This examination of the condition of history instruction in the public schools offers chapters on four major areas of concern to educators: (1) the status of history in the schools; (2) problem areas in the history curriculum; (3) students, methods, and instructional materials; and (4) preparation and certification of history teachers. In the first chapter, Matthew T. Downey reviews the status of history in the curriculum as it has evolved over the years and concludes that although history remains a dominant subject in the social studies curriculum, patterns of enrollment and course offerings change from time to time. In Chapter 2, Douglas D. Alder and Matthew T. Downey discuss major challenges facing those concerned with history in the schools, especially the importance of restoring world history to its former place in the high school curriculum and U.S. history to the junior high curriculum. In chapter 3, Hazel W. Hertzberg recommends that future improvement in the teaching of history will be based on strengthening the link between purpose, content, method, and materials of instruction with each other and with the developmental needs and capacities of students. The chapter then discusses aspects of examining change through time, characteristics of historical inquiry, research on adolescent conceptualization of historical time, the value of active participatory learning, and the need for better materials. In the final chapter, Clair W. Keller presents recommendations for teacher preparation, certification, inservice education, and master's degree requirements. (LH)