Welcome back to school! National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) kept its “virtual classroom” open all summer, and I am delighted to report that hundreds of members and new friends in our social studies community shared in our summer institute and webinar programs. Now we turn our attention to the fall (can you believe it?!) and a few key programs that will form the core of our professional learning this season.

First, if you have followed the development this year of the new Educating for American Democracy (EAD) Roadmap, you have learned a bit about its guiding questions, seven themes, and design challenges for civics and history education. NCSS served on the Steering Committee for the project, and several NCSS members had key roles along with hundreds of educators and scholars in writing and reviewing the overall project. The EAD Roadmap has already received strong attention and interest by many states, districts, and education organizations. NCSS introduced the EAD Roadmap in a special April 2021 member town hall and panel discussion. (Members can view the recording anytime on our website.) This fall, NCSS is pleased to host a special one-day EAD Teaching Institute on Saturday, September 18, 2021, specifically designed for K-12 teachers to help you prepare for the EAD Roadmap’s instructional shifts in your social studies classroom. The EAD Roadmap is aligned to the C3 Framework, and many states and districts are already planning how to incorporate it into their standards and curriculum guidance, so the timing is perfect to bring the EAD Roadmap to your classroom. Best of all, through the generous funding from the EAD project, this program is free for all NCSS members.

And of course, the big news you’ve been waiting for: 101st Annual Conference updates! Registration is open and I encourage you to share our registration link with your network to spread the word. 

Our Annual Conference is once again more than just the largest social studies professional event around….it’s four conferences in one! We are pleased to partner with our state affiliate, the Minnesota Council for the Social Studies (MCSS), to bring their annual program into ours. MCSS has been a strong champion of our return to the Twin Cities – our first time in over 70 years! – and we’re thrilled to celebrate high-quality social studies learning with them. Additionally, the National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE) also returns to co-locate their annual conference with ours. We also recently welcomed back the American Bar Association’s Division for Public Education (ABA) as another co-location conference partner. The ABA will include at least one featured speaker and selection of law-related education sessions.

We continue to provide for the return of our Annual Conference with a focus first on your own health and safety. We are excited to bring our community back together – and in doing so this fall, we continue to coordinate with our conference partners to provide an enjoyable, comfortable, and safe experience for all attendees – whether you are presenting, exhibiting, speaking, or just soaking in all the learning available to you. Please visit our updated NCSS COVID-19 Conference Policies page for the latest information on safety protocols, how we are managing registration, and other information. We will continue to update this page with new information as we get closer to the conference.

I wanted to take a moment to highlight one important feature of our Annual Conference experience, our NCSS First-Timer Scholarship program. Each year, we are able to offer a limited number of scholarships to educators who have never been able to attend the NCSS Annual Conference in the past for lack of financial support. It only happens because of your individual or organizational support! Teachers from across the United States and its territories are welcome to apply. Each scholarship winner receives Annual Conference registration and a one-year NCSS membership. I consider this one of the most special programs we offer, because every contribution is a step closer in growing our community of lifelong learners and leaders. If Please consider a personal or organizational gift to this special program. Your contribution will make a difference in the professional growth of educators – now more than ever! – and help prepare a whole new generation of students for active civic life. And if you are reading this message and hoping to attend your first NCSS Annual Conference, please consider applying for a scholarship now – we would be honored to welcome you to Minneapolis later this fall if selected!

Looking beyond the Annual Conference, NCSS continues to expand its online learning this fall. Please bookmark our NCSS Professional Learning page to register for, and access, all the latest programs in our expanding online library.

Okay, this is a lot of learning to explore and register for, so I will stop here for now! Welcome back to school, a new year of your own growth, and please let our NCSS community of learners be your partners and supporters on your social studies learning journey.