Fourscore will be an innovative and broadly useful system for teaching American history, government, and ELA, scheduled for launch of the pilot system in August 2024. It will offer educators one-stop shopping for everything they need to teach American history. The system has received widespread praise from leading education consultants, curriculum developers, and teachers.
A panel of master teachers and curriculum consultants is helping the non-partisan National Historical Society develop the content for Fourscore. Content will consist of high quality materials including thousands of articles published in American Heritage over 75 years. The material will include documents such as speeches, agreements, and letters, as well as historic images of paintings, photographs, historical artifacts, and maps.
Hundreds of collections of content will include essays bundled with documents, images, etc., and detailed suggestions for tasks that teachers can undertake in the classroom including compelling questions to ask and other teaching strategies. All of these tasks are then linked both to Common Core State Standards and the C3 Framework, the new standards for teaching history and social studies.
Fourscore will promote the use of historical documents for instruction in reading skills, analytical and critical thinking skills, problem solving, and writing skills — what are generally known as “English Language Arts” or “ELA.”
“Finding and integrating high quality non-fiction is a challenge for ELA teachers,” says Lyn Cannaday, a nationally certified teacher and Fellow with Student Achievement Partners. “This project is a godsend for busy teachers who want to move toward more meaningful texts.”