Oklahoma Draft Social Studies Standards Informed by American Birthright … Connecticut bill forwarding American Birthright … What to expect in 2025 … All this and more in the latest Resolute!
Oklahoma Draft Social Studies Standards Informed by American Birthright
We are delighted and honored that the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) has published draft social studies standards that have been significantly informed by American Birthright: The Civics Alliance’s Model K-12 State Standards and by our History of Communism: Model State Academic Standards for Social Studies. Our public comment provides further details of our assessment of Oklahoma’s draft social studies standards.
This is not final: Oklahoma is still taking public comments, and the Oklahoma state legislature must approve the standards. If you are in Oklahoma, or know Oklahomans, I urge you to provide public comment in favor of the draft social studies standards, both to OSDE and to legislators—as well as to urge further revision, in ways we suggest in our public comment. If and when the standards are finally approved, there will still be work to improve curriculum frameworks, model lesson plans, textbooks, teacher education and licensure, etc. But the work that has been done to create and to support AmericanBirthrightalready has had a significant effect.
The Civics Alliance’s work is generational, aiming for broad success in America in a 20-plus year campaign. We published American Birthrightin 2022. Woodland Park School District in Colorado adopted AmericanBirthrightin 2023. Oklahoma published these draft standards in December 2024. To have achieved so much so quickly is far above expectations. We will build upon this success for further work throughout the United States.
Our materials have informed the draft Oklahoma social studies standards in many particular locations. I believe our materials have informed the draft Oklahoma social studies standards most strongly in two new high school electives, Ancient and Medieval World History (pp. 143-153) and History of Twentieth Century Totalitarianism (pp. 154-163).
Oklahoma’s draft social studies standards are not copy-and-paste from American Birthright and History of Communism. Too much, alas, is still informed by the National Council for the Social Studies’ counterproductive College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards. We regret that OSDE has, for the present, foregone an opportunity to implement the best possible social studies standards. While this current round of revision is an excellent start, we hope that OSDE will build upon it in the future to provide the fundamental structural reform that Oklahoma’s social studies standards still need. But we published AmericanBirthrightand History of Communism to be models, to be adapted by states and school districts to suit their local conditions and traditions. OSDE’s draft Oklahoma standards are emphatically Oklahoman standards and Oklahomans have decided which of our materials are appropriate to use. That is as it should be.
Connecticut Legislator Introduces Bill to Forward American Birthright
Senator Rob Sampson, Senior Deputy Republican Leader, has introduced Senate Bill 38, which is short but sweet:
That the general statutes be amended to establish a task force to review and make recommendations concerning the adoption of the social studies curriculum standards prescribed in American Birthright: The Civics Alliance’s Model K-12 Social Studies Standards developed by the Civics Alliance.
We are delighted and honored that Senator Sampson has introduced this bill—and we suggest it as a model to state legislators in other states, as a concise way to forward social studies reform!
What To Expect in 2025
Rumor and gossip swirl down the corridors … and one doesn’t want to say too much before any public announcement. I judge there are pretty good chances of serious education reform initiatives in at least five states in 2025. Perhaps … Arkansas, Iowa, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia? Civics reformers should support initiatives in their own states—and push for reform, in states where they haven’t happened yet. We are in a good moment for education reformers: let’s make the most of it!
Semiquincentennial Celebrations
Everyone should celebrate America’s 250th anniversary! This will be fun. But preparing for the celebration is also a civic duty. Civics reformers should take the initiative to see what’s being done in their hometowns and states, and see what they can do to make sure the celebrations give proper honor to our great, our glorious, our wonderful country.
By way of example, the National Museum of American Religion is running a podcast series, Religion in the American Experience, as part of the lead-up to the 2026 Semiquincentennial. The National Association of Scholars is publishing a series of articles on the American Revolution over at Minding the Campus. Everyone should contribute what’s in their wheelhouse. Everything we do, after all, we owe to our forefathers who made us free; we can and should dedicate anything we do to their memory.
Testimony
Would you like to be on a list of people prepared to give testimony in favor of a state bill to reform civics education? If so, please get in touch with me: randall@nas.org. We need people ready to testify in all 50 states—ideally, with some personal tie to the education system, but testimony from any citizen would be good.
State Social Studies Standards: What’s Coming Up
- Alaska: Alaska’s Department of Education contracted with the American Institutes for Research to provide draft social studies standards. These draft standards were scheduled to be submitted to the State Board of Education and posted for public comment in March of 2024.
If you have news we don’t please write in and say! But as far as we can tell, that is the state of play for the present moment.
Civics Alliance Now Has Eleven State Affiliates
The Civics Alliance is building a network of state affiliates—groups dedicated to removing action civics in their states, whom we will list on our website. We now have eleven affiliates, in Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Texas. If you would like to form such an organization, or suggest an existing organization, please get in touch with David Randall (randall@nas.org).
Monthly American Birthright Zoom Meeting
The Civics Alliance will have its monthly Zoom session devoted to social studies standards reform on Monday, February 10, at 2:00 PM Eastern Time. Please email randall@nas.org if you would like to join these monthly Zoom meetings.
Social Studies Standards Revision Schedule
2025: Kentucky, Nebraska, Texas
2026: Colorado, Maryland, North Dakota, South Carolina
2027: Hawaii, Kansas
2029: Louisiana
2030: Minnesota
2031: Illinois
No Revision Currently Scheduled: California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington.
Please email David Randall (randall@nas.org) if you are interested in further information about your state’s social studies revision process, and what you can do to participate.
Continuing Priorities: Federal Legislation
At the federal level, the Civics Secures Democracy Act threatens to impose action civics nationwide.
The Civics Bill Tracker
Civics Alliance supporters may now use the Civics Bill Tracker to track all proposed federal and state legislation related to civics.
Public Action
We encourage Civics Alliance supporters to inform the public and policymakers about the stakes and consequences of action civics bills.
David Randall is the Executive Director of the Civics Alliance and Director of Research at the National Association of Scholars
Photo by Luke Michael on Unsplash
