About three months after large numbers of students failed Georgia's social studies exams, the state education board is scheduled to vote Thursday on changes to what sixth- and seventh-graders must learn and their teachers must teach.

The extensive revisions come after most Georgia school systems have started the new school year. Two state education department staff members will start training teachers on the new material later this month with the goal of training four teachers in grades six and seven from every middle school by January, spokesman Matt Cardoza said.

Teachers say they're anxious about the changes and fear a repeat of the high failure rates when students took the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests this spring. About 71 percent of sixth-graders and 76 percent of seventh-graders failed the social studies sections of the exams, which determine whether students are learning the state's curriculum.

"Social studies teachers across the state are waiting with a sort of suspended breath to see if the changes implemented are what's needed," said Tim Callahan, spokesman for the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, an advocacy group. "It just seems like we're always in correction mode here. It's like we're building the plane as it's taking off."

State schools Superintendent Kathy Cox threw out the two social studies results from the spring test, citing a disconnect between test questions and the curriculum. Middle schools began using the new curriculum last school year and the state exams were based on the harder material.

State officials said the curriculum revisions along with changes to the exam will prevent a repeat of the bad results.

Cox assembled a committee of teachers and social studies coordinators in May to suggest changes to the curriculum. Then the social studies advisory panel — which includes teachers, college professors and economists — offered additional revisions.

The revisions emphasize concepts over just memorizing facts. For example, sixth-graders are expected to describe and locate important characteristics of Europe. Before students needed to locate 18 locations, but the revised curriculum reduced it to nine.

The state posted the revisions on its Web site in June for public comment.

About 130 people, mostly teachers, responded. A change to the sixth-grade curriculum received about a dozen comments, questioning why the state removed references to the Renaissance.

Students will learn about the Renaissance in detail through a mandatory world history class students take in high school, Cardoza said.

The education department will use the revised standards to write new questions for the CRCT. The questions will be field-tested this spring when sixth- and seventh-graders take the tests.

Students' scores from those tests won't count — making it the second consecutive year results from those two exams won't be valid.