Colorado Social Studies Standards
Estimated Read Time: 8 minutes
Background
In 2019, the Colorado legislature passed HB19-1192, a law that supports the inclusion of American minorities in Colorado social studies instruction and supports the creation of the 1192 Commission.
According to the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) website, the 1192 Commission is charged with:
making recommendations to the State Board of Education (BoE) and the CDE in conjunction with the six-year standards review, revisions to the Colorado Academic Standards for history and civics to further the discovery, interpretation, and learning of the history, culture, social contributions, in the civil government of the U.S. and Colorado;
working cooperatively and in conjunction with the CDE and local school boards to assist local education agencies in developing and promoting programs that engage students in the process of discovery and interpretation of the subjects and topics set forth in the law;
meeting at least twice a year; and
participating in community forums.
In November 2022, the Colorado BoE completed the long revision process for Colorado’s more inclusive Social Studies Standards. During one of the several debates about the standards, something interesting happened – State Board of Education member Debora Scheffel, who is also the Dean of the School of Education at Colorado Christian University, proposed that the State Board of Education consider adopting American Birthright Social Studies Standards supported by Civics Alliance rather than the Social Studies Standards recommended by the 1192 Commission. This proposal foreshadowed issues to come, but after more debate on curriculum adoption, the State Board of Education decided against adopting American Birthright Social Studies Standards and instead adopted the inclusive Colorado Social Studies Standards. The 1192 Commission has continued to hold regular meetings ever since.
Soon after the final adoption in January 2023, State Board of Education Member Lisa Escárcega wrote an article stating the following:
“The National Council for the Social Studies reviewed the “American Birthright'' standards and concluded that the standards were … an attempt to return to a time when United States social studies classrooms presented a single narrative of U.S. and Western history that glorified selected aspects of history while minimizing the experiences, contributions, and perspectives of Indigenous peoples, people of color, women, the LGBTQIA+ community, the working class, and countless others. So, while I am thrilled with the final standards, getting a successful vote was anything but easy. And it foreshadows the need for vigilance about how local school boards interpret the standards and craft their curriculums with them.”
It is interesting that she pointed out this concern because at the same time, something peculiar happened in Woodland Park School District.
Its Board of Education hired recalled Jefferson County School Board President Ken Witt to be its interim Superintendent. When Witt was the JeffCo Board President, the school district went through significant turmoil under extreme reformist policies supported by the school board majority. For example, Witt, along with other JeffCo reform school board members, supported a motion to review Advanced Placement (AP) U.S. History curriculum because the reform majority board thought the AP U.S. History should promote patriotism and not encourage civil disorder. The Jefferson County community rejected this change. Witt, along with two other school board members, was successfully recalled in 2015.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Woodland Park School Board passed a resolution soon after hiring Witt to use Civics Alliance’s American Birthright Standards instead of the approved Colorado Social Studies Standards that the Colorado State Board of Education adopted. This left many parents in the Woodland Park community wondering how it was possible for Woodland Park School District to teach students from a different set of Social Studies Standards than the rest of Colorado students. If the Colorado legislature passed a law to support inclusive standards, Colorado State Board of Education adopted inclusive standards, and rejected American Birthright Standards, then how could this happen?
Turns out, Article IX, Section16 of the Colorado Constitution makes it possible;
“Section 16. Textbooks in public schools. Neither the general assembly nor the state board of education shall have power to prescribe textbooks to be used in the public schools.”
AND
Local Control of Instruction
“Unlike most states, the public school system in Colorado grew out of an intentional commitment to local control. Rather than establishing a centralized, state-administered system, Colorado’s constitutional framers “made the choice to place control ‘as near the people as possible’ by creating a representative government in miniature to govern instruction.” [Owens v. Congress of Parents, Teachers and Students, 92 P. 3d 933, 939 (Colo. 2004).]”
After the Woodland Park School Board passed a resolution to use American Birthright Social Studies Standards, Colorado Department of Education did respond to Woodland Park School District with the following, (from Support Woodland Park Schools blog post, Enforcement of Social Studies standards in Colorado).
Interestingly, Civics Alliance and National Association of Scholars, were aware of Article IX of the Colorado Constitution and used the opportunity to support other extremist-run school districts in using American Birthright Standards. According to the Civics Alliance website
“Colorado’s school districts possess an unusual amount of authority to set standards—but Woodland Park has just become a model not only for other school districts in Colorado but also for school districts around the nation. States can adopt American Birthright—and so can school districts. Woodland Park is showing the way.”
Meanwhile, parents in Woodland Park soon discovered a big problem. A problem that limits their students’ futures and will have a big impact for student athletes.
“Several social studies courses in the district’s course description guides for the 2023-24 school year no longer have National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) approval under the American Birthright’s guidelines, while those same courses were previously approved under the 2022-23 school year. This means students who take these courses starting next school year cannot count them as core courses when seeking NCAA eligibility, while previously they could.”
As an academic requirement, student athlete’s wanting to “... compete in a Division 1 school, must earn 16 NCAA-approved core courses credits…”, per the NCAA. Woodland Park has effectively limited opportunities for their students.
How did Woodland Park’s Board of Education make this happen?
Obviously, the American Birthright Standards did not fit into Colorado’s Academic Standards, so to make it fit, Woodland Park hired Lis Richards, an Education reEnvisioned Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (ERBOCES) board member. Richards was paid $4,700 to complete curriculum alignment to American Birthright Standards. (Sidenote: Interim Superintendent Witt is the Executive Director for ERBOCES)
The Woodland Park Social Studies Guide has been created by Richards and her consulting company, Helping Schools Thrive. It will be important to watch Woodland Park, Helping Schools Thrive and other districts in the state as they continue to navigate Social Studies Curriculum.
A Question of Transparency….
It’s concerning that the Woodland Park School Board abruptly passed a resolution to adopt American Birthright Standards against the State Board of Education’s recommendation. Were Woodland Park teachers included in the decision to pass a resolution? Were Woodland Park classroom teachers involved with the standards alignment process? It is interesting to note that a Woodland Park High School History teacher has turned in a resignation letter stating his intentions to resign at the end of the 2023 school year.
The National Council for the Social Studies recommends full transparency during State and Local standards/curriculum alignment adoption process. In fact, the National Council for the Social Studies has several recommendations listed on its website to help stakeholders through the curriculum adoption process."
“Therefore, the development of standards should be treated as a serious matter by engaging a collective audience of educational stakeholders in a deliberate, transparent process of development, revision, and adoption.”
Since January, more teachers and administrators have left or plan to resign from Woodland Park Schools District. According to a local Woodland Park Podcast, “Voices of Reason”, Woodland Park has entered the cultural war spotlight and is currently the only school district in Colorado to adopt the American Birthright social studies standards.
With the work of standards integration complete in Woodland Park, it is possible that other Colorado school boards could take the Woodland Park Social Studies guide and adopt it for their school districts. We know that State BoE Member Escárcega, The National Council for the Social Studies, and American Historical Association hold obvious concerns with the American Birthright Standards and its aligning curriculum.
Part 2, “What are American Birthright Standards and Why You Should be Concerned,” will deep dive into these matters and explore how the adoption of American Birthright Standards could be coming to Douglas County and what to watch for.
