History & Social Science

Social Studies

In accordance with the Massachusetts History and Social Studies Curriculum Frameworks, the Social Studies department presents core academic content, concepts, and skills in history and social sciences that are essential to the study of democracy and to the development of educated and responsible citizens. In an effort to foster informed and reasoned adherence to the ideals of a free society the department will follow the ten guiding principles as enumerated in the Frameworks.  Those principles are:

1. An effective history and social science education teaches students about the legacy of democratic government. 

2. An effective history and social science education incorporates diverse perspectives and acknowledges that perceptions of events are affected by race, ethnicity, culture, religion, education, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, and personal experience. 

3. Every student deserves to study history and social science every year, from pre-kindergarten through grade twelve.  

4. An effective history and social science education teaches students to think historically.  

5. An effective history and social science education integrates knowledge from many fields of study.

6. An effective history and social science education builds students’ capacities for research, reasoning, making logical arguments, and thinking for themselves. 

7. An effective history and social science education improves reading comprehension by increasing students’ content knowledge.

8. An effective history and social science education incorporates the study of current events and news/media literacy. 

9. An effective history and social science education teaches students about using data analysis and digital tools as research and presentation techniques in the social sciences. 

10. An effective history and social science education develops social and emotional skills.

The central ideas, events, people, and works that have shaped our world, for good or ill, are not at all obsolete.  Instead, the quicker the pace of change, the more critical it is for us to study and understand them.  Without this knowledge, citizens remain helpless to make wise judgments about that which secures or endangers personal freedom.

By becoming skillful and competent in history and social science, students understand ideas central to the vision of the 18th century founders that hold us together as a nation.  They know how democratic ideas have been turned into institutions and practices.  This knowledge coupled with an understanding of the current condition of the world and how it got that way, prepares one to act upon the challenges to democracy in our own day.   

The graduation requirement in this history and social science program is the completion of three major courses (4.50 credits) in grades 9-12.  Those requirements include one year of World History and two years of United States History.  There are multiple paths students can take to meet these requirements.  In addition, all students are required to complete two Civics Action Projects, one in 8th grade, and one in 11th grade. This project is a non-partisan, student-led project in which students will evaluate and analyze political institutions and policies, and take informed and intentional action with the goal of systems change.   In addition to the graduate requirements, students are encouraged to continue to enhance their critical thinking skills by enrolling in a variety of electives offered by the department.

Final course offerings are dependent upon student enrollment numbers and teacher availability.

ars on American life.  Finally, students will study the causes and course of the Cold War, important economic and political changes during the Cold War, including the Civil Rights movement, and recent events and trends that have shaped modern-day America. 

Students will focus on the following concepts from the Massachusetts State Frameworks: historical understanding including chronology of events and cause and effect, geographic place and its impact on the human environment, basic economic concepts, rights and responsibilities of citizenship, and the role authority and power play in the evolution of US History over the past 100 + years.  Three concepts, power, interdependence and equality, are spiraled through each unit to provide continuity and understanding.

Students will be asked to develop a variety of skills, such as interpretation and construction of historical timelines, maps, charts and graphs; distinguishing historical  fact from opinion, and intended from unintended consequences. Further emphasis will be placed on the development of the student’s reading, writing, speaking and research skills.