Spring Social Science Newsletter
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Apply to join the 2025 Social Science Instructional Materials Evaluation Committee!
The Oregon Department of Education invites applications for the 2025 Social Science Instructional Materials Evaluation Committee. We are seeking passionate K-12 teachers, curriculum specialists, and education professionals with Social Science expertise to help shape Oregon's educational future. As a committee member, you will evaluate and recommend high-quality instructional materials for adoption by the Oregon State Board of Education. This valuable professional development opportunity takes place during the summer of 2025 and includes an honorarium ranging from $900-$1,990, depending on committee assignment.
Detailed participation requirements are included in the application form. Apply now to share your expertise and make a lasting impact on education across our state.
The application is open through May 16th, 2025.
Contact Us
For more information, please contact the Instructional Materials team at ODE.InstructionalMaterials@ode.oregon.gov or (503) 551-3123.
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Two Oregon Schools Share Top Honors at National Constitution Competition
Congratulations to the Constitution teams from Sprague and Lincoln High Schools. The Oregon teams competed in the "We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution" National Finals against teams from across the United States. A recent story in The Statesman Journal highlighted the achievement of Sprague seniors Colin Williams and Matthew Meyers, the first duo to compete in the national event. An adjustment to a scoring discrepancy allowed Lincoln High School to join Sprague as co-champions.
Dual champions is a first in the four decades that the Center for Civic Education has been holding the competition. Congratulations to students from both teams and to Social Science teachers and Constitution Team coaches Jacqueline Pope Brothers from Sprague High School and Patrick Magee-Jenks from Lincoln High School.
Oregon has won the national finals more than any other state, demonstrating the commitment of Oregon social science teachers to the collective values of civic virtue, community engagement, and high-quality public schools for all.
*Photo: Lincoln and Sprague Constitution Teams with U.S. Representative Bonamici
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April: Genocide Awareness Month
April serves as Genocide Awareness Month, a time when educators can help students understand the historical patterns and consequences of genocide while developing their capacity to recognize and prevent such atrocities today. This month was designated because it contains several somber anniversaries, including the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, the beginnings of the Rwandan Genocide, the Armenian Genocide, and the siege of Sarajevo.
On Thursday, April 24, Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education will sponsor the "Reading of the Names" marking Yom HaShoah, the Day of Remembrance, upholding the memory of victims of the Holocaust through the Reading of the Names, a public recitation of Holocaust victims’ names, ages, and birthplaces at Pioneer Courthouse Square.
As social science educators, we have a unique opportunity to engage students with age-appropriate resources that explore the root causes of mass violence, highlight stories of resilience and resistance, and emphasize that history is not inevitable—people make choices, and choices make history. Consider incorporating survivor testimonies, primary sources, and reflection activities that help students connect historical events to contemporary issues of human rights.
Resources are available through organizations like the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education, USC Shoah Foundation, Global Centre for the Responsibility To Protect, and Facing History and Ourselves to support your classroom discussions during this important month of remembrance and action.
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2025 Belfer National Conference for Holocaust Education
Participate Virtually in Real Time: June 23–25
Watch On Demand: Following Live Sessions
Coming Together to Inspire Students to Ask Why
At this free, virtual conference, discover the latest practices in accurate, meaningful teaching about the Holocaust with leading historians and educators. Bring the United States Holocaust Museum's collection into your classroom with instructional strategies and resources. These materials highlight survivor testimonies, artifacts, diaries, and historical documents to support instruction across subject areas and inspire all students to think critically about how and why the Holocaust happened.
Register Now
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Civics Learning Project
Educator Advisor: Applications Open
CLP is seeking educators to join their Educator Advisory Council (EAC). EAC members serve as valuable liaisons between CLP and school communities, collaborating with CLP's Programs Team to ensure the development of relevant and meaningful educational resources and learning experiences. The EAC meets in-person during the summer for an orientation and then virtually five times during the school year. Members serve two-year terms and receive a $350 annual stipend.
Applications are welcome and encouraged from pre-service, novice, and veteran educators, instructional coaches, and administrators of grades 6 - 12 from across Oregon.
Applications must be received by May 8, 2025.
Community Action Project Statewide Showcase: Submit Student Projects
Community Action Projects (CAPs) is an inquiry-based collaborative research program for students to develop new policies around relevant issues. Using proven student engagement methods, Community Action Projects can transform civic engagement for all types of learners. Teachers may submit their students' projects to CLP between May 1st and June 5th to be highlighted in the Statewide Showcase. Two projects (1 Middle School and 1 High School) will then be submitted to the Center for Civic Education's National Showcase. Completed CAPs can be submitted via email to Abby Laufman.
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Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations offers no-cost resources for 6-12 social science classrooms. The Center for Preventive Action's (CPA) Global Conflict Tracker is an interactive guide to ongoing conflicts around the world of concern to the United States. The map displays nearly thirty conflicts with background information and resources on each conflict. CFR Education offers a comprehensive library of nonpartisan, multimedia teaching and learning resources on climate change and its implications for global affairs and foreign policy. Explore these free resources and their accompanying teaching materials.
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Events
Mark Hatfield Series
Hampton Sides
May 13, 2025
The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook
Hampton Sides is best known for his gripping nonfiction adventure stories set in war or depicting epic expeditions of discovery and exploration. In The Wide Wide Sea, Sides wrestles with Capt. James Cook’s legacy.
Powell’s Books
Jeanne Theoharris
Apr 30, 2025
King of the North: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Life of Struggle Outside the South
The Martin Luther King Jr. of popular memory vanquished Jim Crow in the South. But in her myth-shattering new book, award-winning historian Jeanne Theoharis argues that King’s time in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago — outside Dixie — was at the heart of his campaign for racial justice.
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