BREAKING NEWS: Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has unanimously voted to approve and adopt the 2018 Massachusetts State History and Social Science curriculum framework.

June 26, 2018 Today, the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education unanimously voted to approve and adopt the 2018 revision of the Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Framework. Congratulations to Dave Buchanan, Sue Wheltle, Heather Peske, and to the entire History and Social Science curriculum framework review panel for their hard work and dedication […]

Full (Complete) Statement from Gorman Lee, Massachusetts Council for the Social Studies, to MA Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

May 22, 2018   Good morning. My name is Gorman Lee of Boston, Massachusetts. I started my teaching career in Massachusetts in 1993. I taught in Medford and Braintree, and currently serve as the K-12 Director of Social Studies for the Braintree Public Schools. I am also the Director of Professional Development Programming and past […]

Social Studies Education in Crisis

The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education’s decision to indefinitely suspend the History and Social Science MCAS in 2009 has placed social studies education in a high risk of marginalization in K-12 public school districts across the Commonwealth. The problem has only exacerbated with increased emphases of English language arts and mathematics in the […]

Summer’s Wonderful Baltic Cruise has History Lesson

My wife and I, along with 3 other couples, all dear friends, cruised the Baltic Sea this past July. We had 12 days of ideal weather and enjoyed all the ship’s amenities (Celebrity Cruise lines – highly recommended). Our ports were Amsterdam, Rostock, Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Talinn, and Copenhagen. All were beautiful and really […]

NCSS National Convention Coming to Boston in 2014

NCSS National Conference Update   November 21-23, 2014 seems a long way off, but yet for the NCSS National Convention and those dates in Boston, it is right around the corner. The Conference’s theme is Let Freedom Ring! The Civic Mission of Our Schools and NCSS has already contracted with the Hynes Convention Center and […]

Stirring the Pot: Women in Early Massachusetts

Dear Social Studies Teacher, I am working with The Partnership of the Historic Bostons on their 2012 Charter Day Program: “Stirring the Pot: Women in Early Massachusetts.” We have some great programming on tap, including a student-friendly event on Thursday, September 20th, which features role-players from the Plimoth Plantation acting in character as some of the […]