Present at the Creation: The Development of the College and Career Readiness Social Studies Standards in Texas

As the co-chair of the Social Studies Vertical Team that developed the CCRS, my presentation will review the structure of the standards and the process that produced them.  I will overview debates within the vertical team and among the public surrounding the pedagogy that the standards emphasize.  The importance that the vertical team stressed on social studies as a way of knowing and the mastery of key cognitive skills proved unsettling to many elected officials who desired more emphasis on content.  They also created anxiety among many social studies instructors in their deviation from traditional practices.  In the end, the CCRS had little impact in the development of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies as both liberal and conservative interests clashed over content and largely ignored the thrust of the CCRS’s recommendations.