This volume offers one possible focus, called "Social Roles," for K-12 social studies education that the authors believe can help in resolving the six problems and in achieving the desired states identified by Project SPAN (Social Studies/Social Science Education: Priorities, Practices, and Needs). The report contains four sections. In the first section, "A Perspective on Social Roles," each of the social roles--citizen, worker, consumer, family member, friend, member of social groups, and self--is described. Also included are a justification for the approach and an explanation of how it can help alleviate the six problems and achieve the desired states identified by the project. This section concludes with a brief summary of other curriculum orientations similar to the social roles approach and answers to questions concerning the implications of this approach for the present social studies curriculum. The second section, "Using Social Roles to Organize K-12 Social Studies," shows how this framework might be used as the basis for a K-12 curriculum. A brief summary of the advantages of a social-roles approach for K-12 social studies concludes this section. "Social Roles: The Main Ideas," the third section, presents a succinct, point-by-point description of the main ideas related to each of the seven social roles. Listed for each role are 10 or more main ideas that could be emphasized in the social studies curriculum. The volume concludes with "Social Roles: Relating the Main Ideas to Topics and Courses," which illustrates how social roles can be used as a basis for refocusing existing secondary social studies courses. (Author/RM)