If social studies is going to contribute to the overall qualitative improvement of public schools, educators must agree on a social studies core curriculum for all students. Social studies educators can take credit for having had a role in the maintenance of one of the world's oldest constitutional democracies, and as a national assessment revealed, for the fact that 70 percent of public school students are learning what social studies intends. However, a serious roadblock to dramatic improvement in social studies instruction is the current state of curriculum ambiguity. Teachers need to coalesce around a defined core, which would occupy 50-60 percent of the time allocated for a course, still leaving room for flexibility to respond to student interests, contemporary events, and special teacher strengths. Educators can begin by agreeing that a re-examination of social studies is needed, determining what is taught in classrooms or developing assessment programs, presenting the analysis to the school board, and participating in social studies assessment at the state level. Many professional organizations as well as the ERIC data base offer help in defining a social studies core curriculum. (RM)