Educator Services Teaching & Learning Curriculum Resources
Curriculum and Instruction

Humanities, History, and Social Science

The Office of the Humanities, History, and Social Science assists educators, school administrators, students and parents through the following activities:

• serving as the lead agency in the development of a number of the Curriculum Frameworks, including the Arts, English Language Arts, Foreign Languages, and History and Social Science;

• developing MCAS tests in English language arts and history/social science;

• sponsoring initiatives that promote quality educational programming, including one or two day professional development programs throughout the school year and intensive week long seminars in the summer that have follow-up sessions during the school year;

• providing technical assistance to school personnel, students, and parents as requested;

• managing the Koplik Certificate of Mastery with Distinction Program, a program that recognizes students' academic achievement by rewarding high achieving students with a tuition waiver at Massachusetts' public colleges and universities;

• securing the funding and managing the Advanced Placement Exam Fee Subsidy program --- a program that provides financial relief for income-eligible students taking Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Exams;

• leading the Writing Performance Standards Project --- a project that is engaged in defining what constitutes high quality writing;

• leading Student Government Day, a program in which high school students learn about how state government works during a day at the Massachusetts State House;

• providing a home for the programs sponsored by the Embassies of Spain and Portugal that promote the teaching of Spanish and Portuguese in Massachusetts schools;

• providing guidance for the Board of Education's Advisory Committees on Arts Education, Gifted and Talented Education, Global Education, and Racial Imbalance.