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Publications Released by the Michigan Council for the Social Studies and Partner Organizations
As a leader in social studies education, the Michigan Council for the Social Studies (MCSS) collaborates with regional and national organizations to provide a wide range of tools and resources designed to support K–12 educators. Through these partnerships, MCSS aims to strengthen instruction, promote best practices, and enhance teacher capacity across the state.
One of the cornerstone offerings available through MCSS’s publications is The Great Lakes Social Studies Journal, a biannual, peer-reviewed journal produced in collaboration with other state councils in the Great Lakes region. This journal is freely available and showcases research, classroom strategies, and reflective practice from educators and scholars, reflecting the collective expertise within the region’s social studies community.
In addition to the journal, MCSS makes other practical resources accessible to educators. For example, the Rapid Response Toolkit: Michigan Edition is provided as a resource to help teachers, administrators, and curriculum leaders navigate conversations and concerns related to instructional content and teaching practices. This toolkit offers background information, sample language, and context aligned to the Michigan Social Studies Standards and the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework, equipping educators with confidence when engaging with parents, community members, or colleagues about social studies instruction.
Together, these publications reflect MCSS’s commitment to fostering high-quality social studies education. We look forward to continue supporting educators with research, practical guidance, and collaborative resources that enhance teaching and learning across Michigan classrooms.
 | The Great Lakes Social Studes Journal is produced twice a year and is freely available to all. This collaborative effort between MCSS and several other state councils represents the powerful work and collaboration that exists within the Great Lakes Region. The Michigan Council for the Social Studies is proud to offer districts across Michigan, this resource for ensuring the comprehensive teaching of social studies across the state. The Rapid Response Toolkit: Michigan Edition was created to help social studies educators, administrators, and curriculum leaders navigate questions and concerns about what we teach, how we teach, and why it matters. Across Michigan, teachers are working to provide students with an education that is academically rigorous, developmentally appropriate, and reflective of the diverse world in which they live. In recent years, educators have found themselves fielding an increasing number of inquiries from caregivers, community members, and even colleagues about classroom content and instructional choices. It began from the work of former National Council for the Social Studies President Shannon Pugh, and was updated by a large and diverse stakeholder group. This toolkit is designed as both a resource and a reassurance. It offers ready-to-use language, sample responses, and background information aligned to Michigan’s 2019 Social Studies Standards, the C3 Framework, and related laws and guidance from the Michigan Department of Education. The goal is not to script conversations, but to equip educators with confidence and clarity when engaging in them. Rapid Response Toolkit 2025-12.pdf In the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards, the call for students to become more prepared for the challenges of college and career is united with a third critical element: Preparation for Civic Life (the National Council for the Social Studies, 2013). The formative assessment process helps support students through a progression of learning. Ultimately, this ensures that students may demonstrate knowledge and skill within the C3 Framework. The teacher serves as a guide to work with students as they take ownership of their learning and use constant feedback from the teacher to move themselves toward the learning target. The teacher plans lessons that engage students in deep and meaningful disciplinary experiences. Both the teacher and the student use mutually understood learning targets based on a specific content standard(s) to focus the study for the lesson. Success criteria outline what it looks like to achieve a level of mastery of the learning target. Then, the learning target and success criteria provide the foundation for the learning activities in the lesson, the types of evidence of student understanding the teacher will gather and interpret, as well as the action the teacher will take based on the evidence, including the feedback and instructional and learning decisions to achieve the learning target. In this way, the formative assessment process enable teachers and students to develop deepened understanding and application of learning outcomes of the C3 Social Studies Framework and the content outlined in the Revised Michigan Social Studies Standards. FAMEGuide_SocialStudies.pdf |
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