Junior high students will have a few changes in their social studies curriculum in the upcoming school year.

In August 2022, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb signed the House Enrolled Act 1384 into law. This act states civics education will be a required course for all Indiana middle schoolers.

The class will focus on teaching students the basics about government, politics and civic engagement.

Recommended by the Indiana Civic Education Task Force back in 2020, the act will be mainly focused on sixth grade students. All sixth grade students will be required to take a semester of civics education. The class will take place during the second semester of their social studies class sixth grade year.

The remaining curriculum, currently taught during the second semester social studies class, will be implemented into their seventh and eighth grade social studies classes at PHS.

Therefore, junior high students at PHS will be learning different materials in the 2023-2024 school year. Some of what they learn in their junior high social studies classes will be the standards initially covered during the second semester of their sixth grade year.

The new civics education class will not only help students grow more aware of government and political issues, but it will also prepare them for future classes in high school.