A History of Mission-Driven Innovation

foundation

Engaged. Informed. Active.
Better social studies education for a better world.

We give educators the tools they need to be agents of change in their classroom. Our curricula are designed to help PreK-12 students develop the skills to analyze the world around them, ask good questions, communicate their ideas, and take informed action.

Engaged, informed and active students become life-long learners prepared to traverse the worlds of college, career, civic life and beyond. When students have the confidence and tools to lean into issues of the day, wrestling with solutions effectively and respectively, then we’ve achieved success. Together, we work to create a better world.

This is in our DNA

We were founded on the same core principles that frame our work today.

In 1965, the company founders—Sandy Weiner, a CPA, and Irwin Levin, a middle school teacher—had a passion for civic engagement and a knack for asking tough questions. To help educators go beyond the textbook, they began to source a wide variety of high-quality learning materials and started distributing them through catalogs. Social Studies School Service emerged as an innovative and impactful distributor for the K-12 market.

Since 2002, under the leadership of second-generation owners David Weiner and Aaron Willis, the company has forged a new path as a publisher, developing both core and supplemental curriculum that aim to advance students’ abilities to think critically and ask good questions. With our programs being used in over 80% of the country’s school districts, the company has become a national leader in social studies education.

A Tapestry of Great Ideas

Since the 1960s, Social Studies School Service has grown by adding some of the most innovative and respected education companies to our family.

Explore Our Brands

Expand Your Classroom

From Chaos to Clarity: Building a Vertically Aligned Blueprint That Ensures Student Proficiency

By Amanda Bodenstein

Picture two students....

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Getting Away from Sit and Get

By Kimberly Peña

A significant change from passive history learning to active historical inquiry is represented by the incorporation of primary sources into ...

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Exploring African American History Through the Black Historical Consciousness Principles

By Social Studies School Service

As social studies educators, we are constantly navigating an important question: How do we teach history in ways that are both academically ri...

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