The social studies curriculum should be assessed continuously to bring in the latest research, trends, and recommendations of experts. A survey of teachers, administrators, parents, and other community members may be conducted to determine preferences for the curriculum. An effort should be made to decide what is in the curriculum and what should be included. Some suggestions are made about items that might be included on a questionnaire about the social studies curriculum. A way of determining the scope of the curriculum is to look at the social science disciplines that provide the content for social studies in the schools. Another approach is to look at the 10 themes identified by the National Council for the Social Studies. An additional approach relies on the careful selection of basic textbooks and then expanding this material to emphasize relevance to the students. After the scope of the curriculum has been decided, teachers need to select the objectives for student attainment in terms of knowledge and skills. A variety of evaluation techniques must then be used to find out what students have learned. (Contains 14 references.) (SLD)