Standards

Culture & Change: Black History in America meets national standards by providing students with opportunities in the following areas:

4th Edition Standards & Benchmarks
Grades K’4 History

• Understands how democratic values came to be, and how they have been exemplified by people, events, and symbols

United States History

• Understands the struggle for racial and gender equality and for the extension of civil liberties

Standards set by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the International Reading Association (IRA).

1. Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic, and contemporary works.
2. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
3. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
4. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
5. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.

From the ten thematic strands that form the basis of the social studies standards established by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)

• Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of culture and cultural diversity.
• Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of the ways human beings view themselves in and over time.
• Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of people, places, and environments.
• Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of individual development and identity.
• Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of interactions among individuals, groups, and institutions.
• Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of how people create and change structures of power, authority, and governance.
• Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of the ideals, principles, and practices of citizenship in a democratic republic.