Educators are faced with standardized testing weighing heavily as the basis of the curriculum. Several education policies have been put in place to support accountability in education but have created a decline in social studies instruction (Gaudelli & Laverty, 2018). This transcendental phenomenological qualitative study sought to bring awareness to a method for increasing social studies instruction in upper elementary classrooms in Texas through a socio-critical literacy theory. This study set out to answer the question, will a socio-critical literacy approach to literacy instruction increase the amount of social studies taught in upper elementary classrooms in Texas? Nine participants were interviewed through snowball sampling to identify their lived experience of an integrated method of literacy and social studies to determine if it increases the time spent on social studies. Although it was found that socio-critical literacy theory did not add more time for social studies due to the inconsistency of implementation, it did however directly align with the tenets of social studies and literacy integration. This study provided additional research specific to elementary, on the integration of social studies and literacy which differs from other work that focuses on secondary social studies. This research is important because the study allows educators to learn a theory that ties social studies instruction to literacy and benefits students in upper elementary classrooms. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]