Fred M. Newmann, 86, Emeritus Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, passed away in hospice care on February 10, 2023, surrounded by family. For the many who knew him, worked with him, learned from him, and followed his trail, his death marks an irreplaceable loss. But he leaves behind a trove of inspiration, theory, empirical research, and practical resources for educators today.

Fred was one of the masterminds of the New Social Studies movement, and through his unique approach and several subsequent projects, he continued to set the high–quality standard for much of contemporary social studies education.

In the 1960s, with Harvard colleagues Donald Oliver and James Shaver, Fred created the storied Public Issues Series. These were case studies in U.S. history that taught students to develop evidence-based arguments on public controversies. Ethical reasoning was joined with historical reasoning, value conflicts with inquiry. The Series’ offspring are used in classrooms to this day and to great acclaim. 

Later came seminal research on school restructuring, classroom thoughtfulness, and Authentic Intellectual Work (AIW). He directed the National Center on Effective Secondary Schools and the Center on Organization and Restructuring of Schools.

Former student David Harris recalls the day in 1968 when Fred, just recently hired at UW–Madison, walked into his social studies methods class and conducted a discussion from one of the cases in the Series. “I was transformed,” Harris said. “All I had known about social studies education until then was telling students about the past and having them repeat it to me, with a small dose of historical inquiry inserted on occasion. Fred’s demonstration lesson that day inspired in me a new vista for social studies as civic education.”

Bruce King, Fred’s colleague for over twenty-five years, notes that the AIW framework has been an extraordinary game-changer for many schools and districts. “Fred’s research and professional development efforts energized teachers’ collaborative work, while influencing instruction and assessment, across the country and internationally.”

Diana Hess, who took Fred’s position at Wisconsin when he retired, calls him the field’s “north star.” With so many others, I agree. I celebrate Fred’s brilliance, generosity, humility, and field-advancing devotion to tying, always carefully and thoughtfully, social studies education to education for democracy. 

—Walter Parker, University of Washington–Seattle