Chapter 9: Teaching in a High-Stakes Testing Setting: What Becomes of Teacher Knowledge?

The nationwide instantiation of the Texas accountability blueprint into No Child Left Behind elevated the state’s educational system to near mythical/miracle status (Haney, 2000). New curricula and new tests created tensions and debates regarding reading, writing, and mathematics and the use of high-stakes exams to measure both student and teacher performance. However, only recently did Texas state legislators decide to add social studies to the testing landscape. For nearly 2 decades, social studies educators remained outside the policymakers’ interests. In the spring of 2004, however, an 11th grade Social Studies Exit Level Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) assumed its place alongside the other high-stakes tests in Texas public schools.