Early life and education
Born inCareer
Gagnon served as the founding Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Massachusetts at Boston from the years 1965 to 1970. After retiring from the University of Massachusetts, Gagnon began a second phase of his career focused on education and curriculum reform. He worked closely with the American Federation of Teachers, with whom he published ''Education for Democracy: A Statement for Principles'', which was signed by over 100 other educators and historians. He was the principal investigator with the Bradley Commission on History in Schools, which was formed by a group of prominent historians, including Diane Ravitch. Funded by the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Bradley Commission released a pamphlet in 1988, "Building a History Curriculum", which proposed a series of resolutions and a program for the study of history in K-12 American schools, and a book, ''Historical Literacy'', published in 1989 and edited by Gagnon. Gagnon was the first executive director of the National Council for History Education. He served in the Department of Education from 1991 to 1994 as Director of the Fund for the Improvement and Reform of Schools and Teaching (FIRST).Writings and statements on history education
* ''Education for Democracy: A Statement of Principles'' (Education for Democracy Project, American Federation of Teachers, 1987) * ''Democracy's Un-Told Story: What World History Textbooks Neglect'' (Education for Democracy Project, American Federation of Teachers, 1987) * ''Democracy's Half-Told Story: What American Textbooks Should Add'' (Education for Democracy Project, American Federation of Teachers, 1989) * ''Historical Literacy: The Case for History in American Education'' (1989) * "Why Study History," ''Atlantic'' (Nov. 1989) * "What Should Children Learn?" (December 1995) * "Educating Democracy: Are We Up To It?" Occasional Paper for ''National Council for History Education'' (2005)References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gagnon, Paul A. 1925 births 2005 deaths University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty People from Springfield, Massachusetts University of Massachusetts Boston faculty Historians from Massachusetts University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni United States Navy personnel of World War II 20th-century American historians