Indian Prairie School District 204’s old curriculum for middle school social studies is officially history.

Starting next fall, the school district is changing how it teaches social studies at the middle school level, after securing school board approval for the new curriculum last week.

Currently, middle school students at Indian Prairie School District 204 learn ancient history in sixth grade, world geography and culture in seventh grade and U.S. history in eighth grade.

But now, under the new curriculum, sixth-graders will learn world geography and culture, and United States history will be spread across seventh and eighth grades.

The seventh-grade U.S. history curriculum will cover things like the American Revolution and the forming of the nation and leave off with the nation’s expansion, officials have said. Eighth grade will pick up with the nation’s expansion and America in the mid-1800s and cover the Civil War, World War II and modern America, among other topics. The eighth-grade curriculum will also have a stand-alone financial literacy unit — which currently is part of the seventh-grade curriculum.

The curriculum is not entirely new to Indian Prairie, however. The district conducted a widespread pilot program for it this school year.

That pilot generated significant interest from middle school social studies teachers, who have cited challenges with teaching the existing curriculum, according to district leadership. Social studies is not the primary area of expertise for many district teachers, which has left them looking for more resources, the district’s director of middle school curriculum Barbi Chisholm previously said. And the district’s most recent curriculum for middle school social studies did not include a core resource, which many teachers felt was missing.

In addition to approving the curriculum change itself, the school board on Jan. 26 also approved the purchase of course materials for the new social studies curriculum, which is expected to cost the district $650,000.

Part of the rationale for the change also comes from state mandates related to teaching U.S. history, according to officials. Chisholm explained previously that most of the state’s instructional mandates are being covered in eighth grade, but the modified curriculum would allow those requirements to be distributed across two years.

As for eliminating ancient history in eighth grade, Chisholm has said that the sixth-grade curriculum will incorporate the study of world cultures, including their historical context.

District students can expect to see the new social studies curriculum starting in the fall.

mmorrow@chicagotribune.com

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/02/indian-prairie-middle-school-social-studies-curriculum/