The History Survey Project: Improving Introductory History Courses

By all appearances, history teaching in Texas is under attack. State legislators responded to budget shortfalls produced by the economic crisis of 2008–2009 by laying off more than 100,000 school teachers. The elected members of the Texas State Board of Education spent two years in 2009–2010 revising the standards for K–12 social studies by relying on the “expert” testimony of pastors to produce, in the words of a politically conservative watchdog group, “a politicized distortion of history” that is “unwieldy and troubling” and contains “misrepresentations at every turn.” Standardized testing has reduced classroom time for subjects not tested for, prompting school districts to attempt to jettison history altogether. (1) And yet, paradoxically, the history survey course finds its most welcoming home in the Lone Star State. During the Cold War, when Americans added “In God We Trust” to our money, Texans added a legislatively mandated requirement for six...