The Colorado System-Based Curriculum Project: Position Papers.

A social studies curriculum project is described which presents a blueprint for a Colorado community social profile study and suggests ideas for design of a national community model. The purpose of the project, intended for use on the elementary, intermediate, and secondary levels, is to help students develop skills to deal with mobility from community to community and from one life-style to another. The interim report on the project is presented as three papers and four appendices. The first paper describes the social profile of a community as a mirror with six dimensions: physical environment, history, people, economic base, political structure and process, and cultural view. The author classifies all American communities as either urban, rural nonfarm, or rural farm. The second paper discusses the relationship between the Colorado project, which encourages local autonomy in education, and the accountability movement which favors state control. The third paper explains how to construct a community social profile congruent with social science concepts. The appendices present information on social science disciplines, knowledge objectives of the curriculum, newspaper coverage of the project, and proceedings from meetings of the project members. (Author/DB)