Ohio Academic Content Standards for Social Studies include benchmarks and indicators for each standard. Benchmarks are provided for K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-10 and 11-12. Indicators are provided for each grade and there is one standard for each discipline area. Two of these are "Government" and "Citizenship Rights and Responsibilities." The citizenship standard is: "Students use knowledge of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship in order to examine and evaluate civic ideals and to participate in community life and the American democratic system."

The standards document contains sections on "Alignment of Benchmarks and Indicators" and "Instructional Commentary" to assist teachers in designing their curriculum. There is also a District Curriculum Alignment Tool for social studies. Ohio's Model Competency Based Program for the Social Studies (1999) includes the following goal: "To enable learners to work with others, make informed judgments and decisions, and act in accordance with democratic processes and principles." The instructional objectives for each grade level are organized under six strands, including the Democratic Processes strand and the Citizenship Rights and Responsibilities strand.