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Inclusive Ambiguity: Multicultural Conflict in an Era of Accountability

American Enterprise Institute

The expansion of high-stakes accountability in the past decades has created an unavoidable tension with contemporary efforts to promote multicultural curricula. Accountability requires that states establish common standards, a difficult task when there is disagreement about what content students should learn. Policy makers can adopt an "augmentative" strategy and add material to standards. This approach is less effective, however, in high-stakes systems where standards are expected to provide concrete guidance. At such times, negotiations become more nearly "zero sum"—something has to come out of the standards for each new item that goes in. Given the nature of the American system, conflicts are more often resolved by devising ambiguous and aspirational standards. Conflict is more common in the humanities and social sciences than in mathematics or science because the "soft" subjects are less able to appeal to a neutral authority and because additional content can be grafted onto them more readily.

Key Words: accountability • multicultural • politics • religion • social studies

Educational Policy, Vol. 18, No. 1, 95-115 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0895904803260026


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