Texas OKs social studies plan with heavy state history focus

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The State Board of Education on Friday approved a social studies teaching plan that will dedicate more time across school grades to Texas and U.S. history while placing less attention on world history and cultures.

The Republican-dominated board voted 8-7 in favor of the proposal, which marks only one step in a longer effort by the group to revise Texas’ social studies standards and set new guidelines for what students should learn before they graduate. Republicans Evelyn Brooks and Pam Little joined Democrats in opposition to the plan.

The final tally was a reversal from a preliminary vote on Wednesday, when a board majority signaled support for a different teaching plan that included what educators considered a more inclusive approach.

Some members who voted Friday for the new plan, which was championed by conservative groups, did not participate in the preliminary vote on Wednesday. Will Hickman, a Houston Republican board member, voted with the majority Friday after having supported the former plan earlier in the week, telling his colleagues that he did not think there was “one right answer.”

The board will soon begin the endeavor of developing official standards for social studies, which will include outlining specifically what the group expects students to learn in each school grade. That politically-charged process will provide the board’s Republican majority an opportunity to more heavily influence what happens in the classroom, following legislative action in recent years to restrict how schools teach about topics like race, racism, gender and sex. The board undertook that process in 2022 but delayed it after pressure from Republican lawmakers, who complained that the plan at the time amounted to indoctrination.

The group is aiming to vote on the revised social studies standards by June 2026.

The framework approved on Friday would teach students in kindergarten through second grade about the key people, places and events throughout Texas and U.S. history. It would then weave together lessons on the development of Western civilization, the U.S. and Texas during grades 3-8, with a significantly heavier emphasis on Texas and the U.S. after fifth grade. The topics are in chronological order, meaning children would learn about ancient history in earlier grades and approach instruction about the modern era as they advance.

The teaching plan board members preliminarily approved Wednesday and later abandoned would have used kindergarten through second grade to teach children about local, state, U.S. and world history and geography. It would have then taught them Texas history in third grade; U.S. history in fourth grade; world history in fifth grade; world cultures in sixth grade; and U.S. and Texas history in seventh and eighth grade.

Conservative groups who spoke in favor of the newly approved framework said they favored its story-based, chronological approach, which they believe will help students better analyze historical patterns. Others argued that it would also place America in a global context and allow students to critically analyze the country’s strengths and weaknesses.

“Because students have this robust chronological and thematic instruction, they can then deeply explore the ideas that form the state in the Texas capstone,” said Matthew McCormick, a K-12 education policy analyst for the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

But social studies educators criticized the plan’s lack of attention to geography and world cultures. They dislike how the plan fragments instruction, as opposed to dedicating specific years to teaching children about Texas, U.S. or world history. They also worry the plan’s chronological approach would disrupt historical continuity and make it harder for kids to see cause-and-effect relationships.

“Relevance is what makes history memorable, and that comes alive from teaching it in context,” said Courtney Williamson, a parent of school-age children who taught eighth-grade social studies for 15 years and served as a social studies department head.

Williamson added that the teaching plan favored by educators provides students with knowledge “that they can connect and apply.”

Conversations among the board earlier in the week about the new teaching plan revealed some of the disagreements and tension to come when it begins revising Texas’ social studies standards.

“When do people that look like me, Tiffany, Evelyn, Gustavo, Marisa, LJ, get to learn about themselves before the fifth grade?” asked Houston board member Staci Childs, referring to the people of color on the panel. “Just curious, if we adopt this.”

Keven Ellis, a Lufkin Republican on the State Board of Education, expressed confusion about engaging in debates about the content of lessons so early in the process of revising Texas’ social studies standards.

“I think those important questions, those very important questions, are going to come shortly as we start writing the actual student expectations,” said Ellis, who voted in favor of the teaching plan approved on Friday. “It’s going to be our job … that we make sure everybody’s story is told, because I 100% believe in that too, because, I think, that’s when students learn, is when they can see themselves in the material they’re learning.”

Disclosure: Texas Public Policy Foundation has been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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