And in partisanship.
The College Board, which creates standards for what knowledge students in AP classes must demonstrate to get college credit for taking the course, introduced a new 95-page framework that is causing controversy.
Not for what’s in it, but for what is left out.
Conservative school board members in several states say it’s biased and not patriotic enough.
They complain that the new framework does not mention important facts and figures, like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. or the Founding Fathers and Declaration of Independence.
King is mentioned in the guidelines, as are the Black Panthers, but the woman who started the movement against the framework says it’s not about specific examples, but what she believes to be a liberal theme.
The College Board, backed by many teachers, says that a framework doesn’t dictate curriculum, it only guides it. And that it’s absurd to conclude that teachers wouldn’t teach such important issues as part of American history.
Proponents of the new framework argue it was written by professors and historians who are much more qualified to set standards than local school board members.
Each side is accusing the other of playing politics with American History.
–
The chairman of the state board, Bill Cobey, told CNN that they are in a “listening and discussing stage.”
“We’re not ready to do anything,” Cobey said. “I want what’s best for the children and students of North Carolina, and I certainly don’t want them to lose any opportunity to take Advanced Placement history.”
In Texas, where it began, teachers are being told to “fill in” the framework with state-issued curriculum standards for U.S. history, Cargill said, adamant that it would not affect the college credits that students can get for taking the class.
“It’s too important. Those AP courses are really critical for (grade-point average) and college scholarships,” Cargill said.
The Republican Party in Douglas County, Nebraska, introduced a resolution that mirrored the RNC memo, and State Board of Education member Glen Flint wrote in a blog post dated October 30 that the board is “currently studying the issue,” and “we should take a stand against any attempt to nationalize or circumvent state standards and local control,” he wrote.
In Tennessee, legislation was introduced in November that would create a commission to examine any new AP framework from the College Board.
“The real controversy is the wording in the key concepts of this framework. Until the College Board revises that wording and bias in there, this issue is not going to die down,” Cargill said.
CNN’s Glen Dacy contributed to this report.
