NCSS announces the publication of the revised national curriculum standards for social studies: National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies: A Framework for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment

Click here for the NCSS press release announcing the publication of the standards on Constitution Day (September 17, 2010).

The revised standards, like the earlier social studies standards published in 1994, continue to be stuctured around the ten themes of social studies. However, the revised standards offer a sharper focus on:

• Purposes
• Questions for Exploration
• Knowledge: what learners need to understand
• Processes: what learners will be capable of doing
• Products: how learners demonstrate understanding

The revised standards also include:

• Enhancements in the descriptions of the ten themes and the associated learning expectations
• The addition of new descriptions of standards-based class practices to time-tested descriptions that were included in the original edition of the standards
• A stronger focus on student products and their assessment
• An updated list of essential social studies skills and strategies, including literacy strategies

The Revised National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies

The revised standards, National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies: A Framework for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment, were developed by a Task Force of the National Council for the Social Studies, and approved by the NCSS Board of Directors in March 2010.

Task Force:

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

Preface: Steven A. Goldberg

1. Introduction

2. The Ten Themes of Social Studies

The remainder of this publication is not available online. See the sidebar at the right of this page for information on how to order the standards.

3. Purposes, Questions for Exploration, Knowledge, Process, and Products.
4. Learning Expectations: Early Grades
5. Learning Expectations: Middle Grades
6. Learning Expectations: High School

Appendix 1: Essential Social Studies Skills and Strategies
Appendix 2: Democratic Beliefs and Values

ISBN 978-0-87986-105-6
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2010934360
Copyright © 2010 National Council for the Social Studies
8555 Sixteenth Street
Silver Spring, Maryland 20910
All rights reserved.