The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation was a landmark in educational reform designed to improve student achievement and create a fundamental shift in American education.

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) calls for sweeping educational reform, requiring all students to achieve adequate yearly progress (AYP) and ultimately perform proficiently on standardized tests in reading, mathematics, and science by the year 2014. Under NCLB, schools will be held accountable for students' academic progress. In exchange for this accountability, the law offers more flexibility to individual states and school districts to decide how best to use federal education funds. NCLB places an emphasis on implementing scientifically proven methods in teaching reading and mathematics, and promotes teacher quality. It also offers parental choice for students in failing schools.

Since the primary focus of NCLB is on raising the achievement of students in reading and mathematics, some educators have wondered how it relates to social studies. Some teachers have expressed concerns that since NCLB does not require yearly testing of social studies, state and school districts may decide to shift resources and class time away from teaching social studies. However, NCLB considers the social studies areas of history, geography, economics, and government and civics to be core academic subjects. Many states are requiring middle grades social studies teachers to be highly qualified in history and geography in order to comply with the principle of improving teacher quality in NCLB.

NCLB sets the goal of having every child meet state-defined education standards. Since social studies educators have been leaders in the development of standards-based education and accountability through student testing over the past decade, many state and local districts have their own standards and assessments for social studies already in place. Assessment, including screening, diagnostic, progress-monitoring-including end-of-year, end-of-schooling, grade level, district, and state testing-and large-scale assessments, will continue to play a significant role in shaping social studies curriculum and instruction in the near future.

Due to the increased emphasis on reading and mathematics required by NCLB, social studies teachers may be called on to help improve their students' reading and math skills. For example, a teacher might use a graph about exports and imports to reinforce math skills, or a primary source about a historical event to improve reading skills. The connection between reading and social studies is especially important. Since many state and local assessments of reading require students to read and interpret informational texts, social studies passages are often used in the exams. Therefore, social studies teachers may assist in raising reading scores by integrating reading instruction into their teaching of social studies content.

The environment created by the NCLB legislation has implications for instructional programs. In keeping with the spirit of NCLB, social studies programs should clearly tie their content to state and local standards. Programs should also provide support so that all students can master these standards, ensuring that no child is left behind. An ideal instructional program is rooted in research, embeds reading instruction into the instructional design, and provides assessment tools that inform instruction-helping teachers focus on improving student performance.

We realize that raising the achievement level of all students is the number one challenge facing teachers today. To assist you in meeting this challenge, Prentice Hall enlisted a team of respected authors and consultants who specialize in middle grades issues, reading in the content areas, and geographic education.

With Prentice Hall, you can be confident that your students will not only be motivated, inspired, and excited to learn world studies, but they will also achieve the success needed in today's environment of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation and testing reform.

In developing Civics, the use of research studies is a central, guiding element. Research indicated key elements of a social studies textbook program that ensure students success: support for reading, differentiated instruction, geographic literacy development, and an ongoing assessment strand. This research was conducted in several phases and continues today.

Along with periodic surveys concerning curriculum issues and challenges, we conducted specific product development research, which included discussions with teachers and advisory panels, focus groups, and quantitative surveys. We explored the specific needs of teachers, students, and other educators regarding the program we developed.

During this phase of research, we identified essential components of successful social studies teaching and learning.

During this phase, we worked to develop prototype materials. Then we tested the materials with qualitative and quantitative evaluations, including comments from content area specialists, administrators, teachers, and other reviewers. We received feedback about our instructional design in our early prototype testing. Results were channeled back into program development for improvement.

This phase of research asks the question, "Does the program really work?" It involves monitoring the program in the market over one or more years. We talk to our users about what works, and what can be improved, and then we begin the cycle over again.