The State Board of Education, which sets curriculum standards for the entire state, passed a new framework for Texas history education – the 3-5-1 Comprehensive Model.
Last year, less than 33% of Texas students met standards in our social studies test. That’s abysmal—it means that 67% of our kids don’t know some of the most basic facts of Texas, American, and even world history.
Part of that is because Texas students have been fed disconnected snapshots of history, stripped of context and meaning, with no understanding of the history that proves American Exceptionalism.
Now, Texas children will finally be taught history chronologically as the unfolding story of mankind’s struggle for liberty — prehistory to the ideas of Greece, Rome, and Jerusalem, through the brilliance of the Enlightenment, to our Founders’ bold creation of the greatest nation on earth, and ultimately, to Texas’s unmatched role in defending and advancing those ideals.
This is not just about pedagogy, structure or curriculum. This is the foundation of patriotism.
Texas students will now learn the “why” behind America’s greatness and Texas’s exceptional place within it. They will see the battles for freedom across time, the sacrifices made, and the blessings we inherited and enjoy today.
We also thank every SBOE member who voted for the Comprehensive 3-5-1 Model, and every Texan who testified, prayed, called, and stood tall in this fight. Together, we secured a victory that will shape generations.
Texas has once again led the way. By passing the Comprehensive 3-5-1, we have guaranteed that Texas students will carry forward a deep understanding of America’s greatness, Texas’s unmatched role in freedom’s story, and their own responsibility to defend liberty for the generations to come.
Austin Prochko
Communications Manager
