Since 1967, New Jersey statutory law has mandated that a two-year course of study in United States History be taught “during the last four years of high school” (NJSA 18A:35-1). This two-year high school course was required to include: “the principles and ideals of the American form of representative government;” “the history of the origin and growth of the social, economic and cultural development of the United States;” and “the history of the State of New Jersey” (NJSA 18A: 35-2). Most high school teachers were not integrating civics, economics or New Jersey history into their U.S. History course because the resources for teaching high school civics, economics and New Jersey history simply did not exist. To rectify this deficiency, the New Jersey legislature passed and New Jersey Governor Murphy signed a new law in 2021 directing the New Jersey Center for Civic Education at Rutgers, the State University, to “prepare curriculum guidelines and provide professional development for high school social studies teachers to help local school boards in fulfilling the requirements of integrating civics, economics and the history of New Jersey as part of the required United State history course” (NJSA 18A: 25-2.1).
More than a dozen New Jersey social studies teachers and supervisors and university faculty worked with the New Jersey Center for Civic Education to prepare this curriculum guide for integrating civics, economics, and New Jersey history into the high school United States History course. The document includes a variety of suggested lessons, activities, and resources that New Jersey high school teachers may choose to add to their United States history course to integrate civics, economics and New Jersey history. It is a living document that will be revised, improved and expanded each year. Links are provided to a variety of resources that are available free of charge. However, some sources, such as iCivics, the National Archives, DocsTeach, PBS Learning Center, and Stanford History Education Group, may require that you register and sign in to access and download all documents.