In September, the board adopted a plan that emphasizes Texas and U.S. history, while reducing focus on world history and cultures.
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) is moving forward with discussions of changes to how public schools teach social studies.
In September, the board adopted a plan that emphasizes Texas and U.S. history, while reducing focus on world history and cultures.
During a Wednesday meeting, the SBOE discussed which key topics would be included in the new framework.
“A child deserves to learn the truth about our history, not a version of history that flatters us, not a version of history that hides our failures. Texas children deserve to be taught the truth,” said Josh Robinson, the Senior Pastor at Hope Presbyterian Church. “Students need to see both the remarkable achievements of our past as well as the painful failures. They need to learn about a diversity of people, a multitude of people, a multicultural diversity of people that built this country and upon the backs of those who built this country, not just a sanitized version of the story that distorts and marginalizes when we teach history with integrity.”
Outside the meeting, some board members, a faith leader, and students spoke out against the changes.
“When you narrow what children see, you shrink what they can imagine, you rob them of empathy,” SBOE member Tiffany Clark said. “You weaken the critical thinking our democracy depends on.”
Supporters of the plan say it will help students better analyze historical patterns and see America in a global context.
The new framework focuses on teaching students in kindergarten through second grade about key people, places and events throughout Texas and U.S. history.
From third to seventh grades, students would get roughly 1.2 years worth of world history content, which is more that what is incorporated in the standalone World Cultures sequence that is currently taught in 6th grade. While there is not a standalone year where students will learn only about World History and Culture, they will get a blend of World, U.S. and Texas history each year. 8th grade is a standalone Texas history capstone.
Topics would be taught in chronological order, culminating in the modern era. That means kids would learn about ancient history in earlier grades.
“We are leaving out important things like world cultures, well, geography, and the importance of making sure that all of our students are represented in history,” Clark said. “We need to continue to share the true facts and teach the truth of what has happened in our history to make America what we are today.”
Currently, teachers focus on Texas history in fourth and seventh grade and on world cultures in sixth grade.
Eighth graders will take a new standardized exam. They will spend at least 80% of class time on Texas history.
Forty-five percent of class time from third to eighth grade will focus on Texas history, up from one-third now. World history and cultures will account for less than one-fifth of social studies instruction.
Ayaan Moledina, the federal policy director for Students Engaged in Advancing Texas and a high school student in Round Rock ISD, said he wants to ensure the new history plan fully represents the state’s diversity.
“I want the curriculum taught in my schools to represent all the communities that call this state home,” Moledina said.
Asher, a sixth grader in public school, said they worries politics will guide the changes.
“When I think about social studies, I think about how I’ve learned about people who fought for civil rights and about how there’s more than one side to every historical event, like Columbus Day or Thanksgiving,” Asher said. “It is important to me to understand these things, because the world is so complex, and some of these advisors don’t want us to know this.”
“We need an education that provides us with facts, how to think critically, and an honest understanding of where we’ve been so we can decide where we’re going,” Asher added.
Some people worry the process is being driven too much by politics and not enough by educators.
“We are concerned that the current overhaul of those standards is already headed off the rails and into another political swamp,” said Rocío Fierro-Pérez, the political director for the Texas Freedom Network.
Currently, the board only has a framework that outlines, in broad strokes, what each grade level will focus on, not individual lessons or topics. The board is now working to flesh out specific lessons and draft a curriculum.
The board selected a panel of nine advisers to offer feedback. Some of them have criticized diversity efforts, questioned the historical contributions of people of color, and promoted debunked beliefs.
“It’s troubling that instead of appointing highly qualified scholars from our state’s world-class institutions of higher education, some board members choose to give activists pushing ideological agendas, leading roles in guiding what millions of Texas students will learn in their public schools,” Fierro-Pérez said.
Among the advisors is David Randall, executive director of the Civics Alliance and research director of the National Association of Scholars, and Jordan Adams, an education consultant with ties to Hillsdale College.
David Barton – a conservative Christian Activist and founder of WallBuilders, a Christian advocacy group – is also a content adviser.
Barton views the separation of church and state as a myth and has argued that the Ten Commandments are foundational to American education.
He also served in a similar role when the board revised its social studies standards back in 2010.
“Texans deserve content advisers who are trained historians who are qualified educators whose base of their work is built on sound academic scholarship,” Robinson said. “Any attempt to force a Christian nationalist story into our history standards is not teaching the truth. That is indoctrination, and Texas teachers deserve better.”
As the politically charged debate over what and how children should learn about history continues, a petition to remove three content advisors has more than 1,000 signatures.
The SBOE plans to vote on new guidelines for what students should learn during each grade by June.
Classroom implementation is expected in 2030.