NEW ULM — The District 88 School Board formally approved a review for the school’s K-12 Social Studies Program.

Curriculum and Instructor Coordinator Amanda Thorson and district teachers Tiffany Gasow, Miles Wangensteen and Rebekah Gordon provided a breakdown of the curriculum by school building.

Gasow said at WLC and Jefferson the district is to foster inclusive, student-centered learning environments. The goal in kindergarten and grade school is start with the basics of social studies.

In kindergarten, students will spend an hour per week on social studies spread over five days. In first and second grade, students will have an hour of social studies each week spread over two days.

In third grade the students will have six weeks on and six weeks off of social studies for 30 minutes per day. By fourth grade this will expand to 40 minutes every day on a four weeks and four weeks off basis.

In middle school, students will go beyond the basics and take a deep dive into history and global studies.

“We’re an introduction to formal social studies learning for most students in the district,” Wangensteen said. “It is the first time they will have a formal history class, it is the first time they will learn about the world in global studies. We really set up a foundation for future citizenship.”

The scope of the middle school program is broken up between history course and global studies.

In fifth grade students will take U.S. History from prehistory to 1700s covering the North America before contact with Europe up through the founding of the United States. In tixth grade, classes will learn about Minnesota History. In seventh grade, student go back to studying U.S. History cover the 1700s up to the present. In eighth grade the students learn about global studies

“History courses are building foundational knowledge about the countries students are living and growing up in and allowing them to gain appreciation for all the different levels of their society,” Wangensteen said. “When students come into my class, they on average know about three countries in the world, but the time they leave, the average is in the 70s.”

The new social studies program is a legislative required standard, which will begin with the 2026-2027 school year.

Wangensteen said as a department, social studies teachers are focusing on summarization and comprehension skills to determine if students have learned the material.

He wanted students to be able to explain historical events as if it were a story rather than use rote memorization for dates, names of people and places. The department will also be teaching students to read and comprehend non-fiction sources and emphasize verbal communication.

Wangensteen explained that with new technologies, students are communicating verbally less and less. The goal is get them to speak with others outside their circle of friend. The idea is to teach them to communicate with a variety of different people, which is a lifelong skill.

On the high school level, Gordon said the curriculum standard focuses on including multiple perspectives and focuses on cultural awareness and problem solving. This is to help students understand important political, geographical issue, economic and social issues of our contemporary and historical world.

“They need to understand what happened before so they can understand what is happening now,” Gordon said.

As the students move through different buildings, they build on their knowledge, adding in concept like economics, geography and citizenship.

Gordon said one of the new requirements for the social studies standard was to increase information on Indigenous civilizations. The district is working to review its curriculum to see where additional instruction is required. The school is also working on creating a new that implements ethnic studies. Ethnic studies are part of the new state standards. Districts have the options of creating a stand alone ethnic studies course or embedding ethnics studies into existing courses.

Gordon said the district decided to do both; create a new course but increase instruction in other courses. This was to give students greater freedom to select elective courses rather than require specific classes.

In ninth grade students will take American History classes. In 10th grade they will take world history. In 11th and 12th grade students must take a combination of three courses in social studies field. This can include economics, human geography, American government and political science.

Gordon said most of these class options will include AP course options for students seeking college credit.

Superintendent Sean Koster thanked the staff for the work they went into this review. He said this review represents the tip of the iceberg in terms of the work they have done.

“Looking at the complexity of all the work that is going on, I want to say thank you from a district standpoint,” he said.

Thorson said the most challenging part of creating the new social studies program was the legislative process. She said it was long an arduous work to make sure the district is current on its curriculum and supportive of the state requirements and the district needs.

The new social studies program will go into effect during the 2026-2027 school year.