The Alabama State Board of Education approves minutes during its regular meeting on February 9, 2023. The board unanimously approved the course of study Thursday. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
The Alabama State Board of Education Thursday unanimously approved a new social studies course of study that will update curricula and expand elective options.
The vote capped about a year of work involving numerous organizations, including the Eagle Forum, a conservative advocacy group, and the Alabama Department of Archives and History, among other organizations.
State Superintendent Eric Mackey said after the meeting that the work of the library standards and two courses of studies voted on Thursday involved “hundreds of hours of work with dozens of Alabama citizens, teachers and private citizens that are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate to these courses study committees.”
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The standards were last revised in 2010. Nefertari Yancie, an educator speaking on behalf of the Coalition for True History, which is based in Birmingham and works to improve civil rights history education in local schools, said that they were thankful to participate in the process and expand on Alabama’s role in civil rights history.
“The proposed standards recognize the different perspectives of Alabamians who have shaped this state’s history, as well as the many voices and lived experiences of those who are part of our national and global historical record,” she said.
The new standards include three years of World History and Geography and three years of Alabama in American History and Government. The new standards also require schools to teach the Holocaust and shift teaching of the Civil Rights Movement, with fifth grade building context and expanding on Alabama’s role.
Five speakers including Yancie spoke in favor of the new standards. Dan J. Puckett, chair of the Alabama Holocaust Commission, said the standards fulfill the call from the Legislature to set high-quality Holocaust instruction in 2021.
“Being on the task force, I reviewed every state’s standards,” he said. “What you have in front of you now constitutes the strongest standards on the Holocaust in the nation.”
Megan Zamora, director of internal communications for the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, the state’s only federally-recognized tribe, said they were thankful for the opportunity to contribute to the curriculum, which is an “authentic telling of our state’s history.”
“This curriculum is an opportunity to teach lessons rooted in respect and recognizes the contributions of all people,” she said. “As the curriculum continues to evolve, I urge the board to ensure Native voices remain present and engaged by providing the tribe with a seat at the table. Authentic representation allows us to offer meaningful perspectives and resources that enrich education for all.”
After the meeting, Mackey said that adopting textbooks could be the more difficult part of the process. While the course of study can be set by the state, textbooks come from textbook companies.
“Alabama is such a small dot on the map, population wise, compared to the whole United States, and we have to sift through those books and see which ones really meet the new standards we’ve adopted,” he said.
Mackey said that the state superintendent is not as involved in the textbook adoption process and is between the State Board of Education and the textbook committee. He said that he does have concerns about the quality of the current books.
“I can tell you that in review, many of the textbooks that we’re using now are, in my opinion, subpar, but they’ve been the only books that districts had a choice of for over 20 years because the standards were never updated,” he said. “So now we’ll have an opportunity to go back to the table and look at more current textbooks, but I also am going to be vigilant to make sure that we look at the Alabama standards and that those textbooks align well with our standards.”
The board also approved the arts course of study and new library standards.
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