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Social Studies

The North Carolina Social Studies Standards offer a sound, thoughtful, and defensible curricular framework that is designed to enable all students at all grade levels to acquire the essential knowledge, understanding, and skills needed to be informed, active citizens in the 21st century. The six organizational strands of the social studies program are as follows: inquiry, history, geography, civics and government, economics and behavioral sciences, each addressed with increasing rigor and relevance at each grade level. Underlying these strands is the belief that all students should understand social studies and develop civic efficacy. Students should also acquire and perfect knowledge, understanding, and skills of individual and group inquiry and examine a broad range of peoples and cultures. From social studies, students gain the attitudes and values that enable them to be effective problem‐solvers, good decision‐makers, and wise planners. As a result of effective social studies education, they are prepared to deal with present, recurring, and unforeseen problems at the local, state, national, and global levels.

All students will need four social studies credits for graduation. Students who entered high school in the 2014‐15 school year and later are required to earn a credit in World History, American History, American History: Founding Principles Civics and Economics or Founding Principles of the United States of America and North Carolina: Civic Literacy and 1 other Social Studies credit. Students entering high school in the 2020‐21 school year are required to earn a credit in World History, American History, Founding Principals of the United States of America and North Carolina: Civic Literacy and Economics and Personal Finance. AP United States History may be substituted for American History and AP World History may be substituted for World History.