Deep South End-of-Course Exams: Planning the Year Backwards

Quick answer: Start from the exam dates and work backwards. Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina all run high school end-of-course testing, Alabama tests through ACAP at grades 2 to 8 and high school, and Arkansas runs ATLAS with the ACT at grade 11. Fix those windows in the calendar first, then place units into the space that is left.

Which exams anchor the year in these five states?

The five states do not share one system. Louisiana requires LEAP High School end-of-course exams in English I and II, Algebra I, Geometry, US History and Biology for graduation. Mississippi's MAAP includes end-of-course tests in English II, Algebra I, Biology I and US History. South Carolina runs an End-of-Course Examination Program alongside SC READY at grades 3 to 8 and SCPASS in science and social studies.

Alabama and Arkansas sit differently again. Alabama's ACAP covers grades 2 through 8 and high school, with ACAP Alternate for eligible students. Arkansas replaced its former statewide system with ATLAS across grades 3 to 10 and gives the ACT at grade 11 under the LEARNS Act. A department working across the region is therefore planning against five calendars, not one.

How do I plan a US History year backwards?

Put the exam window on the calendar, then count back three weeks and mark that point as the end of new content. Everything after it is consolidation. Count back once more to your final unit and ask whether it can honestly be taught in the time left after the reading block and the testing calendar have taken their share. Most curriculum maps fail that test.

The habits an end-of-course exam rewards, reading a source and defending a claim, are built years earlier in middle-grades world history. Martin Luther & the Reformation – Teaching Resources for Grades 7–9 gives grades 7 through 9 a contained topic where argument is unavoidable, which prepares students for a document question better than another review packet does. Teach it in the fall, when there is still room to teach it properly.

What about the elementary end and the reading gates?

Every state here runs a literacy policy that shapes elementary timetables. Alabama has its Literacy Act, Mississippi the Literacy-Based Promotion Act, South Carolina the Read to Succeed Act, and Louisiana ties promotion at fourth and eighth grade to LEAP results, while the Arkansas LEARNS Act carries its own literacy and retention provisions. Social studies gets whatever the reading block leaves behind.

So make the history lesson carry the reading. Knights & Castles in the Middle Ages Unit – Worksheets, Projects & Slides (Grades 1–4) does this for grades 1 through 4, with short texts, labeling and picture work sitting inside the history content rather than bolted beside it. A principal defending a protected reading block is far more likely to leave your period alone when the reading in it is visible from the doorway.

How do I hold five calendars in one plan?

Build the year as blocks that can be resequenced, not as a chain. Each block needs its own opening, its own graded task and its own ending, so that a district testing in April and one testing in March can run the same material in a different order. Departments that span state lines need that flexibility more than they need a perfect sequence.

Thematic Social Studies Curriculum: Engage Minds, Inspire Change is built along those lines, with thematic units you can reorder around whichever exam window applies to your school. Teachers wanting the regional collection sorted by grade band can start from Deep South Teaching Resources (AL, AR, LA, MS, SC). If your planning runs state by state instead, Alabama Teaching Resources & Worksheets (Grades K–12) is the place to begin, since it lists the Alabama material grade by grade.

Frequently asked questions

Do all five states test US History at the end of a course?

Louisiana and Mississippi both name US History among their high school end-of-course tests. South Carolina runs an End-of-Course Examination Program, Alabama tests through ACAP at grades 2 to 8 and high school, and Arkansas uses ATLAS with the ACT at grade 11. Confirm your own state's current subject list before building a calendar on it.

Are these units aligned to any of these states' standards?

They are written as general history and social studies units, and you map each one to your own state's standards, which takes about a line per unit. These are independent teaching materials. They are not affiliated with, approved by or endorsed by any state department of education or examination authority.

I teach in schools in two states. Can one plan cover both?

Yes, provided the plan is modular. Keep the units interchangeable and the graded tasks general enough to map onto either state's standards, then change only the order and the vocabulary on the board. A source lesson does not change when you cross a state line.

Related reading

• Reading Gates in the Deep South and What They Cost
• Teaching an Elective When the Reading Block Takes the Time
• Deep South Teaching Resources (AL, AR, LA, MS, SC)