Iowa House Passes Social Studies Reform Bill … a new group of librarians … accreditation policy briefs … All this and more in the latest Resolute …

Iowa House Passes Social Studies Reform Bill

The Iowa House has passed House File 2544, which would reform Iowa’s K-12 social studies instruction. House File 2544 was informed by model bills drafted by the Civics Alliance, and we are honored that Iowa policymakers thought it reasonable to use our suggested language. House File 2544 would set guidelines for social studies education that restore dedicated study of Western Civilization and refocus United States History and Civics to avoid the hate-readings of American history and government disseminated by the far-left education elite.

The Civics Alliance hopes the Iowa Senate also will pass this bill, and that it will be signed into law by Governor Kim Reynolds. Readers of Resolute who live in Iowa—please do get in touch with policymakers!

House File 2544 isn’t a complete solution for K-12 social studies education. It sets guidelines, which must be complemented by standards—such as American Birthright—model lesson plans, textbooks, and teacher training. But it is an excellent way to start comprehensive education reform, and we hope Iowa policymakers make it law.

New Group of Librarians

There’s a new group of librarians, the Association of Library Professionals (ALP). They favor “institutional neutrality, open inquiry, individual liberty, freedom of thought, freedom of speech, and intellectual freedom.” In other words, they dissent from the mainstream organizations of library professionals, who—alas, are against everything the ALP is for. Supporters of the Civics Alliance should cheer on the ALP and extend support however they can. They should do so for all new organizations trying to restore freedom to radicalized professions. We need new organizations everywhere, to restore a civil society dedicated to liberty.

Accreditation Policy Briefs

The Martin Center and Adam Kissel have been going on a tear, publishing Policy Brief: It’s Time for More States to Sack SACS and Policy Brief: How Universities Should Choose Their Next Accreditor. Both publications concern accreditation—dreadfully policy-wonk material—but absolutely necessary to know, since accreditors 1) exert irresponsible authority on just about every college and university in the country; 2) use their authority to politicize colleges and universities; and 3) therefore politicize the education of K-12 teachers. These policy briefs provide a road map for how to free our colleges and universities from the authoritarian accreditation cartel. Supporters of the Civics Alliance should include this work among their priorities.

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 are scheduled to be submitted to the State Board of Education and posted for public comment in March of 2024.
  • West Virginia: Social studies standards were reviewed through January 2024, and will be presented to the State Board of Education in April 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 Ten 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. Our newest state affiliate is Nebraska, run by Dennis Applegarth. Welcome, Dennis and Nebraska! We now have ten affiliates, in Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, 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, March 25, 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 

2024/Current: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Idaho, Kentucky (partial), Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming

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 Executive Director of the Civics Alliance and Director of Research at the National Association of Scholars.

Photo by Hieu Vu Minh on Unsplash