Welcome!
CALIS is a legacy outreach project of the School of International Relations dedicated to advancing teaching excellence in social science education.
Through our service-learning programs, USC students team-teach in local schools and act as a driving force for academic innovation and socially relevant scholarship in CALIS development of strategies and materials.
As USC teams teach locally, CALIS is better able to reach globally to provide analytical tools that help effectively manage controversial and complex challenges.
Our mission
Build the Change!
Build the change! is a liberty we’ve taken with a very popular maxim.
The CALIS mission is to help create a transformation in social science education ─with USC student outreach as a driving force in the process.
In the push for change, what is the change? What are the new strategies and materials— and the paradigm shift that guides them?
The shift is student-driven analysis, and the foundation is case teaching with analytical tools.
CALIS earned national recognition for innovation in teaching secondary social science. Through the Teaching International Relations Program (TIRP), CALIS places up to 150 USC students annually in local schools to team-teach complex human issues. TIRP teams are supported with a database ─combining tools, cases and varied complementary materials. The database is a free resource on the worldwide web.
Excellent teaching is measured by real learning… of relevant content and rigorous skills. Along with “meaningful study for a global age”, we seek to impact college readiness and help close the achievement gap.
Build Perspective
Tackle complexity and controversy with depth and accountability by using analytical tools and case teaching
Teach Locally
Bring together USC students and faculty with teachers and their students, working together in local classrooms and seminars on campus
Reach Globally
Make our resources and services accessible – locally and globally – to those who share the vision of a new paradigm in teaching and learning about the human condition