by Georgia Charter Schools Association
By Dr. Monica Henson,聽
There has been quite the hue and cry raised and beyond about the content of Advanced Placement U. S. History (APUSH), being no exception. Essentially, the effort appears designed to ban APUSH from the state curriculum. An Oklahoma committee of legislators voted in favor of a bill to prevent state funds from being used to provide APUSH, and instead offer students a 鈥渉omegrown鈥� curriculum. The bill has been withdrawn after , but the controversy continues to rage, centered primarily in the South but also surfacing in Colorado.
Much of the focus seems to be on whether the APUSH content is sufficiently patriotic to suit members on the right of the Republican party, although there is also a strain of paranoia that 鈥渢he feds鈥� are attempting to usurp control of curriculum from the states. In Georgia, would require that APUSH be withdrawn in its current form by the state, and defunded if changes aren鈥檛 made to the satisfaction of GOP Sen. William Ligon (Brunswick) & company (Millar-Dunwoody, Hill-Marietta, Jeffares-McDonough, Watson-Savannah, 鈥渁nd others鈥�). As Sen. Ligon led the charge last session against Common Core, it鈥檚 no surprise that he would be similarly offended by the College Board, although neither Common Core nor Advanced Placement is a federal initiative.
It is聽a surprise to me that Fran Millar is part of this effort, and that鈥檚 what makes me suspect that, at least here in Georgia, opposition to APUSH is a party-line situation more than anything else. Fran is what I like to call a common sense conservative, not one given to hysteria, and to be fair, I haven鈥檛 spoken to him yet about why he is co-sponsoring the bill. What doesn鈥檛 surprise me is that once again, a well-meaning bunch of legislators are getting too far into the weeds of what state-agency licensed teachers are doing, i.e., deciding what specific curriculum will be used in classrooms.
What makes the most sense to me as an administrator responsible for my district鈥檚 curriculum offerings, is to compare to the 聽鈥� the proposed legislation states that the APUSH framework 鈥渄iffers radically鈥� from GPSUSH. I have read both documents cover-to-cover, and I don鈥檛 buy the argument being made by the legislators. With all due respect to the senators, I鈥檓 pretty sure I know more about curriculum analysis than they do. I speak from experience not only as an administrator but also as a former National Board Certified Teacher of English, history and French. In my teaching days, I taught AP Language and Composition and co-taught it with a social studies teacher who taught APUSH.
The Advanced Placement standards do not dictate the specific reading selections or classroom activities for AP teachers 鈥� and they never have. The classroom teacher has the freedom to teach APUSH incorporating the state standards within the broad curriculum framework established by the College Board and outlined in the Course and Exam Description for each subject. The AP exam administered at the end of the course determines whether students have attained the standards, which for APUSH include the following:
- Historical thinking skills (chronological reasoning, comparison and contextualization, crafting historical arguments from historical evidence, and historical interpretation and synthesis);
- Thematic learning objectives, which describe what colleges expect AP students to know and be able to do by the end of a college-level survey course in American history;
- The concept outline, a series of nine historical periods from the pre-colonial era to the present; and
- The APUSH exam itself, an essay-based assessment.
As the College Board鈥檚 own APUSH manual for teachers emphasizes, 鈥�the concept outline does not attempt to provide a list of groups, individuals, dates, or historical details, because it is each teacher鈥檚 responsibility to select relevant historical evidence of his or her own choosing to explore the key concepts of each period in depth鈥� [emphasis mine]. The GPSUSH does in fact provide a list of groups, individuals, dates, and historical details. Advanced Placement Teachers of are required to develop their own syllabus for each AP course, which is submitted by the school to the College Board for approval. There is nothing preventing a Georgia APUSH teacher from taking the GPSUSH groups, individuals, dates, and historical details and incorporating them into the APUSH syllabus for the school鈥檚 and the College Board鈥檚 approval.
If the Georgia senators don鈥檛 want to take this old maid schoolteacher鈥檚 word for it, they might inquire of one of the state鈥檚 best authorities on curriculum and instruction, Dr. Martha Reichrath. As Deputy Superintendent of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment at the Georgia Department of Education, she is one of the smartest educational leaders this state has ever produced. At the Common Core listening sessions last year, which descended into near-freak show hilarity during public comment, Dr. Reichrath was a voice of reason. The discussion on APUSH needs to be led by public school administrators and teachers. With all due respect to our elected representatives, it鈥檚 not your place to tell education professionals what to teach, or how to teach it 鈥斅�that鈥檚 our job. After all, the (an agency that is Georgia-grown and Georgia-owned) has certified us, and the GaPSC is charged with 鈥減rotecting Georgia鈥檚 higher standard of learning.鈥�
Dr. Monica Henson is superintendent and chief executive officer of Provost Academy Georgia.
The views and opinions expressed on CharterConfidential聽are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any agency.
Georgia Charter Schools Association
The Georgia Charter Schools Association (91桃色视频) is the membership organization for Georgia鈥檚 charter school operators and petitioners, established in 2001. Our mission is to be an effective advocate and service provider for all charter public schools in Georgia.
