Civics, Economics Part of New Curriculum

Last week, Republicans and Democrats had a hard time coming to an agreement on raising the debt ceiling. Starting in September, seventh grade students in Jefferson Township will learn what their roles could be in possibly preventing another economic scare like this in the future.

It’s all part of the revised social studies curriculum that will be taught in the whole school district starting in the 2011-2012 school year. The revisions began in 2009, and now, according to Dr. Mary Thornton, assistant superintendent of curriculum, “we’re at the point of editing, formatting and adding resources.”

Some of the bigger changes to the curriculum will happen in fifth, sixth and seventh grades, Thornton said. Fifth grade will feature United States history in its early stages, including American history before western exploration and the geography of the United States.

Then, in sixth grade, American history will continue with colonial America, the Revolution and the founding fathers, up through the Civil War and reconstruction.

“This is a change because the second part of American history used to come in eighth grade,” Thornton said. “We decided to put it in fifth and sixth grade for the sake of continuity.”

Now, eighth grade will include world history, the birth and development of civilization and the expansion of Western ideas. However, since this coming year’s eighth graders will not get the benefit of the second part of American history, much of that will be incorporated into the curriculum.

The seventh grade curriculum will now consist of civics, citizenship, economics, social justice and the structure and development of American government.

“The students have never before had an in-depth look at economics,” Thornton said. “Now they will not only get that, but a also a look at their individual roles in economics.”

 Thornton explained the process of curriculum revision.

Teachers apply to be curriculum writers in the subject in which they are experts. The bulk of the work is done in the summer, for which teachers are paid for a predetermined amount of hours.

“The hours are determined based on whether the curriculum is being updated or completely revised,” Thornton said.

As the work is completed, Thornton looks at the document in pieces.

“I need to see it to be sure it’s going in the right direction,” she said. “I check for things like redundancy. It’s okay to repeat some concepts over a couple of years, but we need to be sure we’re building on them, and not just doing the same things over again.”

She said that while textbooks are a major resource for the curriculum, so are web sites, video streaming and other technology.

“We need to use everything at our disposal,” she said. “We are constantly evaluating new resources

“More and more, especially at the middle and high school levels, we are working with primary sources. Why only read about the Constitution when you can read the Constitution itself?”

Thornton said that the curriculum is a living document.

“Each curriculum is a board-adopted document, and meets the guidelines of the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content standards. But if we see a reason in a particular classroom to put more emphasis on something, we can modify the curriculum accordingly.”