Social Studies

Features of the Illinois Social Science Learning Standards

The social sciences explore 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. Through the social sciences, young people develop skills critical to success in college and careers, including creativity, critical thinking, working in diverse groups to solve complex problems, global awareness, and financial literacy. Most importantly, they will emerge with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors necessary to be informed and effective citizens.

Elementary Themes

In the last 20 years, the curricular demands on elementary teachers have shifted to a focus on mathematics and English language arts. The task force recognized that thematic lessons often drive many curricular decisions. Authentically trying to find a place for the social sciences in a busy school day has resulted, at best, in “covering” content—at worst, in students not being taught social studies content at all. Neither of these outcomes works toward the achievement of the levels of citizenship development necessary to sustain and build a healthy democracy. Thus, the task force decided to develop standards on themes and aligned them to the disciplinary concepts. The themes are:

Kindergarten: My Social World

First Grade: Living, Learning, and Working Together

Second Grade: Families, Neighborhoods, and Communities

Third Grade: Communities Near and Far

Fourth Grade: Our State, Our Nation

Fifth Grade: Our Nation, Our World

Middle School (Grade 6–8) Complexity Levels

The middle school standards are banded by levels of complexity rather than grade levels. Because most social science classrooms are comprised of a wide array of ability levels and challenges, a complexity continuum was developed to meet the varying cognitive needs of adolescents and to address the range of difficulty of the standards.

Many of the skills addressed in the standards build on one another. Depending on readiness levels and depth of understanding of the disciplinary concepts, students may move through the complexity levels that are appropriate for their strengths. This process allows teachers to differentiate content based on academic and developmental needs. Students continue to build and practice skills and disciplinary concepts as they progress through the grade levels. Progression and utilization can be enhanced using the curricular content as the avenue of implementation. Ideally, by the end of eighth grade, students should have practiced and experienced the less, moderate, and more complex standards in preparation for high school.​