The D.C. State Board of Education voted unanimously in favor of new social studies standards Wednesday evening that will transform how the subject is taught in the city’s public and charter schools.

The new standards will go into effect in the ‘24- ‘25 school year. Officials aimed to write the standards to be “anti-racist,” “promote civic engagement,” and improve media literacy, incorporating histories on a wider variety of underrepresented cultures and identity groups as well as more modern events from the late 2000s to present day.

“It is an emotional day,” Superintendent Dr. Christina Grant said Wednesday. “When we look at this country and look at where we are, we are so fortunate and privileged to do this work in this city at this time…to pass forward looking historically accurate, exciting standards.”

Across the country, local jurisdictions updating their social studies standards have faced scrutiny from constituents and right wing politicians and media. In Virginia, the process was marked by intense debate over how to teach about race and non-Western cultures. But the new standards have received minimal local pushback so far in D.C.

The current standards have not been updated since 2006, predating the existence of the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), which wrote the new standards, and the State Board.

While states like Virginia require social studies standards to be updated after a specified number of years (in Virginia’s case, seven), D.C. has no such law.

Replacing the current standards became a priority in 2019 when former State Board president Jessica Sutter joined the board. Sutter, who taught social studies in D.C. when the current standards were first implemented, says she was “shocked” to find that they had not been updated since 2006, when there were still state bans on gay marriage and the country had never had a Black president.

“The majority of schoolchildren in Washington D.C. are Black,” Sutter told DCist/WAMU. “The nation’s capital, home to President Barack Obama…the social studies standards did not include the existence of him as president. That seemed to me deeply problematic on a bunch of levels, but specifically because the children in the city had a president who looked like them.”

That students – particularly from historically oppressed and underrepresented groups – should see themselves in history was a key principle underlying the new standards. An advisory committee recommended they include “windows and mirrors” — “mirrors” for students to see themselves, and “windows” through which students could learn about cultures they aren’t part of.

For the first time, D.C. teachers will be required to incorporate LGBTQ history in several different courses. Students can expect to learn about D.C.’s Black Renaissance, the Lavender Scare, Harvey Milk, and Obergefell v. Hodges – the landmark 2015 Supreme Court decision that legalized gay marriage across the country.

There will also be greater attention to the histories of minority groups, including Asian Americans and indigenous peoples. Students will also learn about these groups’ impact on D.C. history.

That greater inclusion, Sutter said, is to ensure that “every child in the city has a chance to see themselves as part of the story of history, and not just history as something that happened to other people.”

Students can also expect to learn in more explicit terms about colonization and slavery and their impact into the 21st century. “Explorers” like Columbus will be discussed as “colonizers,” and students will learn not only about their violence against indigenous peoples but also about indigenous resistance. They will also assess the continued legacy of European colonization through the perspective of Indigenous Nations.

The standards also include “white supremacy,” a term which is not in the 2006 standards.

“I suspect there are going to be folks with feelings about that,” Sutter said. “The explicit naming of those concepts in the standards are sure to raise some eyebrows.”

Some right-wing groups and outlets have sharply criticized the standards – the Federalist called them “sexual and racial radicalism” and warned that it will “spread like kudzu” across the country.

But locally, the standards have won strong support, including from DC Public Schools and the DC Public Charter School Board. The standards have also been endorsed by the National Council for the Social Studies and professors from various institutions, including Howard University, the University of Maryland, and New York University.

D.C. State Board representatives lauded the standards as “revolutionary” before voting Wednesday, contrasting them with efforts by other states to censor history. In states like Florida, education officials have been fighting what Gov. Ron DeSantis has called “woke indoctrination,” rejecting materials on the Holocaust and revising materials to exclude mention of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement.

“We’re seeing states across this country deliberately go backwards,” Eric Goulet, Ward 3 Representative said. “We’re right now putting forward something that makes the statement that we want our students here in D.C. to be informed, to be critical thinkers, to be good citizens.”

Ward 6 Representative Brandon Best echoed Goulet, saying he was “proud” that D.C. is taking a different approach from states that are “attempting to hide our past.”

“By acknowledging our past we can actively work towards building a better future,” Best said.

Wednesday’s vote followed a years-long revision process that culminated in a months-long public comment period this year. OSSE incorporated feedback from teachers, students, and parents and continually revised the standards. Many offered critique on how to make the standards more inclusive, as well as specific groups and subjects they felt were missing.

But unlike in other jurisdictions locally and nationally, there was little vocal pushback on the intent of the standards. And Kathleen Coughlin, education standards specialist for the State Board, said there’s been a lot of positive feedback from constituents.

The standards are just a first step, however, and implementation could pose some challenges. Educator advocates have expressed concern that the standards could further “hamstring” overwhelmed teachers and wondered whether transitioning to the new standards could bear any effect on teacher evaluations.

Coughlin said teachers wrangling multiple subjects will find it especially difficult to follow the standards.

“A number of teachers have said that sometimes there’s pressure to minimize [social studies] because it’s not a high stakes tested subject the way that math or ELA would be,” Coughlin told DCist/WAMU. “Making sure there is sufficient time to cover this important content could be a challenge if that’s not prioritized.”

Over the summer and upcoming school year, educators will be training and developing new materials with the help of Smithsonian Institutions, the DC History Center, the Library of Congress, and subject matter experts.

Through July, OSSE is convening a Summer Social Studies Resource Institute, where educators and curriculum leads from across the District will work on developing “ancillary materials,” including primary sources and supplementary texts. OSSE has allocated $500,000 in federal recovery (ESSER) funds to develop those resources.

Frazier O’Leary, vice president and Ward 4 representative for the State Board, said adopting these new standards has been a “long and arduous struggle,” involving people from all over the District and across the country.

“We are at a historic point in the history of the District of Columbia,” he said. “I’m really proud to be able to vote yes for this. And for all the work OSSE and SBOE did together. We’ve got much more work to do.”