The Organization of the Learning Standards, Concepts, and Skills

The learning standards, concepts, and skills in the History and Social Science Curriculum Framework are organized into grade level sets for preK-K and grades 1 through 7. Starting in grade 8 and continuing through high school, this framework presents learning standards, concepts, and skills for world history and United States history as well as for two senior electives, one in economics and one in civics and government. Page 53 contains a list of possible sequences that high schools may choose for grades 8 through 12, with the option of administering an end-of-course assessment in U.S. history in either grade 10 or 11, or in both grades for different groups of students. These pathways give high school faculty many ways to distribute the study of world history. One pathway suggests study of world history in grade 8, 9 or 11, and in 12 or as part of post-World War II U.S. history, but other pathways are conceivable. The primary responsibility of the schools is to make sure that all students are given sufficient opportunity between grade 8 and grade 11 to study the secondary level standards for U.S. history so that they are prepared for the competency determination.

The learning standards, concepts, and skills describe what students should know and be able to do as a result of their studies in history and social science. The learning standards describe the knowledge of history, geography, economics, and civics that students are expected to acquire at a particular grade level. Examples of such knowledge are the location of the New England states, the meaning of the Declaration of Independence, the economic factors that drove exploration in the 15^th century, and the causes of World War II. The concepts and skills sections are designed to enhance understanding and use of the specific content in the learning standards. Mastery of the concepts and skills will be assessed in the context of the knowledge specified in the learning standards, not independently.

The learning standards in both U.S. and world history are generally grouped in ways that reflect accepted periodization by historians. The standards in themselves are not intended to be the curriculum, nor do they indicate the whole curriculum. As the title of the document indicates, they provide the framework for the classroom curriculum. In order to write a set of learning standards that can be reasonably taught and learned with some depth within the time available, we have been selective about topics for a basic core of chronologically-organized history and social science knowledge. However, teachers are encouraged to elaborate on what is included here, to add topics that they feel are important, and to organize material thematically. They are also encouraged to inform and enliven classroom study by considering current events and issues that have a significant relationship to important historical themes or events under study.

To create a coherent focus in PreK-5, this document emphasizes U.S. history and geography, from an understanding of neighborhood and community to a study of colonial America and the early republic. It also provides, for districts that choose Pathway 1, for four consecutive years of study (grades 6-9) of world history and geography from ancient societies to the present day. Grades 10-11 then return to U.S. history from the 1770s to the present day.

Key concepts and skills are reinforced in subsequent grades, after they are introduced. To address teacher comment on the need to avoid repetition, the standards from grade 4 on generally present new material each year. Teachers are free to review material presented in earlier grades before introducing new topics. Themes, such as those presented on pages 8-10, will provide conceptual continuity over multiple grades.

In this curriculum framework, the four disciplines of history, geography, economics, and civics and government are integrated in the learning standards, they are not presented in four separate strands. This organization supports the teaching of a coherent historical narrative. A coding system has been used throughout to indicate disciplinary content stressed in a standard: (H) history, (G) geography, (E) economics, and (C) civics and government.