Proposed Changes to Tennessee’s 7th Grade Social Studies Standards

Tennessee Social Studies Standards Review

Please see our September 2015 Facts About Tennessee’s Social Studies Standards article for more information about the current standards.

Because of the brouhaha over Islamic indoctrination, the state began reviewing the social studies standards in January 2016 vs. the original 2018. (Note that the brouhaha was not organic but a coordinated campaign run by media consultant Steve Gill to incite fear and disinformation.) The public was invited to review the standards and provide feedback. According to Chalkbeat Tennessee, the initial online public review garnered comments from “more than 1,400 reviewers, mainly teachers.” A teacher committee used the comments to come up with proposed new standards for K-12 social studies classes.

The proposed standards are now open for public review through October 28.

The State Board of Education will collect all of the comments submitted to the website during the second review window, and the standards will again be revised to incorporate the feedback. A Standards Recommendation Committee appointed by Governor Haslam and speakers of the House and Senate will make the ultimate recommendation for new social studies standards to the State Board of Education in early 2017. Textbooks will be adopted in 2018 for the 2019-20 school year.

Proposed Changes to 7th Grade World History Standards

An article was published in the Kingsport Times-News on 9/25 entitled “Islam removed from draft Tenn. 7th grade social studies standards.” This headline is misleading. The title of the section of study has changed from “Islamic World” to “Southwest Asia and North Africa: 400s-1500s CE.” The area of study has not been completely eliminated.

See 7th Grade World History Proposed State Standards Changes for a detailed comparison of the current standards and their revisions.

See our previous articles on so-called “Islamic indoctrination” for more information.