Dive Brief:

• Approximately 470,000 students will be taking the Advanced Placement test in United States history this May 2016, and the test will examine their knowledge around a new revised version of American history coursework.

• The new test represents a more open-ended approach that encourages high school students to interpret important events in the nation's past with critical thinking.

• Previous frameworks of the course were criticized for being "thin and lacking direction," the New York Timesreports.

Dive Insight:

The August 2015 update by the College Board to the AP U.S. History framework now being tested included changes to how teachers are supposed to teach about the nation’s identity, the Cold War, and the founding fathers. A previous 2014 update drew ire from conservatives who said the course’s focus was unpatriotic and failed to name key political leaders. 2015's changes were supposed to settle the matter.

Different states reacted differently to the changes. In Colorado, a recall vote ousted a conservative school board whose high-profile demands included a new A.P. U.S. History curriculum that stressed, in part, “positive aspects of the United States” and respect for authority, free enterprise and individual rights.

In Texas, the Texas Board of Education voted to change how Advanced Placement courses were taught, since some Texan conservatives believe the curriculum had perpetuated "anti-American" themes. And in Tennessee, the state board of ed board reviewed but did not change the curriculum after conservatives called it "radically revisionist." 

Over the last few years, curriculum standards have served as political battlegrounds in American education. Divides between parties have been drawn over the Common Core State Standards as well as new Next Generation Science Standards. 

Recommended Reading

The New York Times: Taking the Politics Out of American History (and Out of A.P.)