Silent Covenants and Structural Barriers: State Standards Committees and the Maintenance of Race-Evasive Social Studies Standards

Abstract

In this qualitative study, researchers used critical race theory to examine the experiences of social studies standards committee members in 18 states and the District of Columbia. They found that while many participants articulated goals of increasing the teaching of race and racism in their state’s social studies standards, at least in part, numerous silent covenants and structural barriers existed to maintain the status quo through race-evasive standards. A smaller group of participants generally avoided advocating for race and racism topics altogether due to their perceived controversial or political status, while others did not mention race or racism as a priority. Recommendations are made for both the policy and practice related to state standards creation, and questions are raised about the ability of social studies standards to foster a racially just social studies curriculum.