Education Week - August 24, 2022 - 5

to explore the policy implications of
the Dobbs decision and examine the
history of abortion as a part of social
movements.
The anti-abortion movement that
strengthened in the years after the
Roe decision, for example, has been
hugely influential in shaping political
discourse around the issue, state laws,
and ideologically aligned courts.
Health and sex education
Surprisingly, sex education standards
largely avoid abortion to an
even greater degree than social studies
standards.
Only nine states and the District of
Columbia have guidance or policies
about whether or how to discuss abortion
in sex education, according to a
2022 policy review from the Sexuality
Information and Education Council
of the United States, or SIECUS, a
nonprofit that promotes comprehensive
sex education.
Of these states, six prohibit discussion
of abortion as a potential outcome
of pregnancy. South Carolina,
for example, bans talking about abortion
except in the context of the complications
that it might cause.
Two states-Vermont and Colorado-and
D.C. are " affirming " of
abortion as an option. But even if a
state does require courses to cover
abortion, it's not guaranteed that
students will learn about it. That's
because not all states mandate that
schools offer sex education, and even
those that do leave the curriculum almost
entirely up to districts to craft.
After the Dobbs decision, several
news stories noted that many of the
states that planned to restrict access
to or ban abortion do not mandate sex
education.
In the past few years, some states
have added additional restrictions to
sex education programs. Arkansas,
for example, passed a law in 2021 that
prohibited schools from contracting
with any person or entity that " counsels
in favor of abortion. " Also last
year, Montana banned schools from
working with any provider of sex
education that also provides abortion
services.
On the other end of the spectrum is
Illinois, which adopted the National
Sex Education Standards in 2021. The
standards span from grades K-12 and
teach about topics such as consent,
healthy communication, and sexual
and gender identity. Their adoption
was applauded by advocates of comprehensive
sex education, but has
also received backlash from Republican
state legislators.
The national standards say that
8th graders should be able to identify
abortion as one outcome of pregnancy,
alongside parenting and adoption.
Tenth graders are expected to
analyze the laws that address sexual
health services for minors, including
abortion, and identify reliable sources
of information on the procedure. In
12th grade, students analyze societal
factors that can influence decisions
about pregnancy options, including
abortion.
Illinois schools can choose to optout
of these standards, and many
have done so.
'Roe v. Wade' Won't Be on Next Year's
AP Government Test
The decision is an early example of how the U.S. Supreme Court's
recent ruling will reshape how constitutional issues are taught
By Sarah Schwartz
Questions about Roe v. Wade won't be included
on next year's Advanced Placement U.S. Government
and Politics exam, following the U.S. Supreme
Court's overturning of the ruling in June.
The College Board, the organization that runs the
AP program, announced the decision in a message
to AP U.S. Government and Politics teachers in July.
Roe has been a required case in the course framework
since the 2018-19 school year.
In the message, the College Board explained that
the choice to remove questions about Roe has to do
with how the AP tests are created. The exams are
written years in advance, so questions about Roe as
a legal precedent slated for the 2023 test " are at risk
of becoming inaccurate and confusing to students, "
the message reads.
The College Board plans to evaluate whether and
how Roe will be included in future exams and provide
an update to teachers in the fall.
The organization's decision is just one example of
how the Supreme Court's ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson
Women's Health Organization, which ruled that the
U.S. Constitution does not protect a right to abortion,
will change the way that social studies and government
teachers discuss certain constitutional issues.
Teachers and curriculum writers will need to shape
new lessons on the right to privacy-and on the way
that the court uses precedent to inform its judgments.
" It's such a big shift, " said Kerry Sautner, the chief
learning officer at the National Constitution Center,
which provides resources and lessons for teachers.
In government or social studies classes, Roe is
typically taught as an example of precedent, Sautner
said. But now that precedent has been overturned.
That's
also what happened with the AP course.
As part of its framework for AP U.S. Government
and Politics, released for the 2018-19 school year,
the College Board named 15 Supreme Court cases
that students must know to understand significant
legal precedents. Questions about these cases are
fair game for the AP test.
Roe was on that list-one of three cases included
to illustrate how certain rights, like the right to
privacy or the right to an attorney, have been " selectively
incorporated by way of the Fourteenth
Amendment's due process clause to prevent state
infringement of basic liberties, " according to a
statement from the College Board.
An opportunity to discuss constitutional
interpretation
Allison Cohen, an AP government teacher at
Langley High School in McLean, Va., said that she
still plans to cover Roe and Dobbs in class, even if
"
The Supreme Court doesn't
provide the 'right' answer
to a particular question.
It produces finality-
a final answer, or a
final-for-now answer.
ALLISON COHEN
AP government teacher
Langley High School, McLean, Va.
they won't be on the AP test. But she understands
the College Board's decision.
" With something that's this raw and new, I'm
sympathetic to them not wanting to write questions
that might be confusing to students a year
from now, " she said.
It's possible that not all AP teachers will take
this route, though. State legislation restricting how
teachers can discuss race, sex, and gender has put
a spotlight on teachers who cover anything that
could be deemed " controversial " in their classes.
AP teachers in other social studies subjects have
said they're rethinking how they connect course
content to current events. The College Board has
maintained that none of its course standards run
afoul of new state legislation.
Cohen, though, said that this new environment
hasn't changed the way she teaches about the Constitution
and court cases.
She's always talked with her students about the
idea of constitutional originalism-meaning that the
Constitution should be interpreted as fixed, having
the same meaning that it did when written-versus
the idea of living constitutionalism, that interpretation
of the document can change as circumstances
and social attitudes do. She plans to use Dobbs and
Roe to talk about these ideas this year.
And the cases are still relevant to the idea of precedent-they
just raise new questions about when
and why it's appropriate to overturn precedent, and
how that might affect other cases that were decided
around a right to privacy, Cohen said.
" It really is about digging a little bit deeper into
these fundamental questions of our constitutional
democracy, " she said. " How do we go about determining
what rights should be judicially recognized?
How do we protect those rights? How should this
document be interpreted in light of changes that
have occurred over the centuries? And what is the
proper vehicle to do that? "
Importantly, she wants students to come away
from these discussions with the understanding that
they can agree or disagree with Supreme Court decisions
and that they can advocate for changes they
want to see in the process or the outcomes- " that
they are active players in this democratic republic, "
Cohen said.
" The Supreme Court doesn't provide the 'right'
answer to a particular question. It produces finality-a
final answer, or a final-for-now answer, " she
said. " Students have this default ... respect for authority.
And it's kind of an opportunity to say, 'No,
no, no, maybe your arguments are better.' "
EDUCATION WEEK | August 24, 2022 | www.edweek.org | 5
Norma McCorvey-
Jane Roe in the 1973
court case-left, and her
attorney Gloria Allred
hold hands as they leave
the Supreme Court
building in Washington
in 1989.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
http://www.edweek.org
Education Week - August 24, 2022

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