The CTECS Social Studies Curriculum 24-25 revision was modeled after the CSDE Social Studies Model Curriculum. The curricula were constructed using the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) K–12 Curricula Design Principles Handbook as a framework to structure the design process in order to ensure access to high quality, high-impact teaching and learning aligned to the content standards adopted by the Connecticut Board of Education to provide  CTECS’s students access to equitable educational opportunities within a culture of high expectations.

This standards-based curriculum defines what students are expected to learn by course and grade; it provides a roadmap of the essential learning outcomes for mastery by the end of the grade/course. The curriculum combines how teachers will teach to develop skills, content knowledge, and assess students’ ability to transfer learning. The structure and organization of curriculum are guided by a curriculum framework that must include standards aligned concepts, skills, high impact instructional methods, high quality materials, and multiple means of assessment aligned to standards.

>>Insert Crosswalk of Standards Across CTECS Courses<<

CT State Social Studies Standards

National C3 Standards

Common Core Standards for Literacy

The curriculum organization is consistent for each unit within all courses. The following components are included in order to ensure all learners are engaged in equitable, focused, rigorous, culturally relevant grade-level content.

Unit Overview/Summary - FOCUS

• • Each unit focuses on both content and inquiry development by using a combination of both the English Language Arts Connecticut Core Standards and the Connecticut Elementary and Secondary Social Studies Standards. Reading and writing development and proficiency  in social studies will be used to deliver the skills and strategies needed to master the standards.

Unit Duration

• • The CTECS Social Studies Curriculum for each course contains varying units of study depending on the course content. Each unit is designed with cycle and quarter considerations.

Relevant Standards

• • Content and Inquiry Standards are included in each unit of study, are the drivers of instruction for each unit, and are (1) research and evidence based, (2) aligned with college and work expectations, (3) rigorous, and (4) internationally benchmarked. 

    • Content Standards contained in each unit of study indicate the defined learning outcome of that unit. There are no Overarching Standards, Priority Standards or Supporting Standards in the Connecticut Elementary and Secondary Social Studies Standards: all content standards have equal weight. All content standards found in the curriculum come from four basic content areas: History, Civics, Geography and Economics. “e.g.s” are found after many of the content standards in both the Connecticut Elementary and Secondary Social Studies Standards and the Social Studies K-8 Model Curriculum. “e.g.s” are suggested topics that can be used for that standard. These are included to assist teachers in creating meaningful content that matches the standard. 

    • Inquiry Standards:  The Connecticut Elementary and Secondary Social Studies Standards recommend an inquiry approach to Grades K-12 social studies instruction. The inquiry approach asks students to answer or create compelling questions, to research (in groups) responses to the compelling question and to them present their responses in innovative ways; the final stage of the inquiry approach is for students to “take informed action” with what they have learned through the inquiry process. The inquiry standards included in the model curriculum and the Connecticut standards come from the national College, Career and Civic Life (C3) Framework for State Social Studies Standards. 

  • Connecticut social studies standards are arranged so that educators can insure “a sharp and consistent focus for in-depth instruction” and so that they can “provide students with multiple opportunities to learn those standards as opposed to a one-time instructional exposure to them” (Ainsworth, 2023, p.40). 

Examples and Explanations

• • Provide the purpose of the standard, the why rather than the how; real-world applications, the "So what "

Transfer Goal:    Aligned to District Vision of a Graduate

• Connects and links learner goals, learner framework, vision or portrait of a learner/graduate. Answers the questions of how does this unit build upon and connect to prior knowledge, and how does it prepare the student for future learning.

Essential Questions

• Questions that align with the prioritized standards that can be approached in multiple ways. 

Enduring Understandings

• • Represent information or an understanding that can be applied in and beyond the classroom. Enduring understandings also represent students’ insights developed over the course of the unit and their responses to the essential questions.

What Students Will Know

• • From the unwrapped priority standards, the nouns or noun phrases that represent teachable concepts (need to know) and, if needed, the essential pre-requisite concepts.

What Students Will Do

• • From the unwrapped priority standards, the verbs that represent what students are to do (able to do).

Demonstration of Learning

• Both formative and summative district REQUIRED and suggested assessments are included in each unit. 

  • • REQUIRED: 

      • The Social Studies Collaboration Team will be working to create cohesive district level assessments in the PerformanceMatters platform during the 24-25 school year. The team's intention is to begin to pilot some assessments beginning in the winter and spring of this school year,

      • Fall, Winter, and Spring SAT Reading and Writing Benchmarks accessed through PerformanceMatters. The Social Studies Collaboration Team will be working to identify and analyze data around the benchmark items that CollegeBoard indicates are History/Social Studies content based.

Unit Specific Vocabulary and Terminology

• • Vocabulary and terminology deemed important for students to understand the concepts and content of the unit. These are words that may not be familiar to students. An asterisk is next to words that appear in the document entitled, Smarter Balanced Construct Relevant Vocabulary for English Language Arts and Literacy, to ensure that these terms become embedded in subsequently developed lessons.

Aligned Unit Materials, Resources, and Technology

• Instructional resources should answer the question, “What instructional materials are available to help me meet a particular standard or learning target/s?” Materials include a variety of resources and technology and also address the question, “How will instruction be modified to accommodate learning at a distance scenarios (e.g., blended learning, online learning)?” modifying lessons so that teaching and learning can occur not only in-person but also at a distance or online if necessary.

Opportunities for Interdisciplinary Connections

• Provide for application of knowledge, principles, and/or values to more than one academic content simultaneously. Focus on transferable skills e.g., knowledge, skills, work habits, and character traits that can be applied in all academic and technical subject areas and are used in all educational, career, and civic settings throughout a student’s life. Knowledge, concepts or skills that are transferable between subjects and domains.

Opportunities for Application of Learning

• • Learning provides an open-access free online library of standards-aligned project-based lessons to help students meet the expectations of the Standards. Each project is based on a situation in a relevant career, helping students connect classroom content to career pathways. Create an account and log in to access this free resource to support curriculum (courtesy of CSDE).

Critical Consciousness for Diversity and Equity

• • Includes opportunities to value and relate content to students’ cultures to celebrate the diversity of topics, students, cultures and groups so that students can take perspective and develop a depth of understanding of the events presented. Allows teachers  to embrace difficult conversations, provide equal access, and ensure learning is culturally responsive and inclusive.

Multilingual Learners (ML)

• • Guidance to support multilingual learners in their English language proficiency and 9-12 CT Core Standards practices.

• Homework is not to be included in grading unless it is classwork that a student did not complete during class and needs to complete at home

• Formative assessments are not to be included in grading as it informs instruction and is not evaluative.

Components of Social, Emotional, and Intellectual Habits: Kindergarten through Grade 12