BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Alabama’s public school students could soon be learning more Alabama and U.S. history if the state board of education approves new social studies standards.
The proposal gives students three years of Alabama history in elementary school, expands high school elective classes to give students an even deeper dive into state and national history and adds a course focused on the Holocaust.
Social studies standards have not been updated 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.
The proposed 165-page document reflects input from nearly 200 educators, 230 expert reviewers, and groups like the Alabama Historical Association, the Historical Commission, the Department of Archives and History and the Eagle Forum, Geneva City Superintendent Ron Schnell told board members recently.
A course of study contains academic standards, grouped by grade level, that lay out the minimum knowledge Alabama teachers must teach during the school year.
The 165-page proposal covers Alabama, U.S. and world history, along with geography, economics and government throughout kindergarten through twelfth grade.
Committee member Marcia Farabee, curriculum director in Gadsden City Schools, said that is a lot of ground to cover and teachers recognize that challenge.
“The way the current course of study is, we don’t have enough time to cover those standards in the depth that our students truly need,” she said.
Committee member Mitch Pinkston, secondary curriculum supervisor in Baldwin County, praised the rewrite.
“I think this is a rock-solid document that focuses on skills and content knowledge and produces students that are going to be active citizens, knowledgeable citizens and contributing citizens, which is our goal,” he said.
They tackled that challenge by spreading some courses out over multiple grades that had previously been taught primarily in one or two grades.
For example, Alabama history would be spread over third, fourth and fifth grades, instead of being the sole focus of fourth grade social studies like it is now.
Farabee said the proposed course of study includes new content like expanded Indigenous history, Alabama’s role in the American Revolution, economic and urban growth post-Civil War and the expansion of civil rights before and after the 1950s and 1960s.
Civics, a primary focus for half of a year in the seventh grade, would be introduced in the sixth grade under the proposal and expanded into grades seven through nine.
World history would also expand from eighth and ninth grade to include seventh grade, too. The image below shows the comparison of the sequence of topics in the current course of study with the proposed course of study.
The committee updated the current social studies electives and proposed new electives for high school students that include Alabama studies, historical studies and Holocaust studies. The new electives are framework courses that focus on research and writing.
Schnell emphasized the committee’s thorough review of public feedback on the first draft posted in August.
“We took every single response seriously,” he said. “We dealt with every single response individually, often in writing.”
The full discussion and presentation can be viewed at this link or in the video shown below.
Board members reacted positively to the presentation and Vice President Tonya Chestnut, D-Selma, said she was pleased with the proposal.
“I just want to say thank you,” she said.
Chestnut, who is African American, won her bid for re-election on Nov. 5 and said the topic of Black history came up a lot during her campaign stops.
“In many of my counties, people were concerned that Black history would be eliminated or watered down so that the truth would not be told,” she said. “I have to say that you all far exceeded my expectations.”
Long-time board member Stephanie Bell, R-Montgomery, asked how the new proposal defines the nation’s current form of government.
“It has been updated to say ‘constitutional republic,’ Department of Education specialist Blake Busbin responded.
She expressed concern that students weren’t learning enough about geography and about their local governmental leaders.
“In terms of actually naming the president, the mayor, the governor, that begins as early as grade one when we talk about community leaders and you have that expanded community (academic standard),” Busbin said.
The revised proposal is posted on the state department’s website. The public has until 5 p.m. on Nov. 28 to share comments with the committee.
A proposal for a new arts education course of study was also presented to the board and is also posted on the department’s website for public comment. The committee can still make changes to the course of study until it comes up for board vote.
The board is expected to vote on a final proposal at the Dec. 12 board meeting.
Early next year, the board will appoint a social studies textbook committee that will use the new standards to recommend textbooks and supplementary teaching material. The board is expected to vote on a recommended list of textbooks in December of next year.
The standards won’t be in classrooms until the start of the 2026-27 school year.