NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: September 29, 2022
JACKSON, Miss. – Today, the State Board of Education (SBE) voted to begin the Administrative Procedures Act process on proposed 2022 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards (MCCRS) for Social Studies, which outline the skills and knowledge expected of students in each grade and subject.
The 2022 standards update the 2018 standards. Just like the current social studies standards, the 2022 standards focus on the mastery of the five social studies strands: civics, economics, geography, civil rights and history. How the standards are taught, including the curriculum or methods and materials used, is decided at the local school district level.
In 2020, the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) convened a group of Mississippi educators to revise the 2018 MCCRS for Social Studies. Once the revisions were complete, the MDE sought public feedback about the 2021 draft MCCRS for Social Studies. Some 349 members of the public submitted written comments from Dec. 17, 2021, through Feb. 4, 2022, and 43 people provided feedback during a public hearing in Jan. 28, 2022.
Since then, the MDE convened a group of 62 social studies educators from all four of Mississippi’s congressional districts, seven postsecondary faculty and 10 MDE content experts as an educator review committee to review all public input and determine whether further revisions were needed. The social studies teachers consulted with an additional 181 educators within their school districts as part of their review and revision work.
From June through August 2022, the educator review committee worked to review, evaluate and respond to all public comments. The committee examined whether the suggested changes aligned to critical content students should know and be able to do, whether the standard needed clarity or rewording to promote understanding and whether each standard was in the appropriate sequence.
Based on public input and the educator review committee’s work, the 2022 MCCRS for Social Studies includes 158 revisions to the 2021 draft version. The primary revisions include the restoration of content examples that were initially identified to be moved to an instructional planning guide, the reordering of some standards, and rewording and clarifications to promote understanding.
The proposed 2022 Mississippi College and Career Readiness Standards (MCCRS) for Social Studies are posted with the Sept. 29, 2022, State Board Agenda item: https://www.mdek12.org/MBE/Agenda2022. If approved, the 2022 MCCRS for the Social Studies will be implemented during the 2023- 24 academic school year.
Public comments will be accepted through 5 p.m. Oct. 29. For more information on the proposal and instructions for submitting comments, visit mdek12.org/PN/APA.
Find all MDE news releases at mdek12.org/news.
