Wash. State to Require District Tests in Social Studies

Washington state officials are beginning to distribute model assessments to help districts meet a new mandate for gauging what students know and are able to do in social studies, at a time when other states are abandoning tests in the subject.

As part of the rollout, state education officials have recommended the Facing the Future, National History Day, and We the People programs as frameworks for evaluating students in history and social studies.

Beginning in 2008, all the state’s 296 districts must have classroom-based tests to show how well students have mastered state standards in social studies and to report the results. They will also be required to have such tests in the arts and...