U.S. History (2009)

U.S. History offers a tightly focused and scaffolded curriculum that traces the political, social, economic, and cultural heritage of the United States through four centuries of change and development. Students learn about the Native American, European, and African people who lived before the Declaration of Independence in what is now the United States. They also explore the multiple causes and effects of the Civil War, Industrial Revolution, and Great Depression. Students learn to interpret historical documents using examples from the Great Awakening, westward expansion, the "roaring twenties," McCarthyism, and the struggle for civil rights.

U.S. History is designed as the third course in the social studies sequence. Students receive scaffolded guidance for their analytic writing, with an emphasis on analyzing and extending course instruction. Students study primary documents in detail, with annotations and scaffolded questions to guide their reading and comprehension.

The content is based on the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) standards and is aligned to state standards.