This month, the Texas State Board of Education voted to change social study standards for what students learn in each grade.
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — The Texas Board of Education wants to make changes to how kids learn history in the classroom.
This month, the board voted to change social study standards for what students learn in each grade.
The Texas Board of Education says the plan can help students better analyze historical patterns and see America in a global context.
The Texas American Teachers Federation is keeping a close watch because the changes have a heavier focus on Texas and U.S. History, and less on world history and events through the 3rd to 8th grade.
The graph above shows that students would start learning about the beginning of Western Civilization in the third grade and how it ties into the U.S. and Texas.
The history would be taught in chronological order to reach the modern era having a significant heavier emphasis on Texas and the U.S. after 5th grade.
Kelsey Kling, government relations specialist and policy analyst for the Texas AFT, says the change would leave out a bigger piece of the picture.
“It might narrow the focus of what teachers are going to be teaching to, frankly, a very white Western centric worldview,” said Kling.
The Texas AFT says teachers typically teach Texas history in the 4th and 7th grade and focus on world cultures in the 6th grade.
Kling says their challenge is making sure the new history plan fully represents the state’s diversity.
“We need to be very mindful as this framework is developed and as the content standards are rolled out that that perspective is maintained and that we are not doing our students a disservice by narrowing what they learn and therefore their worldview,” said Kling.
David Barton, a conservative Christian Activist and founder of WallBuilders—a Christian advocacy group based in North Texas, was nominated to serve as one of several expert content advisers for the Texas Board of Education.
According to the Texas Tribune, Barton views the separation of church and state as a myth and feels the ten commandments are foundational to American education.
Barton served in a similar role when the board revised its social studies standards in 2010.
Kling says she’s not in favor of the appointment.
“Texas has changed demographically significantly since the previous tweaks were written and I think that our new standards need to be reflective of those changes,” she said. “Having someone like David Barton in the mix there is just highly inappropriate.”
If passed, social studies teachers would have to get new training to teach the new curriculum.
New textbooks would be needed as well as a change to how state testing is done in the 8th grade.
This plan is still in development and the Texas Board of Education aims to vote on it next June.