Social Studies Colleagues, 

JCPS Social Studies is proud to announce new changes for the 2023-24 school year!  

In 2019, after the standards became law, teachers from across the district worked on what became the foundation of our curriculum. We built out a curriculum framework based upon compelling and supporting questions. During Covid, we worked to generate primary and secondary sources and developed a series of formative performance tasks to support teachers and students. With the advancement of Choice Zone schools and the passage of SB1 (2022), curriculum is moving from local SBDMs to the district level. In the spring of 2023, the Choice Zone Curriculum Team selected our approach for the 2023 school year. For the first time in JCPS, these schools will be working from the same curriculum. Since the fall of 2023, our team has been refining our curriculum to help new and experienced teachers transform their classrooms into Democratic Classrooms. This refinement includes more instructional supports for teachers for the curriculum. 

What shifts have we made? 

In preparation rolling out the Living Democracy Curriculum, we spent this past year on a listening tour to learn how to improve our curriculum and instructional resources. We listened to students, teachers, principals, district leaders, and community partners. The following represent major shifts we've made. 

• We are a National Model: While our data shows that many Kentucky counties and cities across the nation use our curriculum, our JCPS teachers especially like using inquiries from DBQ Project, SHEG, and C3 Teachers. We have included nearly every inquiry from these national models--270+ C3 Teachers inquires, 120+ DBQ Project inquires, and 130+ SHEG inquiries. In addition, the JCPS District Team has collaborated with teachers to create an additional  600+ inquiry lessons using the C3 Teachers structure. Our Living Democracy Curriculum is likely the largest inquiry curriculum in the nation. The Living Democracy Curriculum is a suite of national and local lessons making it one of the largest inquiry curriculums in the nation. The curriculum aligns with KAS for Social Studies and the KSA for Social Studies and the Tier 1 instructional supports ensure that our classrooms move towards student centered, Democratic Classrooms. Additionally, we are working and have worked with local partners in Louisville--the Fraizer History Museum, Ali Center, Filson Historical Society, Locust Grove, Dare to Care, Food Literacy Project, Belle of Louisville, and more to localize our curriculum and engage our community.  In short, we are proud that we are being used by students, teachers, and districts in Kentucky and across the nation. 

• Student Ready: Teachers were clear they wanted curricular and instructional materials that are ready for students. As part of our refinement we regrouped our Supporting Question around Compelling Questions with a narrower focus. Instead of choosing from a long list of supporting questions, teachers can now choose which compelling questions they want to teach for the unit. We have narrowed down the number of supporting questions and selected sources that have been excerpted, annotated, and modified. But, we know that teachers have already built wonderful inquires and we champion teachers who are building their own inquiries. Inquiry formative performance tasks align to the KAS and KSA for Social Studies as well as standards based grading through our Single-point Standards Based Rubric.

• Print Ready: Teachers can print the Living Democracy Teacher Guide (K-12) and/or the Student Slides (K-5). Student Slides will be ready for elementary teachers this year and eventually for middle and high. JCPSSocialStudies.com is always being updated and will have the newest version of every inquiry on the website. 

• Backpack Ready: Teachers, AICs, and administrators regularly ask how Social Studies supports demonstrations of learing. Every step in a Social Studies inquiry lesson contains some aspect that may be used for our Backpack skills of success. Built into KAS for Social Studies and our curriculum is also Taking Informed Action (TIA). We have updated our Taking Informed Action (TIA) page to make it more accessible for teacher. 

• Literacy: Often the question was asked: How can Social Studies support literacy in our school? Social Studies is literacy. Every day students read multiple types of sources and apply this evidence and reasoning to address their inquiries. Research is clear that more Social Studies leads to greater literacy for students. We have embraced ALM (Content Literacy) by making a series of ALM companion pages for Social Studies teachers to understand the strategies involved and how it can look in Social Studies. We have also created extensive supports for Disciplinary Literacy, which tie closely to KAS for Social Studies Using Evidence and Communicating Conclusion standards. This year we launched the Literacy Poster Set. This new webpage provides supports for applying standards using these poster sets as a way to bring disciplinary literacy to students. 

• Accessible: Each grade-level page has been redesigned to make it easier to use. The curriculum is no longer in drop downs but featured with large images for each Compelling Question. At the top of each grade-level page also has a short video that guides teachers through the page so it is clear on what is being provided. There are other instructional videos to support teachers in understanding aspects of inquiry and Social Studies. Other resources have been regrouped and provided to support teachers.

• Social Studies "Look-fors": Many administrators, AICs, and district leaders ask what a Social Studies class should look and sound like with the new standards and the shift toward inquiry. First, please take a look at the JCPS Social Studies Living Democracy Handbook. We are starting with the basics, but will add new details over time. We have designed a Social Studies Walk-through Tool for the observers who would like it. It is aligned to the demands of KAS, the instructional framework, and everything we do in Social Studies. 

What makes the Living Democracy Curriculum unique?

The goal of Social Studies education is to prepare young people for civic life. Our curriculum equips our students with knowledge about civics, economics, geography, and history and skills around questioning, using evidence, discussion, argumentation, and taking informed action. Just as musicians must play their instruments each day, so too should young people practice democracy. Our curriculum, Living Democracy, is both representative of what students should be engaging in and aspirational to the civic life we hope they'll lead at each transition in their lives.   

Our Living Democracy includes... 

• Choice and Agency -  Teachers can still build their own units as they have in the past. There is opportunity to choose between almost 300 new compelling questions K-12. Teachers and students now have choice of compelling questions with in most units. Teachers can add to and adjust the inquiries as they see fit for their students' needs.

• By the numbers - Teachers are free to choose from almost 300 new compelling questions K-12. 

• Real time refinement - Because our curriculum is local, we can change and update it per teacher and community needs. We are reflective and responsive to the community in which our students live.

• Partnerships with local and national folks - To build what we believe is the largest inquiry curriculum, we are building with national partners such as Mikva Challenge, DBQ Project, and Stanford Historical Education Group (SHEG), and local partners such as the Frazier History Museum, the Muhammad Ali Center, and the Filson Historical Society. 

• Inexhaustible and flexible - Under the refinement process the curriculum is always growing. Teachers can add to and adjust the inquiries as they see fit for their students' needs. The curriculum can respond to learning needs and content as they arise. 

What is happening with K-5? (Scroll below or click here)

• Each unit will include questions, sources, and tasks designed by the district team in consultation with teachers. As part of the refinement, the curriculum will continue to expand with more Compelling Question choices and hyperlinks to resources.

  • Overview Page: A snapshot of the unit that includes contextualizing the standards, teacher guides, and student slides ready for the classroom. Also included are supports for Staging the Compelling Question, Summative Performance Tasks, and Taking Informed Action.

  • Teacher Guides: Includes alignment of the standards, supporting questions, sources that have been excerpted and modified, Organizational Tasks, Discussion Tasks, and Formative Performance Tasks that are paired with instructional steps to teach the inquiry lesson, along with pacing and tips for adding nuance.

  • Student Slides: The Google Slides are student facing instructional supports that bring to life the instructional steps on the Teacher Guide and help move through the inquiry with prompts, sources, and tasks.

  • Fifth Grade (Only): There is a "Build your own" option. Teachers will still be able to access the questions and sources they have been using to build their own inquiries.

• In being a local and responsive curriculum, on every grade level page we have provided a Google Form for submitting feedback on the curriculum for constant refinement and improvement. 

What is happening with 6-11? (Scroll below or click here)

• Each unit will include the previous curriculum as a "Build your own" option. Teachers will still be able to access the questions and sources they have been using to build their own inquiries.

• Each unit will also include compelling questions that have pre-selected supporting questions, sources, and tasks.  As part of the refinement, the curriculum will continue to expand with more Compelling Question choices and hyperlinks to resources. Unit by unit this will be expanding throughout the year.

  • Overview Page: A snapshot of the unit that includes contextualizing the standards, teacher guides, and student slides ready for the classroom. Added in time will include supports for Staging the Compelling Question, Summative Performance Tasks, and Taking Informed Action.

  • Teacher Guides: Includes alignment of the standards, supporting questions, sources that have been excerpted and modified, and the Formative Performance Task. In time, the Organizational Tasks and Discussion Tasks that are paired with instructional steps to teach the inquiry lesson, along with pacing and tips for adding nuance, will be added.

  • Student Slides: This feature will be coming in time. The Google Slides are student facing instructional supports that bring to life the instructional steps on the Teacher Guide and help move through the inquiry with prompts, sources, and tasks.

• In being a local and responsive curriculum, on every grade level page we have provided a Google Form for submitting feedback on the curriculum for constant refinement and improvement. 

If you have been using our curriculum these refinement updates will help provide more support while you may continue with the lessons we have provided in the past. For everyone, this is a big update and the refinement continues to make the highest level resources for our teachers. Our responsibility is to our students and our teachers. Our team is here to support you and your schools. We will be providing professional learning opportunities to support this work but please reach out to us so we can come to your school and directly support you!!!

As always, we look forward to partnering with you over the next year! Enjoy your summer!

Ryan, Rebecca, and Vincent 

See the Upcoming Professional Learning page for the most up to date offerings, details, and registrations.