CDE - History-Social Science Content Standards

Adopted by the California State Board of Education in 1998, the academic content standards for history-social science, kindergarten through grade twelve, emphasize historical narrative, highlight the roles of significant individuals throughout history, and convey the rights and obligations of citizenship.

In that spirit, the standards proceed chronologically and call attention to the story of America as a noble experiment in a constitutional republic. They recognize that America's ongoing struggle to realize the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the U. S. Constitution is the struggle to maintain our beautifully complex national heritage of e pluribus unum.

While the standards emphasize Western civilizations as the source of American political institutions, laws and ideology, they also expect students to analyze the changing political relationships within and among other countries and regions of the world, both throughout history and within the context of contemporary global interdependence.

The standards serve as the basis for statewide assessments, curriculum frameworks, and instructional materials, but methods of instructional delivery remain the responsibility of local educators.

- From California History-Social Science Content Standards, Introduction