%0 Journal Article
%T Policy in the Way of Practice: How Assessment Legislation Is Affecting Social Studies Curriculum and Instruction in Ohio
%A Thomas Misco
%A Nancy Patterson
%A Frans Doppen
%J International Journal of Education Policy and Leadership
%D 2011
%I Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Simon Fraser University, George Mason University
%X In a national context of standards and high-stakes testing, concerns are emerging about challenges to the already tenuous position of the citizenship mission in the social studies curriculum. In this qualitative study, the authors administered a survey to social studies teachers in Ohio and conducted follow-up interviews focusing on the present purposes of social studies and the ways in which standards and testing are affecting instructional practice. The findings reveal a perception of standards as being of high quality, yet ultimately undermined through changes in scope and se-quence, narrowing of the curriculum, and a paucity of time to enact them. In addition, respondents indicated that high-stakes testing has become the primary curricular focus, which impacts instructional strategy decision making and frustrates citizenship education.
%K practice
%K policy
%K legislation
%K social studies
%K ohio
%K curriculum
%U http://journals.sfu.ca/ijepl/index.php/ijepl/issue/view/58