Disfigured History: How the College Board Demolishes the Past

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    • Availability:
      National Association of Scholars. 221 Witherspoon Street 2nd Floor, Princeton, NJ 08542-3215. Tel: 609-683-7878; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.nas.org/
    • Peer Reviewed:
      N
    • Source:
      111
    • Education Level:
      High Schools
      Secondary Education
    • Subject Terms:
      Advanced Placement Programs; History Instruction; World History; Social Bias; Social Justice; European History; United States History; College Readiness; College Bound Students; Test Content; Standardized Tests; High School Seniors; Testing
    • Subject Terms:
      Advanced Placement Examinations (CEEB)
    • Abstract:
      Since 2014 the College Board has continued to revise and develop the Advanced Placement European, United States, and World History examinations. It keeps getting in trouble. Many critics have excoriated the College Board for teaching history grossly politicized to the left--history without the history of freedom, history that teaches hatred of America and Europe, and history to promote social justice activism and the welfare state. Some progressive critics have criticized the World History exam for being "too Eurocentric." Critics also censure the College Board for micromanaging what history will be taught: the College Board's latest rounds of history Course and Exam Descriptions are far more detailed and intrusive than their predecessors. The College Board possess is no small educational niche, but an effective monopoly on advanced placement history testing. More than 900,000 students now take AP History examinations each year: in 2019, 100,655 took European History, 496,573 took United States History, and 313,317 took World history. The College Board markets its "advanced placement" tests for college readiness: "Students with AP on their high school transcripts show exposure to rigorous, college-level curricula--a key element of college readiness." This essay largely consists of critiques of the latest round of College Board advanced placement history examinations. David Randall outlines what advanced placement history examinations should be, so that the reader may judge how badly the College Board's examinations fall short of that ideal. He ends the essay with recommendations to provide the College Board with competition from new providers of standardized assessments. It may also serve as recommendations to such new providers, when they emerge.
    • Abstract:
      ERIC
    • Publication Date:
      2021
    • Accession Number:
      ED609859