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Board hears request to adopt updated AP U.S. History textbook; teachers chose The American Pageant (2025)
Summary
District staff recommended adoption of The American Pageant (2025 edition) as an updated AP U.S. History text, proposing two classroom sets and digital access so students have current, readable materials; discussion focused on readability for younger students and requests for further review on content balance.
Farmington Public Schools staff on Tuesday discussed a recommended adoption of an updated AP U.S. History textbook for the district's AP U.S. History course, which some students take as a core US History credit and others as an elective.
Christie Fifield, the district's 6-12 literacy and social studies coordinator, told the board the current classroom texts date from 2008 and are insufficient for students to take home. She said two AP teachers reviewed several texts and chose The American Pageant (2025 copyright) because teachers prioritized readability for students as young as ninth grade and because the edition is recently updated.
Fifield said the district plans to purchase two classroom sets of hard-copy books so every student in a class can have a paper copy and to provide the digital edition as an option: "There is a digital version of the book. But we did buy 2 class sets so that every student can also have a hard copy book." She said research supports paper reading for heavy-course reading and that the AP US History exam is rigorous.
Board members asked how the AP course fits within the regular high-school sequence and whether the district should consider how honors, AP and IB offerings overlap. A public commenter urged the board to take up a careful review of the recommended text for political or ideological bias before adopting it.
District staff said the AP course follows the College Board framework and that teachers prepare students for exam-style writing and DBQ tasks; staff did not present a final adoption vote during this meeting and said the district will follow regular adoption procedures and timelines.
