(FRANKFORT, KY) – During the Superintendents Webcast on July 7, the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) unveiled a new, upcoming K-8 social studies curriculum.
“This will be a high-quality instructional resource built from Kentucky, not adapted to Kentucky,” said Commissioner of Education Robbie Fletcher. “It will reflect our communities, civic life, economics, geography, and history. It will also ensure every K-8 student has access to vibrant, coherent social studies instruction.”
Micki Marinelli, KDE’s chief academic officer, explained details of the new statewide partnership with the Core Knowledge Foundation. The K-8 curriculum, entitled “Our Commonwealth, Our Nation, Our World,” is being built specifically for Kentucky students and educators and is a high-quality instructional resource that is directly aligned with the Kentucky Academic Standards (KAS) for Social Studies.
Marinelli said the partnership comes after conversations with school leaders in Kentucky about the need for high-quality, standards-aligned social studies materials, and this partnership allows Kentucky to develop those materials.
“Districts across the Commonwealth have consistently requested high-quality, standards-aligned social studies materials, and current market options often require significant local adaptation,” said Marinelli. “This partnership allows Kentucky to create materials anchored in the KAS as the foundation rather than retrofitting resources designed elsewhere.”
“We feel that’s important because ultimately this resource will be grounded in learning from your communities; from Kentucky places, stories and contexts, and we’re very excited about that,” Marinelli said.
Often shortened to “Our Commonwealth,” the curriculum will integrate civics, economics, geography and history around grade-level themes that build knowledge cumulatively across K-8. The curriculum reflects the KAS for Social Studies design principle that content knowledge and inquiry are inseparable, and that deep knowledge in civics, economics, geography and history strengthens students’ reading comprehension, vocabulary and academic language.
Marinelli explained the partnership with Core Knowledge Foundation, telling superintendents the organization brings deep expertise in knowledge-rich curriculum design. KDE will ensure alignment to KAS for Social Studies and community priorities.
Marinelli said the goal of the partnership is to create an optional high-quality instructional resource for districts that is open-source and free to use. The opt-in resource, including all units and lesson plans, will be free for digital download, with assessments and answer keys hosted on the KY Learning Hub. Low-cost print student workbooks also will be available.
“This is not a mandated instructional resource, but we hope it’s one that you will find helpful and that many districts will see it as being valuable and that will opt-in to utilize the resources,” Marinelli said. “And again, the goal is that this will contribute to our vision for vibrant, meaningful social studies instruction for K-8 students across our state.”
Materials will be released in phases: kindergarten and grades 3, 5 and 8 in 2027-2028, followed by grades 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7 in 2028-2029. Comprehensive curriculum-based professional learning will accompany each release, including regional in-person summer learning sessions, live virtual follow-ups throughout the academic year, and self-paced modules on the KY Learning Hub.
“We are humbled and grateful to have the opportunity to partner with the KDE team to develop a curriculum to meet the specific needs of Kentucky,” said Beth Battle Anderson, chief executive officer of the Core Knowledge Foundation (CKF). “CKF brings deep expertise in knowledge-rich curriculum design, and all of that expertise is being applied to what Kentucky says its students should know and be able to do. Kentucky educators will have access to social studies materials that genuinely reflect their state’s vision.”
KDE will share more details about the curriculum, professional learning opportunities and timelines as development progresses. Educators and district leaders who wish to stay informed are encouraged to follow the Office of Teaching and Learning’s Standards Newsletter. To subscribe to the Standards Newsletter, interested educators may submit their name and email address on KYStandards.org.
In other presentations, superintendents also heard about:
- New waiver request forms to go along with recent changes to the waiver request process;
- An update on the 2026-2027 improvement planning platform for school districts.
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