Texas social studies standards developments … action civics at its worst in Chicago … the Four Foundations … successful reform efforts in Iowa and Chicago … And a whole bunch more to keep track of …

Texas Social Studies Standards: Public Comment

The First Reading Social Studies TEKS K – 12 adopted by the Texas State Board of Education in the April 2026 meeting have been filed and posted with the Texas registry for a 30-day public comment period which will run from May 15, 2026, to June 15, 2026 at 5:00pm. Information regarding how to access the drafts and submit public comment can be found on the website located here. If you are a Texan, please provide comment on these state social studies standards! I would say, advisor who has contributed to the standards, that they are solid and good. Confidentiality precludes much comment for the moment, but I can say they are lightly, if diffusely, informed by American Birthright: The Civics Alliance’s Model K-12 Social Studies Standards. 

If you’re not from Texas—the Lone Star State is sui generis, and its standards have more state history than most states choose to have—but it’s also an incredibly influential state, beyond its sheer size in numbers. Resolute readers should look closely at Texas’ draft social studies standards, both to see the influence they will exert directly and to consider as material to remodel for other states.

Chicago: Utterly Politicized Action Civics for May Day

Stanley Kurtz has the goods:

Are you concerned that the torrent of leftist rhetoric making President Trump out to be an authoritarian, a tyrant, and a fascist is legitimating political violence? Well, what if a major American city were to spend a week or so preaching about Trump’s supposed fascism to its hundreds of thousands of students, afterwards gathering them at political rallies to protest the Trump administration, . . . oh, and to celebrate a famous socialist holiday as well? Too partisan? Too dangerous? Too extreme? Won’t happen. Sorry, welcome to Chicago 2026 and the bottom of the slippery slope known as “action civics.”

The semi-insane plans of the socialist-friendly 30,000-strong Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) to do all of the above this May Day drew national attention early last month. The controversy largely faded from national discussion, however, when Chicago Public Schools (CPS) refused to suspend classes for political rallies on May Day. In truth, however, after tough negotiations, the teachers’ union has won. Technically, classes will be held on May 1. But the agreement struck by the CTU and CPS requires CPS to provide food and transportation for students from at least 100 schools to attend anti-Trump rallies on May 1. Many thousands of students are expected. What’s more, future May Days are to be set aside for “teacher professional development” — meaning classes will be out, and teachers will be able to lead students in leftist political demonstrations, as CTU plans to do.

Dueling press releases by the CTU and CPS have obscured the truth and tamped down the public response. But the fact is that a socialist-friendly teachers’ union has managed to set aside May Day and its run-up for years to come for the partisan political indoctrination of students. In addition to leveraging its bargaining power, the CTU has cleverly co-opted a new state law allowing students one day off a year to “engage in a civic event.” What was initially billed as an ideologically neutral opportunity for “civic engagement” is being used by a radical union to turn students into partisan foot soldiers.

And more. But a reminder to Resolute readers: the Civics Alliance was founded with a central mission to combat action civics and remove it from our nation’s schools. Chicago’s actions, alas, more than justify this mission. They also remind us how important it is to continue to work to end action civics. The indoctrination machine is very much alive and kicking. And Kurtz reminds us that even if most schools aren’t as bad as Chicago, any action civics is too much.

It’s true that when it comes to politicized teachers’ unions that care nothing for classroom neutrality, Chicago is the worst of the worst. But let’s say that a school district has only two-thirds as many radical teachers as Chicago, or one-half, or one-third, or even only 10 percent. Action civics under such circumstances would still be too much of a risk. As the objecting Chicago parents say, nobody’s children should be used as political pawns.

Amen.

The Four Foundations: America’s Model School Standards

The National Association of Scholars and Freedom in Education now have published The Cather Standards: Model PreK-12 State English Language Arts Standards. That completes The Four Foundations: America’s Model School Standards(webpage still needing polishing), which includes the Cather Standards (English Language Arts), the Archimedes Standards (mathematics), the Franklin Standards, and American Birthright (social studies). Education reformers now can argue for social studies reform as part of a coherent whole. The four standards all work by themselves, but they work even better as an integrated whole. The interdisciplinary ambition brings some of the spirit of classical education to public education—but in a mode appropriate for public schools.

We—I—are very proud of this accomplishment. We now have a Counter Core to the Common Core, for English Language Arts and mathematics—and a counter to the C3 Framework (social studies) and the Next Generation Science Standards (science) as well. These are the cornerstones for the next generation of education reform. Not self-executing—even if adopted, a host of further reforms need to put them into effect. But essential.

Iowa General Education Requirements Reform

Iowa has passed into law a bill that will ensure that Iowa’s public colleges and universities incorporate an American History course and an American Government course into their General Education Requirements—and to ensure that the University of Iowa’s Center for Intellectual Freedom will be the sole academic unit at the University of Iowa responsible for offering these courses. This new law matters both in itself, for undergraduate education reform, and as part of the larger, complementary project to reform K-12 education and education schools. Iowa K-12 teachers, especially those teaching social studies, now generally will have basic survey knowledge of American history and government. This is another essential piece of the puzzle for reforming American education. (There are a lot of essential pieces—far too many missing, all necessary). Iowa has passed a reform that should be a model for the country. 

South Dakota Adopts Mathematics Standards Informed by the Archimedes Standards

What the subject line says.

Education reformers primarily interested in social studies reform—many of the readers of Resolute?—may not find this a central concern. Understandably! But aside from being good news in itself, this is news that says that says reform of academic content standards is achievable, and in fairly short order. State education administrators are listening! And if our battle is uphill, it is not an impossible one. The news from South Dakota is, take heart, our work can bear fruit.

Advanced Placement Replacements

Both Florida and the Classic Learning Test are moving to provide rivals to the College Board’s Advanced Placement.

Both the Classic Learning Test (CLT) and the state of Florida are developing alternatives to the College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP) tests. It’s early days yet, but America looks to have a set of alternatives to the AP tests up and running in the next 5-10 years. That means education reformers should start thinking now about public policy changes to ensure that the College Board’s new competitors can operate on an even playing field.

Advanced Placement test alter large amounts of K-12 education, as schools redo their education so students will do well on them. The College Board has abused their monopoly by politicizing their tests. These new initiatives, as they succeed, will remove that deformation from K-12 education. Resolute readers should applaud this—and work to make these reforms stick!

Other Publications

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.

Civics Alliance Now Has Twelve 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 twelve affiliates, in Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, 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, June 22, 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

2026/Current: Colorado, Maryland, North Dakota, South Carolina; continuing: Arizona, Kentucky, Montana, Ohio, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming


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.

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 Andy Bodemer on Unsplash