Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Textbook Adoption topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board reviews proposed AP U.S. history textbook; supporters cite College Board alignment, critics raise concerns about perceived bias
Summary
Administrators and the social-studies department recommended purchasing an updated AP U.S. history textbook to reflect recent decades added to the College Board framework; some community members questioned language and framing in select chapters and asked the board to solicit specific teacher responses to identified concerns.
Dover Area School District administrators presented a recommended American history textbook for the high-school AP U.S. history course and explained the choice was made because the College Board rewrote the AP framework to include the most recent two decades of U.S. history.
Doctor Mitchell told the board the social-studies department, the high-school principal and curriculum leaders recommended a classroom set of 30 copies to prepare students for the AP exam. "This course has just had a rewriting of that AP exam to include the last 20 years of United States history," Mitchell said. The quoted price for a classroom set was roughly $4,355 including shipping, which the administrator said would be the district's purchase request.
Supporters' case: administrators and department staff said the recommended text is an updated edition of the book the district previously used, selected after reviewing multiple publishers and editions. A staff member said the company has an updated edition that is "the least biased" option they found and that textbooks for AP courses are often aligned to the vocabulary and subjects emphasized on the College Board assessment.
Critics' concerns: several community commenters, including a public speaker who identified herself as a parent and another who said she was reviewing chapters in advance, raised objections to chapter titles and wording that they felt framed U.S. history with negative descriptors. One commenter flagged chapter headings using the word "conquest" for westward expansion and passages that referenced white supremacy and systemic racial barriers, saying the phrasing could discourage pride in national history. Another commenter said they found language around McCarthyism and the Red Scare to be incomplete and lacking explicit discussion of ideological threats such as collectivism.
Board response and next steps: administrators asked critics to submit detailed lists of specific concerns so the social-studies department could respond at the next committee meeting. The board noted that College Board alignment is a significant consideration because AP curriculum frameworks are standardized to allow colleges to award credits consistently; one speaker in public comment warned that rejecting a compliant textbook could leave students less prepared for AP exams and college-credit opportunities.
Financial notes: the quoted per-text cost for the AP U.S. history text was about $136 each and the recommended initial purchase was a set of 30; the high-school CTE sales-and-marketing text (a separate, later agenda item) is budgeted at $65 per book and administrators said Perkins funding would cover that CTE purchase.
Ending: the board did not adopt or reject the AP textbook at the planning meeting; administrators will invite the social-studies department to respond to specific concerns and the board will consider formal approval at the business meeting.
