The new, new framework for AP US history
The College Board has just released the latest curriculum framework for its Advanced Placement U.S. history course, and it appears to have satisfied many of the old framework's critics.
The re-write comes after anger over its 2014 framework sent the College Board, which administers the AP exam, back to the drawing board.
It agreed to revise in an attempt to quell what had become a national controversy over how to teach issues like imperialism, slavery, racism, and American identity.
A little history...
America doesn't have a national history curriculum, but the AP U.S. history course comes close. Last year, nearly half a million high school students sat for the AP exam, with top scorers earning many millions of dollars worth of college credit.
The controversial 2014 framework — meant to help teachers prepare students for a new AP exam — was the first update since 2006, and it signaled a big shift away from important names and events toward interpretation and comprehension: debating ideas instead of regurgitating facts.
But critics argued that the new framework presented a view of the country's history that was too negative and too political.
A retired AP U.S. history teacher named Larry Krieger, who now runs a test prep and tutoring company, was among the first to raise the alarm about the curriculum guide. He connected to a network of education activists who had already mobilized against issues like the Common Core and standardized testing.
Eventually, the Republican National Committee passed a resolution that called theframework "radically revisionist." And policymakers in several states — including Oklahoma, Georgia, Colorado, and Texas — introduced proposals hoping to force a revision.
Specific objections ranged from the framework stating that the nation's founders believed in "white superiority" and that white southerners had "pride in the The new, new framework for AP US history | 89.3 KPCC: