A group of Republican state senators has joined the chorus of conservatives who want Georgia’s public schools to get rid of the current version of the Advanced Placement U.S. History course.
The senators, led by William Ligon of Brunswick, filed a resolution this week asking the state Education Department to cease spending money on textbooks, professional development and other materials aligned with the course. They also want the state to return to an A.P. U.S. History exam that is compatible with the Georgia Performance Standards, benchmarks to determine student proficiency.
In recent months, many conservatives across the country and locally in Gwinnett County have objected to some changes to the course, which is designed by the College Board, which administers the SAT college entry exam.
“The framework presents a biased and inaccurate view of many important themes and events in American history, including … the American free enterprise system, the course and resolution of the Great Depression and the development of and victory in the Cold War,” the resolution says.
Gwinnett resident Judy Craft, who’s fought against the course framework said she was pleased with the legislation.
The College Board has “rewritten the Advanced Placement U.S. History framework to reflect a leftist view of American history,” she said. “I applaud every word of this much needed resolution.”
Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, who serves on the Senate education committee, said he doesn’t support the resolution. He said A.P. courses have been an important tool for Georgia students to learn at a higher level as they compete with students from other countries.
“Politicians should not be in the business of curriculum,” said Fort, who’s taught history in college. “We ought to keep our noses out of it.”
Georgia’s new school superintendent, Richard Woods, a Republican, said he has “deep concerns” about the A.P. course framework. Woods said he supports the bill, but did not specify when he’d propose or enact any of the measures in the resolution.
“One important issue to note in Georgia is that all students, including our Advanced Placement students, must take the state end-of-course test in U.S. history,” said Woods, who wants to give every fifth-grader a copy of the Constitution. “That means, regardless of what may be missing from the AP frameworks, our students will be taught the foundational principles found in our Georgia standards and will be required to demonstrate that knowledge on our state test.”
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