Georgia school officials call “time out” on social studies changes

Changes to Georgia’s social studies learning standards have become so controversial that the state board of education had to call a “time out.”

That’s how board chairman Mike Royal described the decision by the board Thursday to postpone until perhaps May a vote on the proposed new standards.

A team of teachers and other experts spent more than a year studying the current standards and recommending new ones. Then, the Georgia Department of Education changed some of the recommendations without consulting the committee.