JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi education officials say it’s not true they’re considering dropping American history from their high school requirements.
A member of the Daughters of the American Revolution sent an email recently warning history courses might be in jeopardy, prompting a Monday letter from interim state Superintendent Lynn House.
“Let me be clear: the Mississippi Department of Education has not retreated from its educational standards nor has it taken any steps to de-emphasize the importance of U.S. history in our schools,” House wrote. “On the contrary, we have increased the rigor in all four subject area tests for a student to graduate, including U.S. history, which was updated during the 2011-2012 school year.”
A task force designing a new rating system for schools has talked about omitting the standardized history test from a proposed new system for rating high schools and districts. Students would still have to take the course and pass the test to graduate from high school even if the test wasn’t used to rate schools.
House said concerns may have sprung from that discussion.
“At a recent meeting, task force members discussed whether to remove the U.S. history exam from the new accountability model under development because of the rigor of the test, the limited remediation opportunities for seniors because most students take this exam during the 11th grade and its impact on districts’ accountability ratings,” she wrote.
Any task force recommendations would be submitted to public comment before being voted on by the state Board of Education. The task force hasn’t made final recommendations and that rule-making process hasn’t begun.
Dot Ward of Madison, a member of Daughters of the American Revolution, confirmed to The Associated Press Monday that she had written a letter that was circulated by email to other members of the organization.
Ward was nominated to the state Board of Education in 1995 by Gov. Kirk Fordice but was rejected by the state Senate. Ward said she wanted to look into the situation further and declined comment.
Ward’s letter calls on members of her organization to attend March 20 and March 21 meetings of the task force to voice their support for the teaching of history.
Please, inform others of these meetings and let’s let our voice be heard,” Ward wrote. “Numbers count and if MDE thinks no one cares, American history will no longer be required in Mississippi high schools.”
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Online:
House’s letter: http://bit.ly/YU5prh
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