- National Snapshot (K-12)
- Just Texas (K-12)
- Texas Curriculum Standards
- 2010: Texas Social Studies Curriculum Controversy
National Snapshot (K-12)
- K-12 student enrollment 2009-2010: About 56 million.
- K-12 annual instructional materials market: $7 billion to $8 billion.
- Textbook sales for US K-12 education: $5.2 billion in 2009.
- 55 % of American adults believe school textbooks are more concerned with political correctness than accuracy (18 % undecided).
- 43% say U.S. history textbooks are not accurate (26 % undecided).
Just Texas (K-12)
- In recent years, the state of Texas has expended about a half billion dollars per year for K-12 textbooks. For example, a textbook budget of $570 million in 2003.
- Texas has appropriated $465 million for instructional materials including textbooks for fiscal year 2011.
- Publishers have a strong incentive to conform to the curriculum standards of Texas, the second largest state textbook consumer (after California). Texas adopts textbooks statewide (rather than at the local school board level).
- Estimates indicate that publishers use the Texas core-text as a template for as much as 85 % of the American public school textbook market.
Texas Curriculum Standards
- Texas is updating its social study standards or Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for grades K-12.
- The Texas standards will be in effect for a decade or longer (last revised in 1998).
- The Texas curriculum standards are the blueprint for the entire social studies curriculum in Texas and affect:
- More than 4.7 million Texas students.
- Textbook publishers who seek part of the multi-million dollar contract.
- Teachers whose jobs depend on students passing tests based on the standards. Return to top
- School districts whose funding is based on improved test scores.
- Taxpayers who support public education in the state.
2010: Texas Social Studies Curriculum Controversy
- The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) with the commissioner of education oversees public education and has sole authority to adopt and edit education standards (TEKS).
- The 15-member SBOE is composed of partisan elected officials. Currently, the Board has 10 Republican and 5 Democratic members. Seven of the 10 Republican members identify themselves as social conservatives. The board includes a dentist and several lawyers and other professionals, but no historians.
- To address perceived "liberal bias," the SBOE, in party-line votes with the 10 Republicans in the majority, tentatively adopted standards that reflect conservative political and religious values.
- The proposed Texas standards stress a Judeo-Christian American political heritage, American exceptionalism and "expansionism," and the free enterprise system, while reducing or ignoring "multiculturalism" and the contributions of women and minorities, unions, and liberal and progressive thinkers.
- The board will adopt only curriculum standards in 2010 and textbook debate and selection will occur in 2011.
- Some of the more controversial board revisions include:
- Stress religious influences on the Founders and founding documents.
- Reduce instruction about the Civil Rights Movement.
- Require more about conservative leaders and organization, such as Phyllis Schlafly, the Moral Majority, the Heritage Foundation, and Newt Gingrich without inclusion of comparable liberal thinkers or organization.
- Require more on Pres. Reagan and conservative resurgence of 1980's.
- Remove Thomas Jefferson from a world history standard about Enlightenment thinkers.
- Defend Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s anti-Communist crusade, downplaying his liabilities as a spokesman for the cause. Return to top
- Remove references to Dolores Huerta, a union activist, and other Hispanic figures, such as Tejanos who died defending Alamo with Davy Crockett;
- Remove the concepts of justice and responsibility for the common good from a list of characteristics of good citizenship;
- Strike the term "capitalism" and replace with "free enterprise system;"
- strike the terms "democratic" or "representative democracy" in reference to U.S. government, substituting the term "constitutional republic;"
- Change “imperialism” to “expansionism” in study of American acquisition of overseas territories in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
- Reject a standard requiring students to learn that the Founders barred government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion over all others.
Really? As in, ignoring the Establishment and Free Excercise Clauses of the First Amendment? That's really surprising, considering that's what the original pilgrims came here for - to escape the religious mandates of the Church of England.
I think 'requiring more' information is always good, but 'reducing and removing concepts and people' shouldn't happen. The more you can learn about "both sides of an issue" the more well-rounded of a student you will become.
Historians must get frustrated by 'revisionist history' of editors with agendas, either way. But it's nothing new. Whatever side is in power (even ancient history) will accentuate their ideals and ignore the bumps and bruises that don't make them look impressive to the readers. less
"Reject a standard requiring students to learn that the Founders barred government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion over all others."
Really? As in, ignoring the more...
Sadly, when my granddaughter got to college and she was challenged to investigate and learn about things that happened in the past, she decided much of what she learned in the public schools about more...