State education leaders on Monday will wade into the complex process of revamping the standards for what children should learn about the world, Texas and America’s complicated past and present.
The State Board of Education will hold a public hearing on what students learn in social studies class, thrusting them into a national spotlight that’s grown even brighter amid escalating political pressures.
Drafts of the proposed state standards, known as Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills or TEKS, are available online. Education advocates say they’re heartened by what’s in them so far and are hopeful the elected board “will listen to the professionals and put political agendas aside.”
“We’re encouraged by what we’re seeing so far in the drafts despite all the efforts by state leaders to turn our schools into culture war battlegrounds,” said Carisa Lopez, the Texas Freedom Network political director. “The teachers and scholars on the work groups have done a pretty good job putting politics aside and writing standards that teach the truth and address the experiences of the diverse communities that have contributed to the American story.”
Lopez’s organization will be watching the hearings closely. Previous revisions to the standards sparked controversy over the separation of church and state and addressing negative facets of U.S. history.
Conservative groups are also raising alarm over what they believe are attempts to remove references to the “Christian heritage as a country, and focus less on current and historical heroes and people who share such values.”
The Texas Values group is rallying members to show up in Austin to link elements of the revisions to red meat issues, including critical race theory.
With more than 5 million students enrolled in the state’s public schools, the decisions made about Texas’ curriculum have an outsized impact on what children across the nation learn.
The last major overhaul of the social studies TEKS was in 2010. But the framework of the standards hasn’t really changed since the early 2000s, said Renee Blackmon, a past president of the Texas Council for the Social Studies.
“This is really the first time we are having what will seem like a very significant overhaul of the framework of what’s taught in Texas in social studies in probably 20 years,” Blackmon said. “So I think when people are stunned by the changes, they need to remember a lot has changed in the work of curriculum, of how kids learn and how important background knowledge is.”
Since the last review, the fight over critical race theory has energized conservatives around the way American history is taught. Critical race theory is an academic framework that probes the way policies and laws uphold systemic racism — such as in education, housing or criminal justice.
Conservative pundits have conflated diversity and inclusion efforts, anti-racism training and multicultural curricula with it.
Republican lawmakers voted to ban critical race theory from classrooms during their last session. The resulting law is vague and triggered concerns from educators about a chilling effect on their social studies classrooms.
Lawmakers’ message to educators was that they didn’t want teachers indoctrinating students in politics in the classroom, Blackmon said.
“Then don’t give me politically motivated TEKS,” she emphasized. “It comes from both sides. If you don’t want that in classrooms then don’t come and put it in our TEKS.”
Major changes
Perhaps the most significant update to the standards will redefine the age at which students learn Texas and world history. Currently, fourth and seventh graders each spend a year steeped in their state’s history while kindergarten through second graders learn broader concepts related to community.
In the new drafts up for consideration, history is taught throughout elementary and middle school in a more chronological fashion. Students in kindergarten through second grade will build foundational knowledge in Texas, U.S. and world history while maintaining a focus on culture and migration, at the direction of the State Board of Education.
Students in third through fifth grade will devote their time to world history, beginning with the development of civilizations and hunter-gatherers. Starting in sixth grade, students will focus more on Texas and U.S. history.
The work groups drafting the new standards looked at previous Texas models and at those from other states during their brainstorming process. They then set about deciding exactly where to cut off the lessons for each grade level, said Meghan Dougherty, who served on the work group focused on elementary and middle school instruction.
“The whole thing, obviously, is quite different,” said Dougherty, who serves as president of the Texas Supervisor for Social Studies Association. “This will bring a renewed focus to social studies.”
Dougherty, who has worked with sixth grade social studies instruction for many years, said she has seen a gap in knowledge in students entering that course because it is the first time kids encounter any other society or culture outside the United States.
Some criticize the standards for Texas’ youngest students as being too broad, resulting in these gulfs.
“You spent three years in this realm of community, but nobody could really point to what did you learn content wise,” Blackmon said. “Kids certainly were reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, but they were kind of just learning some holidays, some names of some important people and not really any important structure of this is what you should learn about your community … your country and the world.”
A stronger focus on world history at an early age will benefit students and provide needed context for lessons they will learn years down the line, Dougherty said.
The new curriculum also incorporates a variety of perspectives that haven’t been highlighted in social studies instruction previously. For instance, Dougherty’s work group was conscious of incorporating more Indigenous history in middle school instruction.
“We believed that it was important to incorporate multiple perspectives, multiple narratives, to move away from a Euro-centric, Anglo-centric perspective on U.S. history, and really give more voice to other groups that played a substantial role in the history,” Dougherty said.
In recent years, the SBOE has approved or moved forward with the development of a number of ethnic studies courses, aimed at focusing on specific cultures.
After a prolonged — and at times controversial — fight, the board approved standards for Mexican American Studies in 2018. African American Studies came next and courses focused on American Indian and Native Studies, as well as Asian American studies, are also in the works.
But those classes are mostly available as electives in high school, out of reach for younger students.
Igniting a debate
Previous reworks of social studies standards have resulted in controversial political battles and nitpicking over how certain events are characterized.
In 2018, a work group advising the SBOE suggested eliminating the term “heroic” from a standard about the defenders of the Alamo.
“Stop political correctness in our schools,” Gov. Greg Abbott responded on Twitter at the time. “Of course Texas schoolchildren should be taught that Alamo defenders were ‘Heroic’!”
The board also divided over whether to retain a reference to Moses as an “individual whose principles of laws and government institutions informed the American founding documents.” SBOE members ultimately opted to keep the reference to the heroic defenders and Moses as an influence on the government.
Updated drafts for high school curriculum eliminate the reference to Moses. Instead, a work group suggests adding Moses to an upcoming guide teachers can use to inform their work.
The proposal for elementary and middle schoolers instead asks students to be able to identify the Alamo as a significant Texas symbol and compare differing perspectives on the siege and fall of the Alamo. Students should also be able to explain the motivations of the volunteers to stay and defend the Alamo, although there is no mention of the defenders’ heroism.
Blackmon said stripping biased language from the standards is a positive move for the SBOE.
“Any time you are using language that uses an exemplifier like excellent, or good, or the exceptional or the unique ... you’re introducing biased language into the document,” Blackmon said.
SBOE will hold its first hearing on the new drafts on Monday. The board is expected to have its second meeting on the subject in late August with plans to adopt the final standards in November. Book publishers will then set about writing new textbooks and instructional materials to fit the standards.
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from The Beck Group, Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Todd A. Williams Family Foundation and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.
