Examining the connections among teacher characteristics, instructional decision-making, and student learning in social studies education are both complicated and contentious. In the current study, we shed light on middle grades social studies teaching and learning--a black hole of research in the subject area. Using data from the National Assessment for Education Progress (NAEP) eighth grade U.S. history assessment, we explore the intersections of eighth grade social studies teachers' teacher education pathways, instructional, decision-making, and curricular structure on students' knowledge of history. Results suggest that teachers identified as having a social studies-inclusive teacher education background and who only teach social studies (as opposed to multiple subjects) were associated with higher average student performance on the NAEP exam. Findings have implications for middle grades social studies teacher education and how the subject is organized within middle schools.