From a Roar to a Murmur: Virginia's History & Social Science Standards, 1995–2009

Abstract

The authors trace the development and implementation of Virginia's History and Social Science standards-based accountability system from 1995 to 2009. They frame the study within an examination of the political ideologies that influence policy realization and unpack the relationship between ideological and epistemological beliefs about the nature of disciplinary knowledge and arguments regarding what knowledge is of most worth and whose voices should be included. While initial policy implementation created vociferous reactions, subsequent revisions have been met with silence. Such acquiescence, the authors suggest, reflects the ways in which high stakes testing as a vehicle for assessing learning has become normalized in Virginia. This shift in beliefs about education foreshadows the potential impact of the nationwide accountability movement and raises a concern that if Virginia ceased to test history and social science, its place within the school schedule would be lost to content areas that impact Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).