Efforts to bring human rights (HR) and international humanitarian law (IHL) into the mainstream of social studies education in the United States often encounter roadblocks and digressions that are difficult to understand from outside the arena of US public education. Educational standards, curricula and core practices in U.S. public schools combine to create a formidable structure for educators who want to assure that no child completes public school without experiencing human rights friendly education and encountering HR/IHL course content. This article will introduce the Human Rights Education Community within the National Council for the Social Studies and highlight some initial efforts to make Human Rights Education (HRE) more visible in the core social studies canon that students encounter in their public school education. It concludes with a look at the next steps that will need to take place if NCSS' recent support for HRE is to manifest in genuine instructional change.