Social Studies

At its heart, social studies explores the relationship between individuals and society, from friends and family to global networks. In a school setting, the disciplines of civics, economics, geography, and history are central to our students’ preparation for college, career, and civic life.

AHSD25 provides students with social studies instruction beginning in first grade and continuing through their 8th grade year. Elementary students experience social studies through thematic units and textbooks, nonfiction readers, primary sources, and maps through the textbook curriculum resources. In middle school, students work individually and collaboratively, using nonfiction and fiction, to engage in inquiry within the disciplines about important public issues, trends, and events. Middle school students cover World History in sixth grade and American History in seventh and eighth grade.

Standards

In January 2016, Illinois adopted Illinois Learning Standards for Social Science, based on the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies. The purpose of these new, more rigorous standards is to better prepare students to be college and career ready. These standards are designed to ensure that students across Illinois focus on a common set of standards and have the opportunity to develop the knowledge, dispositions, and skills necessary for success in college, career, and civic life in the 21st century. The vision supporting this design is to produce students who are civically engaged, socially responsible, culturally aware, and financially literate (National Council for the Social Studies, 2016)

The Illinois Social Science Standards (updated in 2025) fall into two complementary categories: inquiry skills and disciplinary concepts. Inquiry skills involve questioning, investigating, reasoning, and responsible action while disciplinary concepts make use of social science ideas, principles, and content to pursue answers to the questions generated by student inquiries.