MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama Board of Education, including Gov. Kay Ivey, voted unanimously Thursday to adopt new social studies standards expanding teaching of Alabama and U.S. history along with civics, geography and the Holocaust.
This marks the first update to the social studies standards since 2010. A previous 2021 attempt to revise the standards was abandoned amid national debates about teaching U.S. history but was revived in mid-2022 at the board’s request.
Five representatives including members of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, the Coalition for True History, the Alabama Holocaust Commission, Auburn University and the Alabama Council for Social Studies, spoke in favor of the new standards during the public comment period. No one spoke in opposition.
Dan Puckett, the chair of the Holocaust commission and a member of the course of study committee, praised the course of study committee for expanding Holocaust education.
“We have introduced it in fifth grade in a very age appropriate way. We have expanded it into world history in ninth grade (and) U.S. history in eleventh grade,” Puckett said.
“What you have in front of you now constitutes the strongest standards on the Holocaust in the nation.”
State Superintendent Eric Mackey commended staff and board members for building consensus throughout the course of study process.
Mackey said staff and board members responded to “hundreds, if not thousands of emails and messages” from the public about not only the social studies standards but also the arts course of study and standards for school libraries, which the board also adopted during the meeting.
After the meeting, Mackey acknowledged challenges ahead in adopting textbooks to align with the new standards.
“Textbooks are always a little bit more challenging to me,” he told reporters.
“Alabama is such a small dot on the map, population wise, compared to the whole United States, that we have to sift through those books and see which ones really meet the new standards we’ve adopted.”
The board will appoint a social studies textbook committee in the spring.
Schools are not required to implement the new standards until the 2026-27 school year.
Click here to view the academic standards revision schedule.