Assistant Teaching Professor of Social Studies Education Micha Jeffries Elected to North Carolina Council for the Social Studies (NCCSS) Board of Directors

Micha Jeffries, an assistant teaching professor of social studies education in the NC State College of Education, has been elected to the North Carolina Council for the Social Studies (NCCSS) Board of Directors. 

The NCCSS is designed to provide support to social studies educators throughout the state by enhancing social studies connections, promoting the importance of social studies in the curriculum, ensuring students develop social studies skills from global and local perspectives and speaking on behalf of social studies issues. 

“I am excited to be a part of this group because it brings together higher education faculty and practitioners in K-12 schools. I believe that, when we bring together individuals in both of these communities, it allows us to do the right thing for K-12 students,” Jeffries said. “I’m also hoping the experience will make me a better methods professor because I’ll be working with and learning from professionals who are in schools on a daily basis. We can grow and learn from each other.” 

A former K-12 social studies teacher herself, Jeffries brings to her role on the board an expertise in elementary social studies education.

Social studies, she said, is often marginalized in elementary school classrooms in favor of subjects like math and English language arts. She hopes that through her role on the board she can help social studies “reclaim a place in the curriculum.” 

“I think that I will be able to share best practices based on the latest research in the area of elementary education social studies, advocating for inquiry-based instruction that allows students to contextualize the content that they are studying,” she said.

As part of her role on the NCCSS Board of Directors, Jeffries will also serve on a special subcommittee related to diversity, equity and inclusion in social studies classrooms. 

With a research agenda focused on examining how to effectively prepare teachers for culturally, ethnically and linguistically diverse student populations, and as an instructor in diversity education courses in the College of Education, serving on this subcommittee is a role she believes aligns well with her expertise. 

“I think it’s important that students learn history the way it happened, including all the voices that created history,” she said. “This will include difficult experiences that challenge us as well as experiences that will inspire us. I think part of my role on the board is to advocate for teachers to be able to teach history in a full and truthful manner. “