ABSTRACT
In response to the question of what social studies can learn from outside the field, Kevin Meuwissen, adeptly lays out two cogent and interrelated themes. First, he argues that education policy implementation varies across multiple organizational levels. Second, he notes that context plays a key role in how various policy actors interpret and enact policy. Meuwissen offers a useful exemplar in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the varying degrees that states adopted them. Specifically, he draws attention to Oklahoma, which partially adopted the NGSS and undermined science education with cuts to instructional resources and an open hostility toward climate change education. Social studies education can establish itself as a vital component of the broader policy agenda only to the extent that it addresses problems distinct to the education context. Social studies stakeholders educating and working with other actors has the potential to move policy in new and innovative directions.
