The History School Story
In 2021, some politicians and communities started using critical race theory as an excuse to prevent teaching the history of racism in the United States. Many schools began pulling important historical events and perspectives from their classrooms.
This left families on their own to teach their children real history.
With 25+ years of experience designing children’s history lessons, Elise Fillpot was prepared to help families confidently meet this challenge.
Using her acclaimed Bringing History Home (BHH) curriculum as a starting point,
she created 6 foundational history courses for asynchronous online learning.
Designed to give children the historical context and thinking skills to understand
today’s social justice issues, The History School launched in 2023.
EVIDENCE-BASED / RESEARCH-PROVEN
The History School is based on the Bringing History Home (BHH) curriculum.
The University of Iowa’s formal evaluation of BHH is one of the largest
and most rigorous multi-year studies of K-5 history learning in the world.
The evaluation found student learning in BHH classrooms to be highly significant and impactful.
Those qualities now define The History School learning experience.
Through years of intensive research in BHH, Elise found that children want to, and can, learn in-depth histories.
At the University of Iowa, she was a College of Education Visiting Scholar for twelve years, and a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of History for three years. At Western Governors University, she led the Elementary Education Social Studies faculty team for seven years.
Elise received her B.A. in History from the University of Illinois at Champaign, her M.A. in History from Texas Tech, and her Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from the University of Iowa.
Now, through The History School, her life’s work can impact any child anywhere.
