Press Release
Contact: |
Patricia Nelson Limerick, Vice President, Teaching Division Arnita
A. Jones, Executive Director |
Date: |
May 18, 2010 |
Subject: |
American Historical Association Calls on the Texas State Board of Education to Reconsider Amendments to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills |
For Immediate Release
WASHINGTON DC, May 18, 2010 —The elected council and officers of the American Historical Association fully concur with the commitment expressed by many members of the Texas State Board of Education that historical understanding is an essential element in educating young people in their developing role as citizens of their state, the nation, and the world. The Council, however, calls on the Texas State Board of Education to reconsider their recently proposed amendments to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies. We attach, therefore, a statement prepared by key elected officials of our organization who have studied the documents relevant to the State Board of Education’s upcoming decision. This statement proposes a constructive way forward for reconsidering the amendments with the goal of enhancing the historical education of Texas school children. We strongly endorse the statement’s urgent call for a delay in the decision on the current proposed amendments. The American Historical Association, chartered by the Congress of the United States in 1889 includes almost 15,000 individual members as well as 113 affiliated organizations committed to the study of history.
Read the full text of the statement sent to the Texas State Board of Education.
The American Historical Association is the oldest and largest professional historical organization in the United States, bringing together nearly 5,000 institutions and more than 14,000 individuals, including college and university faculty, public historians, independent scholars, archivists, librarians, and secondary school teachers. The Association was organized in 1884 and chartered by the United States Congress in 1889; its establishment coincided with the professionalization of history as a discipline in the United States. Over the years, the Association has changed as the discipline and profession have changed, but its central mission has remained unaltered: the advancement of historical knowledge.
To meet and address the varied needs of its members, the Association publishes the American Historical Review, the major journal of record for the historical profession in the United States, and Perspectives, the major national news monthly of the profession. The Association's annual meeting, which is held during the first week of January, is the largest annual gathering of historians in the United States.
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http://www.historians.org
Last Updated: May 18, 2010
