With today’s emphasis on Common Core State Standards, it is more important than ever to have all programs meets the rigor these standards demand. Harcourt Social Studies exposes students to the skills and understandings necessary for college and career readiness and helps them become literate, in all its forms, in the 21st century.
College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards
Reading
Key Ideas and Details
Using key skills like determining main idea from supporting detail, comparing and contrasting, and drawing conclusions, students will actively look for text evidence in support of learning objectives. Complete skill lessons in Harcourt Social Studies teach these explicitly, and ample applications allow students to demonstrate their knowledge through their reading of literature and informational texts.
Craft and Structure
Harcourt Social Studies teaches students how to read text with particular guidance and practice on key skills like telling fact from fiction and comparing primary and secondary sources, and analyzing point of view. This focus allows students to understand and compare points-of-view as they interpret a variety of sources.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
Harcourt Social Studies offers students continuous opportunities to access a variety of sources—print, audio, visual, interactive media, and video—and in turn to analyze, compare, and assess them in 21st-century applications. Students can demonstrate their understanding in a variety of outcomes.
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
Harcourt Social Studies offers students a wealth of text genres in the Student Editions, related print and online support material, and reading collections: leveled readers, independent readers, and biographies to support all levels of readers.
Writing
Text Types and Purposes
Harcourt Social Studies is committed to the student writing process with skills and lessons to support them every step of the way. Ample and varied writing can be found in formative assessment, informal assessment, formal assessment, and portfolio opportunities.
Production and Distribution of Writing
Whether in print or online, Harcourt Social Studies offers a variety of writing opportunities and platforms for students to research and publish their writing.
Research to Build and Present Knowledge
Harcourt Social Studies provides a variety of opportunities— individual and cooperative--that culminate in students critically reading, researching, and responding to text and supporting their written argument with analysis and text evidence.
Range of Writing
Harcourt Social Studies offers a variety of writing projects—both short term and long term—to support the different needs of today’s classrooms and schedules. Students demonstrate their knowledge for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.
Speaking and Listening
Comprehension and Collaboration
Interpersonal skills are highlighted as students participate in meaningful discussion and dialogues in what they read, what they think, and how would they respond to different learning objectives. Harcourt Social Studies incorporates the analytical process through multiple informational formats and points-of-view.
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
Harcourt Social Studies encourages student demonstration of learning through a variety of speaking and presentation modes, including the use of evidence and visuals where appropriate.