June 17, 2021 Silver Spring, MD - National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) celebrates a historic moment in our country with the declaration of Juneteenth National Independence Day as an official federal holiday on June 19. With near-unanimous support from Congress, Juneteenth marks the first new federal holiday established since 1983 (when the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. was designated). Juneteenth is an important milestone in our continued national conversation on racial justice, marking the end of slavery in the United States and enabling all Americans to reflect on the hard…

The books that appear in this annotated list were evaluated and selected by a Book Review Committee appointed by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and assembled in cooperation with the Children’s Book Council (CBC). NCSS and CBC have cooperated on this annual bibliography since 1972. Books selected for this bibliography were published in 2020 and were written for children in grades K-12. The Book Review Committee looks for books that emphasize human relations, represent a diversity of groups and are sensitive to a broad range of cultural experiences, present an original theme…

The NCSS Book Review Committee and the Children’s Book Council present the 2021 selection of outstanding books for use in the social studies classroom.

This latest article in a series commemorating NCSS’s 100th anniversary surveys the association’s efforts, actions, programs, and statements in furtherance of its commitment to upholding diverse voices and perspectives.

A study examining the impact of the C3 Framework on state standards presents interesting implications about the ways in which the framework has influenced state-level social studies policies and standards-based content and skills nationwide. 

Students can spark an interesting lesson by conducting research on how news about the Constitution was originally disseminated.

The examination of compacts in the classroom offers an opportunity to explore areas of law that fall outside the most-taught legislative processes while serving as a jumping off point for discussions on federalism, state sovereignty, and separation of powers.

A thorough classroom examination of the claims and techniques used in an open letter by 137 economists on tax reform can help students become more informed judges of economic arguments.

An inquiry-based lesson exploring Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams’s World War II photographs of incarcerated Japanese Americans can launch important classroom discussions on nativism, scapegoating, and the history of anti-Asian racism in the 

When studying the history of presidential elections in the classroom, it’s valuable for students to examine political rhetoric and the historical use of the Socialist epithet.