The Social Studies Connection
More than a Newsletter for Secondary Social Studies Teachers
K-12 Social Studies Specialist
Office of Teaching & Learning
Curriculum Division
Southland Center - 3700 South High Street, Columbus, OH
Welcome back! I hope you had an enjoyable summer. I am entering my nineteenth year in social studies curriculum. There have been many changes over those years, including the scope of my responsibilities. This year K-5 social studies is back under my umbrella for the first time since 2014. While this poses new challenges on my time, it also affords greater opportunities for vertical alignment to ensure that all grade levels of social studies are preparing students for success in college, career, and civic life.
In this opening edition of the Social Studies Connection for the 2024-2025 school year, I have highlighted some of the curriculum updates and resources for the year. Most significantly, we have an updated American Government Scope & Sequence and created a custom Government Alive! digital edition to match it. You will also notice that we have a new access point for textbook resources, as the District transitions from Clever to Classlink Launchpad.
As always, feel free to reach out with questions, comments, or concerns. I will see you face-to-face soon at our district-led PD Days.
Thanks,
Matt Doran
Columbus City Schools has transitioned from Clever to Classlink. Most applications will be accessed from Classlink for the 2024- 2025 school year.
From a district computer, you can use the shortcut in your CCS Web Applications bookmark folder. The URL for the Columbus City Schools Classlink login page is: https://launchpad.classlink.com/columbuscity
The American Government curriculum has been revised for 2024-2025. Financial Literacy content has been removed, as it is now a separate requirement.
The revised curriculum is available as a printable PDF from the Social Studies Curriculum webpage or as a viewable Google Doc on the District-Approved Curriculum Canvas course.
To better align with the recently revised CCS American Government curriculum, TCI has created a custom digital program for the District. The content of the readings is the same as the printed textbook. However, the lesson numbers have changed to reflect the order and organization and order of the CCS Scope and Sequence. TCI unit numbers now correspond to units in the CCS American Government Curriculum.
There are additional lessons added that do not appear in the printed Government Alive! text.
From Econ Alive!
Lesson 11 - Government and the Economy
Lesson 12 - Taxes and Taxation
Lesson 14 - Fiscal and Monetary Policy
From History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals
Lesson 16 - Reconstruction (not covered in Grade 10)
Lesson 17 - The Civil Rights Revolution (emphasize civil rights actions of the branches)
You may use available hard copies of these readings from the original sources, or use the print icon to make a printable PDF of the textbook readings in these lessons.
The same guidelines still apply regarding fidelity of TCI implementation. While this revised program aligns better with state standards and CCS curriculum, there will be times when it is relevant to supplement the program. For example, lessons on Ohio government will need to come from outside sources, such as iCivics.
Additionally, teachers do not need cover every TCI lesson in its entirely. There are times when selective use of the resources in a given unit will meet the requirements of the standards. For example, lessons in Unit 2 may be used in abbreviated ways to illustrate the key ideas and case studies of public policy making in the branches of government.
Curriculum for the 2024-2025 school year is available through two locations. On the CCS Social Studies Curriculum page, the curriculum guides are provided in PDF format to allow for quick and convenient access on any device and easy printing options. Additionally, teachers can access the Google Docs preview versions of the curriculum guides on the "District-Approved Curriculum" course on Canvas.
TCI is the adopted program for core classes in Social Studies 6-12.
Each teacher should have a classroom set of hard copy texts available from the CCS Book Processing warehouse. Additionally, teachers and students have online access via CCS Classlink Launchpad.
Grade Level/Digital Programs:
- Social Studies 6 - History Alive! 6th Grade (CCS Edition) - This text includes both the Geography Alive! and History Alive! content for Grade 6 in one custom digital book.
- Social Studies 7 - History Alive! 7th Grade (OH Edition) - This text includes both the Ancient World and Medieval World and Beyond texts in one custom digital book.
- Social Studies 8 - History Alive! The United States Through Industrialism
- Modern World History 9 - History Alive! World Connections
- American History 10 - History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals
- American Government - Government Alive! Power, Politics, and You (Columbus City Edition)
- Global Issues - Global Issues Alive! (CCS Edition)
The TCI Implementation Resource Center is your one-stop shop for learning the best practices of TCI and how these practices align with CCS Curriculum.
The Implementation Resource Center provides information about:
- On-Demand PD
- TCI Digital Platform Introduction
- Theory and Research-Based Active Instruction
- TCI Lesson Elements and Cycle
- Activities/Engagement Strategies
- TCI Programs for CCS Middle School Courses
- TCI Programs for CCS High School Courses
- Digging Deeper with TCI Ten PD Videos.
This page is also accessible from the CCS Social Studies Homepage.
Achieve3000 is the literacy intervention program for high schools. High School teachers and students now have access to Achieve3000 via CCS Classlink Launchpad.
LevelSet is the first step Achieve3000 implementation. LevelSet is a Lexile assessment that establishes a baseline Lexile level for the comprehension of nonfiction text. It also drives the differentiation within the Achieve3000 platform. Any ELA, Social Studies, and Science teacher in grades nine through eleven may facilitate the LevelSet. However, we suggest that Social Studies teachers prepare students for the assessment by sharing the following handout and video, and implement the LevelSet in Social Studies class. This handout and video (English and Spanish) will help to prepare students prior to testing. (Note about video: The video explains that students will have login information to enter the platform, however CCS students will access Achieve3000 via ClassLink, so no login information is needed.) Also, this teacher handout guides teachers through the before, during, and after steps of the LevelSet assessment.
LevelSet can begin on August 26, 2024. This will take 1-2 class periods.
Once LevelSet is complete, you will be able to assign content-specific lessons/articles aligned with your curriculum. The goal will be for each content-area teacher to assign 1 article per week, in order to help students reach maximum gains. Alignment guides for Modern World History 9, American History 10, and American Government are available on the Social Studies Curriculum page.
For additional support, see the Achieve3000 webpage here.
September 18 will be the first district-led professional development. Social Studies teachers will attend social studies-specific sessions focused on learning design and the Core Instruction Framework (CIF). Please reach out to Matt with your recommendations on topics, presenters, etc. for PD Day. Your feedback is always important in making these days successful.
Stay tuned to email for additional details about September 18 PD Day logistics.
CCS uses the Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF) curriculum in our Economics course to meet Ohio's Financial Literacy Standards. NGPF is hosting a virtual conference on August 24, 2024.
Join the virtual conference and kickstart your school year with fresh ideas to engage students, learn the latest finance trends, and collaborate with fellow educators on how to use NGPF lessons and activities!