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…

In this essay, the authors explore the structures, processes, and messages that accountability reforms communicate about the goals and means of coming to know history. In other words, how do existing history standards and formal curricula officialize certain orientations toward historical knowledge and traditions through which that knowledge is…

In 1995 the Virginia Board of Education adopted new Standards of Learning in four core subject areas: mathematics, science, English, and history and social science. The new standards set targets and expectations for what teachers need to teach and students need to learn. The requirement is designed to provide greater accountability on the part of…

These two issues of "Virginia Resolves" provide articles of interest to the social studies reader and provides ideas for social studies instruction and curriculum. The fall issue features seven articles: (1) "Death and the Young Child" (Rosanne J. Marek); (2) "Simulations: Bibliography for the Middle and Elementary…