Are Texas's social studies standards really so bad?
Texas has completed its adoption of new social standards, a controversial process that made national news when religious conservative members of the Board of Education made decisions that critics said skewed history. I was one of those who criticized the changes on The Sheet, more than once, and yesterday, I questioned why the board was just now considering a new rule (not a standard) about how Islam is taught to students. In this post, Gilbert T. Sewall, director of the New York-based American Textbook Council, takes a different view. The council is an independent research organization that reviews history textbooks and other educational materials. By Gilbert T. Sewall With the official adoption of new social studies standards last month, Texas ends a year-long controversy over history standards and textbooks. After months of stunning national opposition, in the spring, the Republican majority on the Texas State Board of Education pushed through
