Education Week - September 21, 2022 - 11

Political Debate Upends Texas Social Studies
Standards Process
The Lone Star State is the latest to throw
out a set of standards after conservative
activists organized in opposition
By Ileana Najarro
The Texas State Board of Education
voted this month to delay the revision
process of the state's K-12 social studies
standards until 2025, bowing to
conservative pressure against drafts
intended to make history instruction
more inclusive.
The agency had a goal of updating
the standards-known as Texas
Essential Knowledge and Skills, or
TEKS-by the end of this year, providing
teachers with a revised guide for
the content and skills they must cover
in the classroom.
The last major overhaul of these
standards was completed over a decade
ago and then further streamlined
in 2018.
Debates over whether and how to
make social studies more culturally
inclusive aren't new. But over the last
two years, the debates have led to
both legislative and public interference
in state education agency procedures:
Louisiana, South Dakota,
and Virginia are other states where
recent efforts to update what's covered
in history class involved delays
and do-overs.
What happened in Texas, some researchers
and educators say, stems
from the broader Republican-led
effort across the country to pass
legislation that limits how topics of
racism and gender identity are discussed
in schools. Texas has its own
version of these laws in the form of
Senate Bill 3.
" Here's that strategy of ... we're
going to continue to sort of block off
and create more and more barriers
to any kind of progressive civics [and
social studies] instruction that really
places the truth of racial inequality
and racial injustice in this country at
the core, " said Jonathan Collins, an
assistant professor of political science,
education, and public policy at
Brown University.
What exactly happened in Texas
For months, work groups of educators,
subject-matter experts, and
community leaders selected by the
Texas state board and the Texas
Education Agency worked together
under direction of the board to draft
revisions to K-12 social studies standards,
and the framework for two
new ethnic studies classes: Asian
American and American Indian/
Native studies.
State standards are typically updated
every seven years or so and the
hope in Texas was to update those approved
back in 2010.
The proposed standards cover foundational
knowledge building in Texas,
U.S., and world history in K-2, world
history in grades 3-5 and Texas and
U.S. history in 6-8. But the proposed
revisions also aimed to have students
learn more about the diverse groups
that shaped the history of the state,
the country, and the world.
For instance, a proposal for 2nd
grade would be to have students
" define migration and explain how
some migrations are voluntary, and
some are forced. " Texas is among
the states with the highest number
of refugees resettled in the
U.S. whose children attend public
schools (most recently the state was
among those resettling the most Afghan
refugees).
Work group members, such as Michael
Boucher, an associate professor
at the College of Education and
Human Development at Texas A&M
University in San Antonio, said they
were diligent about fact-checking
their work; adhering to feedback
from the state board and the TEA;
and making sure their proposed revisions
acknowledged SB 3 and its
provisions over how to teach about
current events and topics of race.
" These are some of the best teachers
I've ever worked with and I've
been in education for over 30 years, "
he said. " They were incredibly
knowledgeable. "
But over months conservative nonprofits
and parent groups were tracking
the process. In the weeks leading
up to the latest scheduled board
meetings, they coordinated email
messages to state board members
and signed up to testify at state board
meetings voicing opposition to the
work group proposals-and the work
groups themselves.
Mary Elizabeth Castle, a senior
policy advisor with the conservative
group Texas Values, objected to the
fact the new framework for social
studies would have combined Texas
with U.S. history across three years as
opposed to the standalone Texas history
survey course currently taught in
7th grade.
" An organization really proud of our
Texas values and Texas history didn't
want to see Texas history diminished
or watered down, " Castle said.
The group also had concerns over
the inclusion of teaching about the
LGBTQ Pride movement in 8th
grade as part of a broader coverage
of the civil rights movements of the
1960s and 1970s, and other content
questions.
In public testimonies and emails,
Texas Values and similar groups
called for a delay in the revision
process to address their concerns.
State board members, in meetings
on Aug. 30 and Sept. 2, acknowledged
this request as they deliberated
over how to move forward with
the revision process-some saying
they needed more time to address
constituents' concerns, and others
countering that a delay didn't reflect
the desires of all Texas parents and
educators.
Meanwhile, a group of Republican
lawmakers accused the standardswriters
of contravening SB 3, and
threatened to get involved, the Texas
Tribune reported.
On Sept. 2 the board voted to reconsider
which grade levels Texas history
will be taught. Other standards in K-8
could change, too. And an approved
motion says the board will " spend the
next two years, until 2025, investigating
to inform the framework. "
The conservative groups also want
to replace some of the group members
with others more aligned to their
views.
" I think that they should choose
work group members who have the
heart for teaching American history,
Texas history, and not cutting out
things that are important to our history,
like religious liberty, religion,
and family values, " Castle said.
Some educators noted that by 2025,
the board's current conservative majority
might grow following the upcoming
November elections. When
asked whether the election would
impact the social studies revision process
in 2025, Castle said no.
" We had the majority of votes and
that's why we were able to delay the
process, " she said. " I think whether
or not we have new people, or we
have the same members, as we've
had this time, I think we're still in the
advantage to have better standards
for 2025. "
Groups in favor of the existing
work group proposals, including the
Texas State Teachers Association,
have critiqued what they say is a politically
motivated delay.
" This proposed, new curriculum
was developed by well-respected
educators with the needs of schoolchildren,
our state's future leaders,
in mind. But too many members of
the board chose to yield to lies and
fear, " said Ovidia Molina, the TSTA
president.
What educators should take away
from the Texas decision
Texas isn't alone in having its attempts
at a revised history curriculum
upended.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a
Republican, announced a relaunching
of the social studies standards revision
process last year. State education
officials had already removed several
references to the state's Native American
population in a previous draft.
The newest draft, unveiled Aug. 15,
includes Indigenous history and also
has an emphasis on patriotism. The
workgroup that created the standards
had 16 members-13 of whom were
registered Republicans, according to
the Argus Leader.
Earlier this year Louisiana state
education officials rewrote K-12 history
expectations drafted by educators
after hearing politicized claims
that they embodied a negative view
of America.
And in August the Virginia state
board of education delayed its social
studies revision, which sought to address
more diverse perspectives, at
the recommendation of the state superintendent.
The rationale was to
get more input from the public and
board members newly appointed by
Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
The process of determining what
gets taught in history class has never
been a smooth one.
Paolo DeMaria, the president and
CEO of the National Association
of State Boards of Education, said
boards should never shy away from
engaging in dialogue that reflects
different points of view, with civic
engagement from various groups
being the goal of a democracy. Civic
engagement from the public, he said,
is beneficial to governing education
procedures.
Other states are likely to face a
similar coordinated strategy from
constituents as they engage in their
own attempts to revise social studies
curriculum, said Collins from Brown
University.
Those educators and parents who
want more inclusive history taught in
schools will have to be civically engaged,
too.
" If you really care about civics and
social studies, and the direction that
it is going, it is extremely important
right now that you perform your civic
duty, " Collins said.
In Texas, the nonpartisan, nonprofit
Texas Freedom Network, which opposed
the delay of the standards update,
has called on members of the
public to " join us by voicing your objections
at SBOE meetings, organizing
your community to combat book bans
at the local level, and uplifting diverse
voices in public schools. "
For now, the Texas state board
will work the rest of year to modify
the current state social studies standards
to align to SB 3. Because the
ethnic studies courses were part of
the delayed revision process, districts
interested in pursuing the
implementation of Asian American
and American Indian/Native studies
must apply under a separate approval
process that involves pilot programs
and more.
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