Measuring History complements the cases presented in Wise Social Studies
Practices (Yeager & Davis, 2005). Yeager and Davis highlight the rich
and ambitious teaching that can occur in the broad context of
state-level testing. In this book, the chapter authors and I bring the
particular state history tests more to the fore and examine how teachers
are responding to them. At the heart of Measuring History are cases of
classroom teachers in seven states (Florida, Kentucky, Michigan, New
York, Texas, Mississippi, and Virginia) where new social studies
standards and new, and generally high-stakes, state-level history tests
are prominent. In these chapters, the authors describe and analyze the
state's testing efforts and how those efforts are being interpreted in
the context of classroom practice. The results both support and
challenge prevailing views on the efficacy of testing as a vehicle for
educational reform. Catherine Horn (University of Houston) and I lay the
groundwork for the case studies through a set of introductory chapters
that examine the current environment, the research literature, and the
technical qualities of history tests.