The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) states that social studies "is the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence." For students to become fully empowered participants in democracy, students must draw upon such disciplines as anthropology, archaeology, economics, geography, history, law, philosophy, political science, psychology, religion, sociology as well as content from the humanities to develop broad conceptual understandings in social studies. The primary purpose of social studies is to help young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions as citizens of a diverse democratic society in an interdependent world.
Civics Education Introduction: A Presentation from Dr. Larry Paska
This summer Dr. Larry Paska, the current president of the National Council for the Social Studies, joined the Kentucky Department of Education at each of our Civics Symposia to discuss data about social studies in the nation's schools and its impact on civics education. The video of Dr. Paska's presentation is available here. The PowerPoint Dr. Paska references throughout his presentation may be found here.
Announcements
Standards Revision Process
Senate Bill 1 (2017) calls for the Kentucky Department of Education to implement a process for reviewing all academic standards and aligned assessments beginning in the 2017-18 school year. This process began for social studies in January 2018. For more information on the social studies standards revision process, view the Office of Teaching and Learning's Social Studies Standards Revision webcast, view the Social Studies Standards Revision Process Critical Fact Sheet, or visit the Social Studies Standards webpage.
2017-18 Assessment Information
Current social studies assessments will continue based on CCA 4.1 for SS in grades 5 and 8.
For the past several years the high school level end-of-course exams have been provided through a contract with ACT QualityCore. The contract for those exams has ended. A U.S. History end-of-course exam will be developed by Kentucky teachers and then field tested once the social studies standards have been revised and approved.
For more information on the standards revision process, visit the social studies standards page on the KDE website. Reference this chart for the proposed Kentucky Academic Standards Review/Revision Schedule.
Note: assessment revisions will lag behind the standards revisions at least one year.
Beginning in July 2018, a student must pass, with 60% accuracy, a Civics Test composed of 100 questions in order to graduate from a public high school with a regular diploma. For more information on the Civics Test, visit the KDE Civics Test webpage.
For more information, visit the Office of Assessment and Accountability’s webpage
Stay Connected
Lauren Gallicchio
Office of Teaching and Learning
300 Sower Blvd., 5th Floor
Frankfort, KY 40601
(502) 564-9850
Fax (502) 564-6470