Parents and educators urge Board of Education to pause plan to add history/social studies to ESSA accountability
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Summary
Dozens of parents, teachers and social studies leaders urged the state board to pause a proposed ESSA amendment (Amendment 9) that would add history and social science as an accountability indicator, citing limited stakeholder engagement, conflicts with HB 1957 and concerns about high‑stakes multiple choice testing replacing performance‑based assessments.
At the Virginia Board of Education meeting, a stream of public commenters — parents, teachers and subject‑area leaders — urged the board to pause or withdraw proposed language that could add history and social science to the state's ESSA consolidated plan.
Multiple speakers argued the change was advanced without robust consultation and could conflict with state law (House Bill 1957) that preserves local flexibility for performance‑based assessments. "Using social studies SOLs and accountability indicators would effectively turn an optional test into a de facto state requirement," said Eric Douche (social studies coordinator), urging the board to "pause adoption of these amendments and engage educators, parents, students and social studies experts." Danielle Graham, president of the Virginia Social Studies Leaders Consortium, said the department's earlier remarks about limited data were "simply inaccurate" and asked the board to allow local divisions to keep performance assessments and flexibility preserved by HB 1957.
Speakers also warned that counting world geography as a middle‑school advanced course could unintentionally reduce students' exposure to world history, including instruction on the Holocaust and Jewish history. "The proposal to count world geography as advanced coursework would limit that flexibility and effectively relegate world history courses to electives," Danielle Graham said.
Several speakers asked for more data and clearer implementation pathways rather than immediate changes to accountability. School division and college leaders described existing alternate assessment pathways and locally awarded verified credits; some urged that any change be accompanied by statewide technical validation and at least two years of field data as required under federal guidance for alternate assessments.
Board staff repeatedly framed the discussion as preliminary: no formal change had been adopted and staff described a timeline for further stakeholder engagement, public comment, technical review and potential staged implementation if the board ultimately decides to pursue an amendment.
What happens next: staff will hold listening sessions, publish proposed language for public comment, and return to the board with modeling and technical recommendations in January and in subsequent months before any final decision on amendment language.