The mission or goal of the Secondary Social Studies Education program is to enable graduates to assist young people's development of the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world. The objectives of the program are to ensure that graduates are knowledgeable, committed, and competent. Graduates should possess the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to incorporate the INTASC, NCSS, ISTE, and PA Academic standards. The program uses Charlotte Danielson's Conceptual Framework to implement goals and objectives and insure the success of the program. Danielson's model includes four domains: planning and preparation, instruction, classroom environment, and professional responsibilities. The domains encompass the mission, objectives, and standards and provide a mechanism to assess whether candidates have acquired and learned to apply the professional and pedagogical knowledge and skills needed to ensure that all students learn.

The content and pedagogy courses as well as the field experiences are sequenced proceeding from the basic foundation course work and experiences to the more advanced and complex. The IUP Secondary Social Studies Education program follows the College of Education 's three-step process and the social studies guidelines to evaluate a student's competence to pass from one step the next. Student must meet certain course and performance criteria at each step. The faculty is evaluated on a regular basis and exhibits a high level of intellectual vitality. The social studies faculty works collaboratively with the university community and local school teachers to strengthen the IUP Secondary Social Studies program. To exit the program, students must demonstrate that they have mastered a set of competencies, which are published in program documents. The competencies reflect the knowledge and skill dimensions established in Chapter 354 and incorporate the Pennsylvania Academic Standards.