Selected and condensed portions of five reports prepared by Project SPAN (Social Studies Priorities, Practices, and Needs) are presented. The purpose of Project SPAN was to describe and assess the current and recent state of social studies/social science education, designate desired states to which social studies might or should aspire, and shape recommendations as to how those desired states might be approached. There are four sections. The first section, drawn mostly from the conclusion of an extensive report written by Hazel Whitman Hertzberg as historical background for the project, describes efforts to reform social studies during the period 1880-1980. The second section focuses on the current state of five critical elements in social studies programming and instruction: rationales, goals, and objectives; curriculum patterns; curriculum materials; teachers; and instructional practices. The third section, "The Future of Social Studies," describes in some detail the six major problems that SPAN staff and consultants believe need to be faced in the 1980s, the "desired states" toward which social studies educators might strive, and recommendations flowing from a comparison of current states and the problems associated with the desired states. The fourth section describes one of the several major alternatives to the current pattern of social studies considered by the SPAN staff and consultants. The alternative is a social roles approach to social studies. (Author/RM)