NASHVILLE – The State Board of Education will hear and discuss the proposed draft of Tennessee Academic Standards for Social Studies at its April 20th workshop. The standards will be voted on first consideration the following day, April 21st.
Members of the Standards Recommendation Committee (SRC), appointed by the Governor, Lt. Governor, and Speaker of the House of Representatives and confirmed by the General Assembly, will present the proposed draft to the Board following an intensive and transparent multi-year review process. SRC members Mr. Jason Roach, Mr. Todd Wigginton, and Mr. Bill Carey will share their perspectives on the SRC’s recommendations and join a discussion of the standards as part of the board’s workshop on April 20th.
“In an effort to be responsive, the Board called for this review two years ahead of schedule,” said executive director, Dr. Sara Morrison. “We are very thankful for the tremendous amount of public feedback from Tennesseans and the meticulous work of the SRC, as well as the educator advisory teams, in what has proven to be the most open and inclusive standards adoption process in Tennessee’s history.”
The comprehensive review involved teams of Tennessee educators, subject matter experts, higher education faculty, state history and geography organizations, and multiple public comment opportunities, ensuring that all Tennesseans had a voice throughout the process.
The public feedback from Tennesseans was extensive, consisting of approximately 63,000 reviews and 14,000 comments in the initial online posting and public review. Over the summer of 2016, educator advisory teams comprised of social studies educators from all over the state convened for weeks of work, reviewing all of the public feedback and revising the current social studies standards line-by-line. After further revisions, a second public review garnered nearly 54,000 additional online reviews and 10,000 comments. Every piece of feedback was shared with the SRC, as well as the educator advisory team members, to inform their nearly 100 hours of extended review and deliberation, resulting in the SRC’s final recommendations to the State Board.
Both the workshop and the board meeting will be live streamed and the proposed draft of social studies standards are on the State Board of Education’s website.
Once the State Board votes on first consideration, Board members may make additional changes before the standards are heard on final reading at the Board’s July meeting. If approved, the new Tennessee Academic Standards for Social Studies will be implemented in classrooms in the 2019-2020 school year.
