History–Social Science

General Information

Instruction

HSS Instruction
Content standards and framework guidance to assist students in mastering historical facts, historical themes, and the connections between the past and present.

General Resources

California Professional Learning Stories
See the Quality Professional Learning Standards in action! Professional Learning Stories is a collection of videos and resources showcasing high quality professional learning systems in California schools and districts.

Learn how Kern High School District partnered with the California HSS Project to create a strong professional learning system to implement collaboration and shared accountability.

Constitution Day and Citizenship Day

Resources to support Constitution Day and Citizenship Day may be found under the “Targeted” tab of the CDE Resources to Support Civic Engagement web page.

Student Voter Engagement

Resources to support student voter engagement may be found under the “Students” tab of the CDE Resources to Support Civic Engagement web page.

Additional Information

High School Graduation Requirements
Outlines the minimum state requirements to graduate from high school in California and receive a diploma.

Recommended Literature List
This searchable list of books supports, students, teachers, and parents in finding books that will engage readers of varying skill levels in prekindergarten through grade twelve HSS, mathematics, science, arts, and general literature.

Statewide Programs

Successful implementation of the HSS content standards, curriculum development, and instruction depends on teacher preparation and long-term professional learning and access to high quality resources.

Professional Development and Resources for the California Serves Program—Budget Act of 2022

The Education Omnibus Trailer Bill (Assembly Bill 181) appropriated funding to provide eligible local educational agencies (LEAs) with grants to promote access to effective service-learning for students in grade twelve. The goal of this program is to expand access for high school graduates in obtaining a State Seal of Civic Engagement through service-learning.

For more information, please visit the California Serves web page.

Professional Development and Resources for the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum—Budget Act of 2021

The Education Omnibus Trailer Bill (AB 130) appropriated funding to provide LEAs: 1) professional development and regional training for teachers, administrators, and paraprofessionals to support creation or expansion of ethnic studies course offerings, including, but not limited to, courses that use the ethnic studies model curriculum (ESMC), and 2) an online repository of resources to support ethnic studies courses. This includes the collection and review of materials to be made available for educators to use in implementing the ESMC.

For more information, please visit Ethnic Studies Professional Development.

Professional Development and Resources for the History–Social Science Curriculum Framework—Budget Act of 2017

The Education Omnibus Trailer Bill (AB 97) appropriated funding to provide professional development and resources for teachers, administrators, and paraprofessionals on the HSS Framework, including but not limited to Armenian Genocide; labor; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans; and civic education components of the HSS Framework. Senate Bill 840 (2018) allocated an additional $500,000 to support development of HSS curriculum framework resources related to genocide awareness education, including the development of study guides and other resources. Additionally, an online repository of resources is available to support the implementation of the HSS Framework. These resources are available on the Content, Literacy, Inquiry, and Citizenship Project website .

2017–18 Funding Results

Curriculum Areas

General Social Science

Cal Humanities
Promotes the humanities through facilitating programs and initiatives (such as the California Democracy Project ), providing funding opportunities, and sharing additional resources to support the humanities.

Calisphere
A free public gateway to thousands of digitized primary sources—including photographs, documents, newspaper clippings, and works of art—from University of California (UC) museums and libraries, and other cultural heritage institutions across California.

California Council for the Social Studies (CCSS)
Professional organization that serves public and private school educators and is affiliated with the National Council for the Social Studies . CCSS supports social studies education through service, advocacy, and leadership development.

California History-Social Science Project (CHSSP)
The CHSSP is one of nine California Subject Matter Projects  that provides high-quality professional learning for educators at the pre-kindergarten through post-secondary levels. Four regional CHSSP sites  provide resources and professional learning targeted to regional needs.

EDSITEment
EDSITEment is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)  and the National Trust for the Humanities . EDSITEment offers free resources for teachers, students, and parents searching for high-quality education materials in the subject areas of literature and language arts, foreign languages, art and culture, and HSS.

Facing History and Ourselves
Provides a wide variety of resources to support civic responsibility, tolerance, and social action for young people.

Fred T. Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education
Curriculum toolkits and materials, lesson plans, museum exhibits, and additional resources that have been developed with the goal of advancing racial equity, social justice, and human rights for all.

Fund for Teachers
Supports educator efforts to develop skills, knowledge, and confidence by funding teacher-designed professional learning opportunities.

The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
The Huntington’s education programs serve a broad audience and provide enrichment for schoolteachers, children, and adults. Programs range from lively activities for preschoolers to intensive five-week institutes for K–12 classroom teachers.

Learning for Justice
Learning for Justice produces and distributes documentary films, books, lesson plans, and other materials that reduce prejudice and promote social justice in K–12 schools.

Museum of Tolerance
Laboratory of human rights and educational center dedicated to challenging visitors to understand the Holocaust in both historic and contemporary contexts and confront all forms of prejudice and discrimination. They offer an extensive variety of curriculum and instructional resources, as well as professional learning opportunities.

National Archives
Lesson plans, training for teachers, primary sources, distance learning support, field trips, and more for K–12 teachers.

National History Day—California
This year-long educational program encourages students to explore local, state, national, and world history. Student projects can be entered into a series of competitions, from the local to the national level, where they are evaluated by professional historians and educators.

National Humanities Center
Provides online professional development workshops and seminars for high school United States history and American literature teachers. They also host America in Class , which provides primary and secondary resources, webinars, and lessons for history and literature teachers.

NEH
Each year the NEH offers teachers tuition-free opportunities to study important humanities topics through their summer seminars, institutes, and landmarks of American history and culture workshops.

News Literacy Project (NLP)
The NLP seeks to advance news literacy by supporting the public, those in education, and the media to become more news-literate. Educator resources include a resource library, NewsLitNation national community of practice, News Literacy Ambassador Program, district partnerships, and a suite of free classroom and professional development resources.

Online Archive of California (OAC)
OAC provides free public access to detailed descriptions of primary resource collections maintained by more than 200 contributing institutions including libraries, special collections, archives, historical societies, museums throughout California, and collections hosted by the ten UC campuses.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21)
P21’s Frameworks for 21st Century Learning were developed with input from teachers, education experts, and business leaders to define and illustrate the skills and knowledge students need to succeed in work and life, as well as the support systems necessary for 21st century learning outcomes. Their frameworks and related resources are now available from the School Superintendents Association .

PBS Learning Media
Provides direct access to thousands of classroom-ready, curriculum-targeted digital resources. Resources are aligned to Common Core and national standards, and include video, audio, documents, and in-depth lesson plans. Educators can browse by standards, grade level, subject area, and special collections.

Smithsonian Learning Lab
Interactive platform for discovering millions of authentic digital resources, creating content with online tools, and sharing in the Smithsonian's expansive community of knowledge and learning.

Specific Curriculum Areas

1. California, United States, and World History
   Resources listed on this page are relevant for the curriculum areas of California, United States, and World History.
2. Economics
   Resources listed on this page are relevant for economics instruction.
3. Financial Literacy
   Resources listed on this page are relevant for the curriculum areas of financial literacy and personal finance.
4. Geography and Environmental Education
   Resources listed on this page are relevant for the curriculum areas of geography and environmental education.
5. Global Education
   Information and resources relating to global education, global competence, and global citizenship.