ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the conservative restoration in schools and society that lay behind the revival of history, and declining attention to reflective, issues-centered social studies. The conservative restoration and activities by the Reagan administration led to debate over conservative initiatives, and support for an explicitly 'anti-social studies' movement aimed at the revival and restoration of traditional history. The Educational Excellence Network (EEN) served as an interest group for what could best be described as an educational essentialist reform agenda and was a leading advocate of excellence and accountability reform. The task force called for a social studies curriculum that would 'instill a clear understanding of the roles of citizens in a democracy'. Educational historian Diane Ravitch, who would become one of the leading intellectual architects of school reform, authored a number of articles critical of multiculturalists. Critical theorists in education were far from a monolithic group and included scholars specializing in reconceptualist curricular theory, cultural studies, feminist scholarship.
