Another skirmish shaping up in testing wars

Some testing critics are taking aim at a new Advanced Placement United States history program, and the the Republican chair of the State Board of Education is bringing the debate to Colorado.

Paul Lundeen of Monument has presented a resolution for consideration at the board’s session this Thursday (see text here). Lundeen told Chalkbeat Colorado, “Some concerns had been expressed to me by constituents. My research suggests that a resolution delaying is appropriate at this time.”

The proposed resolution reads, “The new APUSH Framework reflects a radically revisionist view of American history that emphasizes negative aspects of our nation’s history while omitting or minimizing positive aspects. … The Framework presents a biased and inaccurate view of many important events in American history.” (APUSH is an acronym for Advanced Placement United States History.)

The resolution also claims the AP framework conflicts with state content standards and asks that roll-out of the new program be delayed “for at least a year.”

An Aug. 1 Huffington Post column by Patte Barth traces the flap to a March paper published by the Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based conservative think tank.

The hue and cry since has been picked up by commentators for the National Review and on conservative websites such as Breitbart.com and TheBlaze.com. Glenn Beck’s website. Last weekend the Republican National Committee passed as resolution opposing the new history framework, and the controversy also has popped up in Georgia and Texas.

Because College Board President David Coleman was a leading figure in creation of Common Core State Standards, commentators have tried to draw a link between the new AP program and Common Core, a focus of conservative worries for more than a year. (The College Board runs both the Advanced Placement program and the SAT tests.)

In an email sent this week to members of the state board, Coleman wrote, “People who are worried that AP U.S. History students will not need to study our nation’s founders need only take one look at this exam to see that our founders are resonant throughout.”

Because of public concern, Coleman said the College Board was taking the “unprecedented action” of releasing a full sample exam (see it here). He added, “We will soon release a clarified version of the course framework to avoid any further confusion.”

Read a defense of the framework in this June article by Lawrence Charap, director of AP curriculum and content development. See the full framework here and a College Board FAQ here.

The AP American history class is not a part of high school for most Colorado students. According to Department of Education data, 5,568 students took the class in 2012-13, about 4.5 percent of the 121,352 high school juniors and seniors enrolled that year.

Discussion of the resolution is on the board’s Thursday afternoon agenda, after results of the 2014 TCAP tests are presented to the group. The only public comment period of the board’s two-day August meeting is scheduled for late Wednesday afternoon, so the issue may get an airing then.

Over the last year opponents and supporters of the Common Core have made monthly appearances during SBE public comment periods to express their views.