Urgent Call to Action: Important Update and Call for Public Comment on ESSA
Recent advocacy has resulted in a potential gain on SB 200 with the removal of the “hidden prompt” language. If this change remains intact as the bill moves through the legislative process, it would preserve the Permissive Local Alternative Assessment (PLAA) option for inquiry-based performance assessment and protect the ability to embed inquiry within instruction. This is an important development, and educators should continue to monitor how SB 200 evolves as it advances through committee and floor votes.
At the same time, this progress remains vulnerable.
PLAA applies only to courses not required for federal accountability under ESSA. If the proposed ESSA amendment moves forward and adds social studies to federal accountability, divisions would lose the PLAA inquiry-based performance assessment option in 4th/5th grade Virginia Studies, 7th/8th grade Civics, and 11th grade Virginia/U.S. History. In that scenario, inquiry-based performance assessment would be replaced with a single end-of-course multiple-choice test for accountability purposes. This shift would effectively eliminate the LAVC pathway for earning a verified credit in Virginia and U.S. History, a model currently being used successfully by divisions across the Commonwealth.
For this reason, ESSA remains the most significant policy issue facing social studies instruction and assessment in Virginia, even as SB 200 continues to move through the legislative process.
CALL FOR PUBLIC COMMENT ON ESSA:
The incoming administration has issued an executive order placing ESSA-related changes on hold while the Virginia Department of Education reviews accountability, assessment, and the School Performance and Support Framework. This pause creates an important opportunity for public input.
Educators, parents, and community members are encouraged to submit public comments urging Virginia to:
Social studies educators are not opposed to accountability. We are opposed to accountability systems that rely on one-day multiple-choice tests that distort instruction and reduce learning to memorization. Inquiry-based performance assessment holds students to higher expectations, not lower ones. It requires students to know more content, contextualize that content, analyze sources, and construct evidence-based claims over time.
At the same time, this progress remains vulnerable.
PLAA applies only to courses not required for federal accountability under ESSA. If the proposed ESSA amendment moves forward and adds social studies to federal accountability, divisions would lose the PLAA inquiry-based performance assessment option in 4th/5th grade Virginia Studies, 7th/8th grade Civics, and 11th grade Virginia/U.S. History. In that scenario, inquiry-based performance assessment would be replaced with a single end-of-course multiple-choice test for accountability purposes. This shift would effectively eliminate the LAVC pathway for earning a verified credit in Virginia and U.S. History, a model currently being used successfully by divisions across the Commonwealth.
For this reason, ESSA remains the most significant policy issue facing social studies instruction and assessment in Virginia, even as SB 200 continues to move through the legislative process.
CALL FOR PUBLIC COMMENT ON ESSA:
The incoming administration has issued an executive order placing ESSA-related changes on hold while the Virginia Department of Education reviews accountability, assessment, and the School Performance and Support Framework. This pause creates an important opportunity for public input.
Educators, parents, and community members are encouraged to submit public comments urging Virginia to:
- Keep social studies out of federal ESSA accountability, while clearly affirming that social studies educators support accountability when it is built on the right kind of assessment
- Preserve PLAA and inquiry-based performance assessment as a viable statewide accountability option through VDOE
- Use the PLAA guardrails developed by VSSLC as the foundation for policy, drawing on the expertise of social studies curriculum leaders who have designed, implemented, and refined this system across Virginia
- Align accountability with best-practice instruction, ensuring assessments measure deep content knowledge, evidence-based reasoning, and disciplinary thinking rather than surface-level recall
Social studies educators are not opposed to accountability. We are opposed to accountability systems that rely on one-day multiple-choice tests that distort instruction and reduce learning to memorization. Inquiry-based performance assessment holds students to higher expectations, not lower ones. It requires students to know more content, contextualize that content, analyze sources, and construct evidence-based claims over time.
Use our CustomGPT!
What to DO:
1) Open the Custom GPT: Virginia Social Studies Letter Builder
2) Complete the prompts to create your draft message.
3) Review and finalize it in your own words.
4) Email your message today to the following addresses (copy and paste as a group) and to your own state delegate and senator:
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
2) Complete the prompts to create your draft message.
3) Review and finalize it in your own words.
4) Email your message today to the following addresses (copy and paste as a group) and to your own state delegate and senator:
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Share this call to action
Please ask at least two colleagues, family members, or community advocates to use the Custom GPT and take action.
Short link to share via text or email: tinyurl.com/UrgentAdvocacy
Short link to share via text or email: tinyurl.com/UrgentAdvocacy
VSSLC ADVOCACY REBRANDING
The C3 Framework
The Virginia Social Studies Leaders Consortium underwent an intensive mission and vision process led by Dr. Laurie Britt of the Institute for Constructive Advocacy and Dialogue at James Madison University. This process revealed a desire within the organization to take a more active role in advocating for curriculum, instruction, and assessment best-practices in Virginia public schools. The first step in this direction was the formation of an ad hoc committee to develop a series of principles for curriculum advocacy. These principles reinforced the organization's new mission & vision and served as a support to members working on various projects with the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). The Consortium was excited to see many of these principles take shape within the History and Social Science standards revision process that began in 2020. After more than 18 months of intensive work with teachers, historians, curriculum specialists, and stakeholders from across the Commonwealth, the VDOE developed a draft of standards that were more conceptual and rooted in inquiry and skills. VSSLC was eager to support this work in the hopes of a more viable set of standards with an appropriate balance of content and skills.
The proposed standards steadily moved through the established revision process in spite of the Covid-19 pandemic that forced schools into virtual settings. Tragically, this environment also produced a wave of political assaults on public education that weaponized everything from masks and public health measures to library books and how schools teach about race and gender. This politicized atmosphere soon captured the SOL revision process just weeks before the new history and social science standards were likely to be approved by the Virginia Board of Education. Newly-appointed State Superintendent, Jillian Balow, orchestrated a series of delays and an attempted overhaul and rewrite of the proposed standards during the fall of 2022. The VSSLC responded to these unprecedented actions by identifying the numerous flaws and omissions within the rewritten standards and organizing statewide efforts against their adoption. Less than a week after the release of the rewrite, the VSSLC joined a variety of other groups in providing over four hours of public comment, leading the state board to unanimously reject the State Superintendent's proposal.
The proposed standards steadily moved through the established revision process in spite of the Covid-19 pandemic that forced schools into virtual settings. Tragically, this environment also produced a wave of political assaults on public education that weaponized everything from masks and public health measures to library books and how schools teach about race and gender. This politicized atmosphere soon captured the SOL revision process just weeks before the new history and social science standards were likely to be approved by the Virginia Board of Education. Newly-appointed State Superintendent, Jillian Balow, orchestrated a series of delays and an attempted overhaul and rewrite of the proposed standards during the fall of 2022. The VSSLC responded to these unprecedented actions by identifying the numerous flaws and omissions within the rewritten standards and organizing statewide efforts against their adoption. Less than a week after the release of the rewrite, the VSSLC joined a variety of other groups in providing over four hours of public comment, leading the state board to unanimously reject the State Superintendent's proposal.
The brief victory at the state board meeting was soon followed by the formation of a coalition between the VSSLC, the Virginia Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (VASCD), and the American Historical Association (AHA). The three organizations combined their efforts to draft an alternative set of professional standards in place of what the State Superintendent had failed to ram through. What became known as the "Collaborative Standards" was submitted to the Governor's office, the Virginia Secretary of Education, and the Virginia Board of Education on December 20, 2022. This effort led to months of advocacy work and a growing coalition that subsequently included the Virginia Council for the Social Studies (VCSS), the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), and the Virginia Geographic Alliance (VGA).
The full story of the coalition's work was recently published in the November/December issue of Social Education ("Defending History: Educators Stand Up to Protect Virginia's Social Studies Standards" by Beau Dickenson, Brendan Gillis, and Chris Jones). In addition to the Collaborative Standards, the Coalition produced several documents as part of this months-long advocacy effort that are linked below.
Defending History: Educators Stand Up to Protect Virginia’s Social Studies Standards
By Beau Dickenson (VSSLC), Brendan Gillis (AHA), and Chris Jones (VASCD)
This article was written by the coalition that formed around VSSLC's efforts to prevent the rewrite of Virginia's History and Social Science standards during the fall of 2022. It was published in the November/December 2023 issue of Social Education by the National Council for the Social Studies.
Defending History: Educators Stand Up to Protect Virginia’s Social Studies Standards
By Beau Dickenson (VSSLC), Brendan Gillis (AHA), and Chris Jones (VASCD)
This article was written by the coalition that formed around VSSLC's efforts to prevent the rewrite of Virginia's History and Social Science standards during the fall of 2022. It was published in the November/December 2023 issue of Social Education by the National Council for the Social Studies.
THE WORK OF THE COALITION
The Collaborative Standards
These standards were developed by members of VSSLC, VASCD, and AHA. This document and companion press release was submitted to the State Superintendent on December 20, 2022.
The Collaborative Response
This press release includes a comprehensive review of the second draft of standards released by the State Superintendent on January 6, 2023.
The Collaborative Strike-through
This strike-through version of the State Superintendent's January Draft was developed after the Virginia Board of Education voted to accept that draft for "first review" on February 2, 2023.
These standards were developed by members of VSSLC, VASCD, and AHA. This document and companion press release was submitted to the State Superintendent on December 20, 2022.
The Collaborative Response
This press release includes a comprehensive review of the second draft of standards released by the State Superintendent on January 6, 2023.
The Collaborative Strike-through
This strike-through version of the State Superintendent's January Draft was developed after the Virginia Board of Education voted to accept that draft for "first review" on February 2, 2023.