Chapter 2: The State of State-Level History Tests

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation has put the nation on alert: Standardized testing is the coin of the educational realm. State-level protests against NCLB notwithstanding, the Bush education plan rests squarely on tests. But not all testing counts the same at the national level. Reading and mathematics tests have clear preference as measures of student and school success. Testing in science and social studies merits mention in the NCLB guidelines, but more as afterthought than as essential.

The focus on reading and mathematics is not new. Policymakers and the public have long noted student performance on reading and mathematics testing. Teachers, especially those at the elementary level would seem to agree. Surveys consistently show that teachers give far more classroom attention to reading and mathematics than to science and social studies (Mathison, 2003). Most states require some number of science and social studies courses at the high school level. But while virtually every state tests students’ reading and mathematics abilities, state-level science and social studies tests are not a given.