In October, the AHA sent a letter to the Virginia Board of Education (VBOE) commending the draft standards that the VBOE considered at its August meeting. In November, the AHA encouraged testimony before the VBOE when the board considered selecting a set of draft Standards of Learning that had been substantially altered. The AHA’s work on these issues has been featured in several media outlets, including DCist, Newsweek, and Virginia Public Media. AHA executive director James Grossman has appeared in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Root, and Yahoo! News discussing the learning standards. “You can argue that the central concepts in American history are freedom or liberty, or democracy, but you cannot teach American history without helping students to understand that racism has been a central theme. You just can’t,” Grossman said.