College Board & APUSH
Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, March 6, 2015 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler
In his January 28th resolution Senator William Ligon demanded that the College Board revise the Advanced Placement U.S. History course (APUSH), that approximately 14,000 Georgia students take every year. Senator Ligon S.R. 80 listed the reasons APUSH MUST be changed or replaced.
Traditionally, the course presented a balanced view of American history that prepared students for college-level history courses. That was then, but this is what’s happening now.
The newly released framework for APUSH was radically changed to present a revisionist view of American history. It emphasizes the negative aspects of U.S. history, but omits or minimizes the positive aspects.
For example: APUSH disparages discussions of America’s Founding Fathers, the principles of the Declaration of Independence, the religious influences on our nation’s history and a multitude of other critical topics that have been time-honored subjects of the APUSH course.
The framework presents a biased inaccurate view of many important themes and events in American history, such as the motivations and actions of seventeenth to nineteenth century settlers, the nature of the American free enterprise system, the course and resolution of the Great Depression, and the development of and victory in the Cold War. Regrettably, the framework differs radically from Georgia Performance Standards for Social Studies and, in order to prepare students for the APUSH examination, Georgia teachers must teach APUSH-required knowledge through APUSH themes and concepts. That requirement would usurp state-mandated Performance Standards.
For those reasons, S.R. 80 is asking the State Board of Education to correct the problem by having the College Board remove the new APUSH framework and assessment before the 2015-16 academic year begins and replace them with the former APUSH course or another course that reflects America’s founding principles and uniqueness emphasized in Georgia Performance Standards.
If the College Board will not comply, the State Board of Education is asked to withhold state funding from APUSH and aligned material. If the College Board refuses after that, efforts will be made to reduce or eliminate federal funding for the College Board, which is a nonprofit organization that develops and administers standardized tests. After another refusal the governor could ask other governors to stop funding the College Board. If that fails, the State School Board and Department of Education would find a replacement course that reflects Georgia Standards. For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.