No Child Left Behind has profoundly limited the teaching of history over the past 10 years. Now, the Common Core State Standards offers an opportunity to reverse this decline by giving history a more prominent place in the school curriculum alongside literacy goals. Learning history and argumentative writing is key to developing analytical ways of thinking that prepare students for college, career, and democratic life. The good news is that schools can achieve both of these goals with the same effort. Learning history can lead to literacy gains if students learn by doing history.