BIPPS at the Table: ‘There are much better models for social studies standards’

In comments at Tuesday’s meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Education, Bluegrass Institute staff education analyst Richard Innes praised the Kentucky Department of Education’s Social Studies Advisory Panel and Review Committee for responding to his suggestion that important historical documents necessary to understanding America’s founding and development be embedded into the mandatory Social Studies standards themselves rather than only listing them in optional and explanatory areas of the social studies document.

Innes additionally criticized the process employed to revise the standards because it omitted the required first step listed in statute of gathering public comments when it really matters – before changes to the standards are even considered.

“The public was completely locked out at the beginning of the process, and I think that’s a problem,” he told the committee. Representatives from the department agreed that first step had not been conducted and promised this would not happen again.

Innes also urged educators and policymakers to consider the “much better models for social studies standards” in preparation for the next revision to Kentucky’s social studies’ standards in 2025.

Innes suggested Kentucky’s committee should seriously consider building around the “America Birthright” model social studies standards created by a coalition of organizations and individuals convened by the National Association of Scholars (NAS) to “teach America’s foundational history of liberty,” according to NAS’ website.

Innes’ comments begin at 1:37:30 here: https://bit.ly/3Uii9sA