How We Build Studies Weekly Curriculum
How Curriculum Was Built in the Past
Studies Weekly started in 1984 when a teacher, Paul Thompson, decided to fill the need for fun and engaging Social Studies content. Paul Thompson’s vision was simple. He wanted to build engaging social studies content for the children of Utah that taught them about their state.
He wrote the very first publication himself and then expanded his reach through a few contributors. In later years, he used many freelance contributors guided by a diversity board.
Over time, as the company grew to partner with more states, new processes were needed to bring that original vision of engaging, state-specific content to states across the nation in an accurate, standards-based manner.
How Curriculum is Built Today
Over the next several decades, Studies Weekly grew and added state-specific products that were adopted in California, Florida, Texas and many other states. As we expanded, requirements for rigor and historical accuracy also grew across the nation.
Today, we still start with the standards, but we include a robust layer of product management and academic research. Each publication reflects the needs and culture of the state, and to ensure that, we gather feedback directly from administrators, teachers, and students in each state we create for. Our curriculum team uses the latest academic research to be a true partner with teachers as they learn new content themselves, and lead their students in thinking critically about social studies.
Creating quality content wouldn’t be possible without a focus on primary sources. Studies Weekly uses sources from documents, photos, maps, recordings, authentic phenomena, etc. that let students get close to history or science. Some of our sources come from the Library of Congress, state archives and museums, and national museums. We strive to make a wide range of materials and perspectives available as appropriate to the standards so that all students can find relevance in social studies and science.
Because of this approach, Studies Weekly has no need for a historical or scientific agenda. Our goal is to remove bias and teach students how to use the lens of a historian or scientist to learn about history and science objectively, think critically, and draw their own conclusions.
With quality curated content central to our mission, we keep content development in-house. Expert reviewers and consultants for each state act as SMEs (subject matter experts) to guide our work and train our team. Guided by these state-specific educators and experts, we follow LEAN product development. Over the past several years, Studies Weekly has made significant investments in strengthening our curriculum, expanding our team, and refining our processes.
We remain committed to continuous self-evaluation, high-quality instructional design, and accurate, balanced, engaging content.
As education evolves, we will continue to grow, ensuring that our curriculum supports both educators and students in meaningful, thoughtful learning.
Building Great Curriculum
Here is an outline of the steps that Studies Weekly Product Teams use:
- Blueprinting and Specifications
- Creation/Revision of Content
- External reviews
- Review of Written Content
- Pre-press Product Review
- First draft
- Final Pre-Proof
- Quality Control Final Review
- Pre-press Final Proof
Building Curriculum for the Future
We heavily invest in ongoing professional development, cultural perspective training, and seminars for our in-house content creators, to instill greater awareness as we conceptualize and design our curriculum programs.
Studies Weekly also has a highly knowledgeable product maintenance team that is responsible for ongoing improvements, addressing customer concerns, and adjusting product components to meet the ever-changing needs of educators. As a dedicated team, they work year-round on refining current publications without impacting the development of new products.
In addition to these innovations, our format has allowed us to be very nimble, including delivering mid-cycle updates for California and Texas, and addressing specific needs in South Dakota, Georgia, Ohio, and many others.
Studies Weekly continually updates the curriculum to align with the latest educational strategies and state standards. We will maintain this ongoing self-review to ensure that we continue evolving as a content provider.
Education evolves. So does Studies Weekly.
That’s Education. Evolved.