Ladies and gentlemen, your State Board of Education at work. A report ripping the new social studies standards for schoolchildren offers recommendations for how teachers can best skirt its shortcomings — although a state agency responsible for the group that produced the study disavows it. The controversial curriculum standards approved by the State Board of [...]
Posts Tagged ‘social studies’
Republican legislators want SBOE do over on social studies
Good for them. Texas House Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie; Public Education Chairman Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands; and House Administration Chairman Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth; criticized the new [social studies] standards. Various civil rights and minority advocacy organizations have opposed the standards, and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative-leaning education think tank, gave the [...]
By the way, our social studies standards still suck
So says a conservative think tank. In a report [released Wednesday], the Thomas B. Fordham Institute gives the Texas social studies curriculum standards a “D” while accusing “the conservative majority” of using the curriculum “to promote its political priorities, molding the telling of the past to justify its current views and aims.” “Biblical influences on [...]
White wants to “undo some of the damage” the SBOE has done to social studies
Lord knows, there’s a lot of it to undo. Bill White wants to start with changing the Chair. Some Texans have called for a limited review to address some of the more controversial standards that will influence new history, government, geography and economics textbooks for 4.8 million public school children. Only the board chairman sets [...]
Back to the clown show
So here’s a bunch of coverage from yesterday’s SBOE hearings: from the Chron, the DMN, the Statesman, the Trib, TFN, and BOR. Very short summary: Many people testified. Some said crazy things. Others begged the SBOE to not enshrine crazy things in the standard social studies curriculum. Some Democratic lawmakers reminded the SBOE that funding [...]
And the clown show gets underway again
Here’s your TFN liveblogging of today’s SBOE social studies hearings. Brian Thevenot of The Trib is also there, and he reports that an interesting character has asked the Board to slow down. Former U.S. Secretary of Education and Houston Superintendent Rod Paige this morning asked the State Board of Education to delay adopting its new [...]
Briefly noted
Some interesting things from today that I wanted to note… There are plenty of people who want to be on the Appropriations Committee, so putting some who doesn’t want to be there, like State Rep. Joe Driver of Dallas, doesn’t make much sense. But once you’re on Appropriations, whether you wanted it or not, you [...]
Science textbook delay
The adoption of new science textbooks may be delayed a year as a budget maneuver. The $1.4 billion price tag for new science textbooks and other materials has been causing sticker shock among state officials bracing for the upcoming budget shortfall. So, the State Board of Education on Tuesday must decide whether to push ahead [...]
“We went out and won some elections”
I know people who read this blog understand the importance of voting in every election, but I think it’s good to be reminded from time to time. So with that, this Statesman article about the current state of the SBOE and how they managed to do so much damage to the public school curriculum, sums [...]
They get letters
Many people have told the SBOE what they can do with their proposed textbook standards for social studies. The State Board of Education had received more than 20,000 public comments as of last week on the proposed revision of social studies curriculum standards. That incomplete tally — the monthlong comment period ends May 19 — [...]
The historians have their say
The various legislative groups held their SBOE hearings on Wednesday. In pointing out the many ways in which that unesteemed body screwed the pooch on social studies, they joined with others in calling for a delay in adopting the new curriculum standard, pointing out that doing so could save the state a few bucks at [...]
Where’s Gail?
This morning at 9 AM in Austin, a hearing will be held by various legislative groups including the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, the Legislative Study Group, the House Black Caucus, and Senate Hispanic Caucus, to discuss the recent changes to the social studies curriculum. You know, the whole dropping of Thomas Jefferson thing and all [...]
Historians want SBOE to hold it right there
A group of historians have called on the SBOE to review and rethink its recent changes to the social studies curriculum. Historians are decrying the social studies curriculum standards crafted by the State Board of Education that they say misrepresent and distort the historical record. About 800 college history professors from across the country have [...]
Bill Hobby bashes the SBOE
Boy, I don’t know who put the hot sauce in former Lite Guv Bill Hobby’s Cheerios, but keep it up, I say. Go read it for yourself and you’ll see what I mean. When you’re done with that, you can go sign State Rep. Mike Villarreal’s petition calling on the SBOE to knock it off [...]
More legislative pushback against the SBOE
Good. Texas risks becoming a national laughingstock by diminishing Thomas Jefferson, banning the word “capitalism,” and otherwise distorting history for its public schools, the chairman of the Legislature’s largest caucus said Tuesday, announcing a hearing on the state’s proposed social studies curriculum standards. The Mexican American Legislative Caucus will bring academic experts to the state [...]
Turns out we’re not actually destroying the world one textbook at a time
Good to know. Though Texas has been painted in scores of media reports as the big dog that wags the textbook industry tail, that’s simply no longer true — and will become even less true in the future, as technological advances and political shifts transform the marketplace, said Jay Diskey, executive director of the Association [...]
A fine whine from the SBOE
Apparently, some of the wingnut members of our State Board of Education got their widdle feelings hurt by some of the coverage of their most recent hijinks, in particular about their amendment to remove Thomas Jefferson from the world history standards. It was all just so unfair that SBOE Chair Gail Lowe took the time [...]
The SBOE has low self-esteem
I think I finally figured out why they do stuff like this. The State Board of Education tentatively approved new standards for social studies Friday with members divided along party lines — some blasting them as a fraud and conservative whitewash, others praising them as a tribute to the Founding Fathers that rightly portrays America [...]
The SBOE continues on its rampage
Sadly, despite the encouraging election results in the SBOE races last week, there’s still plenty of opportunity for the Board’s troglodyte caucus to wreak havoc on the schoolchildren of Texas. The State Board of Education’s Hispanic and African American members clashed with its Anglo majority for hours today over how to present history to the [...]
Liveblogging the SBOE social studies hearings
No, not me. I’m not there, and besides, I’m no good at liveblogging. Here’s all the coverage you could need, from people who actually are good at this. First and foremost, the indispensable Texas Freedom Network. Stephen Schafersman, blogging for the Texas Observer. Dave Mann, also with the Observer. Brian Thevenot, writing for the Trib. [...]
Time to send in the clowns
You know that old expression about how no one’s life, liberty, or property are safe when the Legislature is in session? That’s how I feel these days about the State Board of Education. And that means it’s loin-girding time, because here they come again, to finish off the social studies textbook standards that they deferred [...]
Wrapping up the SBOE social studies debate
Apparently, the debate over the new social studies standards went on so long that the SBOE decided to put the rest of it off till March, meaning the final adoption will be in May. If only they could push it even farther back, say till 2011 or so. Anyway, take it away, TFN. Texas Freedom [...]
The SBOE takes on social studies
Somewhat surprisingly, nothing too horrible appears to have happened. Yet. Kindergartners would learn about a Texas revolutionary and first-graders would discuss the idea of holding public officials accountable under proposals approved Thursday by the State Board of Education, which began reshaping the guidelines for social studies lessons. The board was wading through dozens of amendments [...]
SBOE prepares to screw up social studies
From a TFN press release: The state’s leading religious liberties group today joined with clergy and scholars in calling on the State Board of Education to approve new curriculum standards that don’t undermine religious freedom in Texas social studies classrooms. “Curriculum writers have drafted proposed standards that rightly acknowledge the influence of faith on the [...]
You can try, but you can’t out-embarrass the SBOE
The Court of Criminal Appeals has had a good run lately as the public institution that has caused the most embarrassment to Texas, thanks in no small part to the ongoing Keller saga and the recent hot judge-on-prosecutor ruling. But never count out the State Board of Education, where it’s not just a clown show, [...]
The new social studies curriculum, so far
There’s no reason to believe that the lunatic fringe of the State Board of Education will do anything but push an unrealistic and ideological change to the state’s social studies curriculum. They’ve made that clear by the kind of “expert” they’ve added to the committee that’s doing the review. But so far, at least, so [...]
Defining “expert” down
The Statesman editorial board lets us know how Don McLeroy defines an “expert” on something. Don McLeroy, who couldn’t muster enough votes in the Republican-dominated Texas Senate to win confirmation as chairman of the State Board of Education, has a curious notion of what qualifies someone as an expert. “If two (board) members think they’re [...]