democracy: Unity and Diversity in Public Life. New York: Teachers College Press.
Parker, W. C. (Ed.). (2002). Educationfor Democracy: Contexts, Curricula, Assessments. Greenwich, CT: Information Age.
Parker, W. C. (Ed.). (1996). Educating the Democratic Mind. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Parker, W. C. (1991). Renewing the Social Studies Curriculum. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Parker, W. C. & Jarolimek, J. (1984). Citizenship and the Critical Role of the Social Studies. Boulder, CO: Social Science Education Consortium.
Recent Journal Articles
Parker, W. C. (2025). Towards a shared reality for liberal democracy. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 57(1).
Parker, W. C. (2024). Teaching historical reasoning helps democracy thrive. Phi Delta Kappan, 105(5).*Valencia, S. W., Parker, W. C., & Lo, J. C. (2023). Assessing deeper learning of high-school civics. Journal of Social Science Education. https://doi.org/10.11576/jsse-5918
Parker, W. C. (2023). Windows and mirrors. Social Studies Journal, 43(2), 9-12.
Parker, W. C. (2022). Migration and U. S. citizenship: A curriculum proposal (review of “Civic education in the age of mass migration,” by A. M. Banks. Multicultural Perspectives, 24(4), 241-148.
Parker, W. C. (2018). Human rights education's curriculum problem. Human Rights Education Review, 1(1), 5-24.
Parker, W. C. (2018). Projects as the spine of a course: designs for deeper learning. Social Education, 82(1), 45-48.
Courses developed and taught
EDTEP 584&585: Social Studies in the Secondary School
EDTEP 543: Social Studies in the Elementary School
EDC&I 565&566: Social Studies Seminar—Historical and Contemporary Readings
EDC&I595: Classroom Discourse
EDC&I505a: Contentious Curricula
EDC&I505b: Strategies for Interpreting Qualitative Data (semiotics, ethnomethodology, dramaturgy)
EDC&I 567: Current Issues in Social Studies Education:
- Civic Education in the USA
- Global Education and Pedagogies of Globalization
- Education for Democracy
- Teaching Controversial Issues