CHAPTER 21: The Status of Social Studies and the Common Core State Standards: An Opportunity for Reform

The Common Core State Standards for English language arts and literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects (CCSS-ELA) provides a pathway for integrating literacy and expanding disciplinary inquiry in social studies. Findings from the Survey on the Status of Social Studies (S4) indicate that social studies is suffering from the loss of instructional time and fragmentation in curricular and instructional practices. At the same time, S4 findings show considerable agreement among teachers that social studies should emphasize disciplinary practices that serve to prepare young people to be productive and active citizens. The CCSS-ELA clarifies literacy practices within the field that can establish a base from which to reform social studies toward the practices valued by the teachers surveyed. The S4 findings understood in the context of CCSS-ELA suggest that we need a new way to organize and teach social studies. CCSS-ELA establishes a literacy-based foundation for just such a revitalization of social studies.