Independent schools are blessed with autonomy. No outside regulatory Board can tell them what, when, or how to teach their students. But, what happens when qualifying exams run by external companies and boards decide to adjust the information students are tested on? In cases like this, schools must either stick with their curricula, or change them to ensure high test performance and better college admission for students.
Welcome to the chaotic world of AP US History.
In winter 2013–2014, The College Board—the company responsible for the SAT exams and various “Advanced Placement” (AP) college-equivalency tests—released new guidelines for the US History AP course (APUSH). Since testing companies adjusts to their test-prep recommendations and curricula annually, APUSH’s release seemed innocuous. But, the new guidelines have sparked a debate over what should be taught in history classrooms.
In what College Board claims is an effort to “encourage a flexible approach to teaching content” and both chronological and thematic approaches to the course, APUSH allegedly glosses over certain aspects of American history while emphasizing others. As one detractor put it:
It excises Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, and the other founders from the nation’s story. George Washington’s historical contributions are reduced to a brief sentence fragment noting his Farewell Address. Two pages later, the Framework grants teachers the flexibility to discuss the architecture of Spanish missions, suggesting it merits more attention than the heroes of 1776.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) has emerged as one of APUSH’s biggest critics. In an August 2014 resolution, the RNC claims that APUSH “presents a biased and inaccurate view of many important events in American history”—especially in regard to military heroes and important cultural influences such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Holocaust. Ultimately, the RNC believes that APUSH represents a “radically revisionist view ... that emphasizes negative aspects of our nation’s history while omitting or minimizing positive aspects.”
The fight over APUSH moved from national to local in mid-September when Texas’s Board of Education declared that the state’s history curriculum was to be taught without adopting APUSH's suggested guidelines. While students can still take the same AP US History exam for college credit in the spring as their peers across the country, the risk remains that Texas’s history curriculum will deviate so far from APUSH guidelines that students will not pass the exam.
In Colorado, school board member Julie Williams proposed that similar measures should be taken in the Jefferson County school district. Specifically, she suggested that the Board establish a curriculum committee, the initial projects to be the new AP US History and elementary health courses. In her initial proposal, the committee is responsible for ensuring that courses “promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free enterprise system, respect for authority and respect for individual rights” while eradicating “materials [that encourage or condone] civil disorder, social strife or disregard for the law.”
Even though the proposal was tabled, students were outraged at the prospect of a ‘sanitized’ history course. Their response to the eradication of important historical moments of civil disorder? Civil disobedience! Hundreds of students from at least seven high schools walked out of class and, armed with posters and energy, protested the School Board’s proposed curriculum.
The Superintendent has offered to talk with students and teachers regarding the proposed changes to clarify the chain of events, which had become somewhat muddled in the students’ explosive response. In a statement, Williams insists that APUSH “rejects the history that has been taught in the country for generations” and “has an emphasis on race, gender, class, ethnicity, grievance and American-bashing while simultaneously omitting the most basic structural and philosophical elements considered essential to the understanding of American History for generations.”
While no outside agency can dictate that your school teach specific curricula to students, exams like the SAT, AP, and ACT all reflect broader trends in educational theory that have ripple effects in the classroom. Autonomy's a blessing, but even private schools will be affected by some of the changes from outside organizations.
Additional ISM resources:
Private School News Vol. 13 No. 4 The New SAT Exam: What You Need to Know
ISM Monthly Update for Division Heads Vol. 11 No. 6 Prep for the Test!
ISM Monthly Update for School Heads Vol. 10 No. 5 Teacher Quality and Student Performance: US vs International
Additional ISM resources for Gold Consortium members:
I&P Vol. 36 No. 1 Advanced Placement: A Critical Study
I&P Vol. 31 No. 2 Re-examine Advanced Placement in Light of Your School Mission
I&P Vol. 37 No. 14 The 21st Century School: Exam Periods
