Social Studies Resources for Teachers & Students from Government Sources: Federal Resources

Education finance data include revenues, expenditures, debt, and assets [cash and security holdings] of elementary and secondary public-school systems. Statistics cover school systems in all states, and include the District of Columbia.

Every 10 years, the U.S. Census Bureau conducts a census to determine the number of people living in the United States. The first U.S. census was in 1790 during the first term of our first president, George Washington. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson led the effort. Beginning with the 1790 Decennial Census, select a date to view!

This is a data access and dissemination system that provides useful facts and information about your community, your economy, and your society. The system will find and retrieve the information you need from some of the Census Bureau’s largest data sets.

Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes (select PSEO tab) are experimental tabulations developed by researchers at the U.S. Census Bureau. PSEO data provide earnings and employment outcomes for college and university graduates by degree level, degree major, and post-secondary institution. These statistics are generated by matching university transcript data with a national database of jobs, using state-of-the-art confidentiality protection mechanisms to protect the underlying data.

The U.S. Census Bureau’s Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates program produces single-year estimates of income and poverty for all U.S. states and counties as well as estimates of school-age children in poverty for all 13,000+ school districts.

The U.S. Census Bureau is the leading source of statistical information about the nation’s people, places, and economy, providing not only snapshots of the nation’s population size and growth, but also detailed portraits of the changing characteristics of our communities. They are uniquely qualified to help teachers and students learn and apply statistics because we are the primary source of economic and demographic data for the U.S. and employ thousands of statistical experts. Topics include: State Facts for Students, Math, History, English, Geography, and Sociology.

QuickFacts provides statistics for all states and counties, and for cities and towns with a population of 5,000 or more.

"This Federal Trade Commission campaign aims to educate tweens (kids ages 8 to 12) about advertising so they can become more discerning consumers of information."

Econlowdown incorporates Common Core Standards award-winning, FREE classroom resources for K-16 educators to use to teach about money and banking, economics, personal finance and the Federal Reserve.

Classroom resources (lesson plans, publications, activities) by grade (K-4, 5-8, 9-12) and topic (Federal Reserve, Personal Finance, Banking, Financial Fundamentals, Economics, Money, Monetary Policy); Multimedia (videos, podcasts, games & simulation, quizzes)

Help people of all ages learn how to manage money with free easy-to-use FDIC Money Smart Resources

Provides national statistics on career and technical education and work preparation, from high school to adult & postsecondary.

The Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs contains information reported to the U.S. Department of Education directly by recognized accrediting agencies and state approval agencies that have been asked to provide information for each institution and/or program accredited by that agency. This reported information is not audited.

The primary purpose of the Digest of Education Statistics is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from prekindergarten through graduate school.

Statistics and articles about educational attainment in the U.S.

This is a database for information on U.S. colleges, universities, and technical and vocational institutions. Users can search by college, compare colleges, and use a variety of data tools.

The NCES Kids' Zone provides information to help you learn about schools; decide on a college; find a public library; engage in several games, quizzes and skill building about math, probability, graphing, and mathematicians; and to learn many interesting facts about education.

"Ben's Guide to the U.S. Government, a service of the Government Publishing Office (GPO), is designed to inform students, parents, and educators about the Federal Government, which issues the publications and information products disseminated by the GPO’s Federal Depository Library Program. It is our hope that Ben’s Guide to the U.S. Government fulfills that role." -- From Ben's Guide "About this site" web page.

"The bibliographies listed have been compiled to guide researchers and readers to resources on the Senate and House, the Constitution, the Capitol, and Washington, D.C."

Since 1859, the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress has been the primary source for biographical information on Members of the United States Congress and Continental Congresses.

"The Book of the States has been the reference tool of choice since 1935, providing relevant, accurate and timely information, answers and comparisons for all 56 states, commonwealths and territories of the United States."
- State Constitutions
- State Legislative, Executive & Judicial Branches
- Elections
- State Finance
- Selected State Policies & Programs

Presented by the Library of Congress, Congress.gov is the official website for U.S. federal legislative information.

Through this website, you can read and search through thousands of records from George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison and see firsthand the growth of democracy and the birth of the Republic.

Presidential Libraries and Museums promote understanding of the presidency and the American experience. We preserve and provide access to historical materials, support research, and create interactive programs and exhibits that educate and inspire. Visit all the presidential libraries online from this main page!

Provides links to State Blue Books, which usually describe the organizational structure of state government and provide basic facts about the state.

Grade levels 9-12. Classroom and courtroom activities apply contemporary Supreme Court cases to today’s teen issues, creating a unique niche in civics education. Court simulations offer real-life experiences with judges and attorneys at local federal courthouses. All participants are involved in the courtroom action, most importantly, as jurors. The activities are supported by interactive web resources and multimedia tools, including videos and podcasts on court fundamentals.

Students learn about the past through primary sources; educators can discover documents, explore online activities, and create learning activities. Major links to Special Topics and National History Day resources.

Over 181,000 searchable documents, fully annotated, from George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams (and family), Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison.

This website provides information about coins and includes fun games that teach counting with coins and making change.

- New & Cool
- Favorites
- Games & Activities

Links to each of the National Scenic and Historic Trails keep history alive by offering free publications, online exhibits, videos, audio podcasts, photo galleries and virtual activities for students!

Native Knowledge 360° (NK360°) provides educators and students with new perspectives on Native American history and cultures. Explore lesson plans, student programs, virtual field trips, and more.

Presidential Libraries and Museums promote understanding of the presidency and the American experience. We preserve and provide access to historical materials, support research, and create interactive programs and exhibits that educate and inspire. Visit all the presidential libraries online from this main page!

The Smithsonian Learning Lab makes it possible for educators to search, annotate, share, and create learning resources based on the museum's rich digital material, consisting of more than a million images, recordings, and texts. Search results are displayed visually to make quick selection easy. There is also a series of minute-long videos that outline how to search, adapt, create, customize, and share creations. Almost 1,200 collections created by participants and Smithsonian education and outreach staff are browsable in the Learning Lab Collections category, on topics ranging from "Innovations in Coffee Cup Lids" to "What Makes a First Lady?" to "Origami Cranes." Anyone can search; sign up for an account to use more advanced features of Learning Lab, such as saving and publishing collections, using the question function to associate questions with an artifact, and assigning topic, age and grade level, or type of student activity tags to a collection.

More than half the National Park Service's 384 units were added to the system primarily because of their historical or cultural significance. The six lessons in Explore Your National Parks: Historic Places illustrate how parks document many of the most important developments in American history. Lessons: San Antonio Missions: Spanish Influence in Texas; The Old Courhouse in St. Louis: Yesterday and Today; Choices and Commitments: The Soldiers at Gettysburg; The Invention Factory: Thomas Edison’s Laboratories; Remembering Pearl Harbor: The USS Arizona Memorial; First Lady of the World: Eleanor Roosevelt at Val-Kill.

Are you searching for information about a veteran buried overseas? This register includes the records for those buried and memorialized at our World War I and World War II overseas military cemeteries, along with those names on the Walls of the Missing at the East Coast Memorial, West Coast Memorial, and Honolulu Memorial. Burial information can also be found for those interred at Corozal American Cemetery and Mexico City National Cemetery. This register does not include individuals who died overseas in World War I or World War II and were repatriated to the United States for burial.

Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1789-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.

Classroom Materials created by teachers for teachers, these ready-to-use materials provide easy ways to incorporate the Library’s unparalleled primary sources into instruction.

Lesson Plans: Teacher-created, classroom-tested lesson plans using primary sources from the Library of Congress.

Presentations and Activities look across the American Memory collections to investigate curricular themes. They include historical background, helping to tell the story behind the theme.

Primary Sources are the raw materials of history — original documents and objects which were created at the time under study.

This webpage offers classroom materials and professional development materials to help teachers effectively use primary sources from the Library's vast digital collections in their teaching. Website includes links to Library of Congress resources for teachers, including the Memory Collection, Today in History, etc. Also included are resources useful for parents and children and librarians, such as the Student Discovery Sets (free ebooks) which are in the Classroom Materials section, under the Primary Source Sets.

This web site shares details about how to do an oral history project.