Middle Grade Social Science

Middle-Grade Social Science

Any teacher candidate applying for an initial IL teaching license and seeking a subsequent middle-grade social science endorsement to be added to an elementary or high school Professional Educator License will need to meet Illinois middle-grade social science requirements of

• 18 semester hours in the social sciences, including HIST 325, the two-hour methods course
• Pass the middle-level social science content exam. (this is in-addition to the elementary or secondary content area tests)

Illinois no longer designates coursework to meet the middle-grade social science endorsement requirements. Any history or social science course counted toward the middle-grade endorsement must have a final grade of C- or higher.

Recommended courses

• HIST 102 or 103 Exploring the Global Past or Exploring the American Past (4 hrs.)
• HIST 251 or 252 American History to 1865 and from 1865 (4 hrs.)
• ECON 211 Principles of Microeconomics (4 hrs.)
• PSCI 135 American Politics and Government (4 hrs.)
• GEOG 211 General Geography (2 hrs. offered in fall)
• HIST 325 Methods of Teaching Middle Grade History/SSCI (2 hrs. offered in spring- Elementary take this course the Spring after their student teaching placement)
• SSCI 321 Elementary and Middle School Curricular Themes in Social Science (2 hrs. Elementary Education majors only, taken during elementary methods block)

Practica Options

• Students who already know by sophomore year that they are majoring in History and Secondary Education or are getting the Middle-School Social Science Endorsement should be placed in a middle school for their 225L practicum.
• If not placed in a middle-school for 225L, students have the option of taking the Middle-Grade Practicum 405L/507L or of student teaching in a middle school to fulfill the requirements of the middle grade endorsement.