Concerns Over Federal Influence on Georgia History Standards
Concerns raised by Tanya Ditty and Concerned Women for America of Georgia regarding the potential rewriting of Georgia history standards by the Federal Government and College Board, impacting APUSH course content and questioning transparency and educational integrity.
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Presentation Transcript
New APUSH Framework Are the Feds (re)Writing the Georgia History Standards? Tanya Ditty Concerned Women for America of Georgia
College Board Private organization. Founded in 1900 to set standards for college admission. College Board NOT subject to Sunshine laws. Open-records requests.
College Board President is David Coleman.
College Board College Board owns and controls SAT. Advanced Placement (AP) courses.
Federal Govt College Board Over $79 million in direct funding since 2004. Federal Gov t Over $391 million to states to purchase College Board products. States $28.4 million in grants to states for low-income students to take AP Exams (2014). Sources: www.usaspending.gov, www.fedspending.org, www.ed.gov
Georgia AP Expenditures Total expenditures on AP exams for students in FY10-FY14 and budgeted for FY15: $9,869,388. AP Teacher Quality Training Grants (Title II-A) for past 5 years: $1,495,000. Dollars are going to the College Board. Exhibit 1 Source: Georgia Department of Education
Benefits of Advanced Placement: College credits. Savings in time and money.
APUSH Course Previous APUSH Course: 5-page Topic Outline. Traditional survey course. Relied on state history standards to fill in content. Wealth of resource materials for guidance. New APUSH Course: 142-Page Curriculum Framework. All Exam questions will come from the Framework not from state standards.
New APUSH Framework According to the Framework, every AP Exam question will be rooted in these specific learning objectives. Beginning with the May 2015 AP U.S. History Exam, no AP U.S. History Exam questions will require students to know historical content that falls outside this concept outline.
New APUSH Framework The Framework is the required knowledge that students must know for the Exam.
New APUSH Framework Example: Old Topic Outline: Views of the American national character and ideas about American exceptionalism. New Framework: This theme focuses on the formation of both American national identity and group identities in U.S. history . . . . special attention given to the formation of gender, class, racial, and ethnic identities.
New APUSH Framework American Exceptionalism Vanished! No Winthrop City Upon a Hill sermon. Almost no Founding Fathers. Little discussion of revolutionary principles and philosophies of Declaration of Independence. No heroes. No achievements.
American exceptionalism is a fascinating concept. Effectively, it s a faith position it s sort of like Intelligent Design it can t be proven or disproven by evidence. And historians are bound by evidence. Dr. Fred Anderson, University of Colorado (Boulder) Member, AP U.S. History Redesign Commission October 1, 2014
New APUSH Framework Groups in Conflict Little focus on individuals. Long, depressing story of identity groups struggling with other identity groups.
Comparison of previous Topic Outline and new APUSH Framework Revolutionary War Era and Beyond 1754-1800 Exhibits 2, 3, 4, and Evaluation of GA standards and AP US Framework
So whats the problem? The College Board focuses on required knowledge and that comes from the Framework. ( Mentioning doesn t require knowledge.) The students can ignore it! They can disagree with it! (But the goal is a 5.)
The College Board Framework completely ignores all Revolutionary War battles and commanders. Veterans and their families will by dismayed to discover that this is not an oversight. In fact, the College Board ignores military history from the Revolutionary War to the present day. -Larry Krieger Author and educator Taught AP classes for over 35 years and SAT classes for over 20 years.
Whats Missing in New Framework? America at War American troops played limited role in World War I. (p. 58) In World War II, [w]artime experiences, such as the internment of Japanese Americans, challenges to civil liberties, debates over race and segregation, and the decision to drop the atomic bomb raised questions about American values. (p. 70) Korean and Vietnam Wars covered in one sentence. (p. 71)
Whats missing from America at War? Heroes, Greatest Generation, battles, sacrifice, Holocaust. Who s missing from America at War?
Whos Missing in New Framework? Robert Asbell, 92, of Dublin, served in the Army in the Pacific. Eddie Edwards receives first WWII Air Medal to be presented by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Bobbie E. Brown Medal of Honor Captain U.S. Army WW II
Lee Hugh Phillips James E. Livingston
New APUSH Framework What individuals are missing? Pilgrims, Roger Williams, William Penn, Quakers, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, Alexis de Tocqueville, Eli Whitney, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Clara Barton, Thomas Edison, Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Ford, Wilbur Wright, Orville Wright, Alvin York, Eddie Rickenbacker, Albert Einstein, Dwight Eisenhower, Jonas Salk, Rosa Parks, Neil Armstrong, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Tuskegee Airmen, John F. Kennedy. George Washington gets one brief mention. Ronald Reagan mentioned only negatively.
New APUSH Framework What other events/themes are missing? New England town meetings, importance and principles of Declaration of Independence, Jeffersonian Democracy, Jacksonian Democracy, religious toleration.
New APUSH Framework What seminal documents and speeches are missing? Mayflower Compact, Northwest Ordinance, Federalist Papers, Tocqueville s Democracy in America, Gettysburg Address, Lincoln s Second Inaugural Address, FDR s Four Freedoms speech, Truman s Truman Doctrine speech, Kennedy s Inaugural Address, King s I Have a Dream speech.
GaDOE: Not to worry. July 2014 SBOE meeting GaDOE assures the SBOE that Georgia APUSH teachers will teach both APUSH Framework and Georgia standards. GaDOE adamant that Georgia teachers are more concerned about the EOCT scores.
Reality EOCT counts just 20% of grade. This year students take both EOCT and Final Exam. EOCT does not count toward final grade. What will the new final exam look like for AP U.S. History?
College Board Visits Sending CB representatives to states where there is pushback on APUSH. Visiting state legislators most who are members of the education and/or appropriations committees. Visiting other state policy advisors. Testifying at state board meetings and study committee hearings.
What you will hear (or not hear) from the College Board The new Framework incorporates state standards as it always has. We ll drop the limiting statement on page 2 of the Framework, (but every other word of the Framework will remain the same.) The essential elements of the Exam remain the same. Teachers will continue to teach state standards, especially if students must take an end-of-course test.
What you will hear from the College Board It s not curriculum, it s standards. Look at all the people on the Sample Exam! Ben Franklin! George Washington! Ronald Reagan! ( Mentioning doesn t require knowledge.) The students can ignore it! They can disagree with it! (But the goal is a 5.)
College Board "Teachers should help students understand that the statements in the framework represent common perspectives in college survey courses that merit familiarity, discussion, and debate." Trevor Packer, College Board Senior Vice President, Advanced Placement and Instruction
Conclusion The redefined Framework usurps state curriculum standards. The College Board is now unilaterally decreeing what students should know without public comment or consent. Georgia history standards include not only the dark events of our history, but also celebrate our nation s founders, core values, and heroic servicemen and women.
Recommendations GaDOE should demand that the College Board retract the new Framework and return to previous Topic Outline while rewriting any revisions. State legislature should cease all state funding for APUSH Exam and professional development until the Framework is rewritten.
