Current elementary Alabama state history textbook?

October 28, 2022 7:01 AM

What is (are?) the current textbook(s) approved for use in Alabama public schools to teach state history at an elementary level? If there are multiple approved textbooks, what is the most frequently used?
posted by quintessence to Education (2 answers total)

Best answer: Alabama considers history part of social studies, it looks like. Here is a full list of the textbooks approved for 2013-2014 - it's very long, and divided by publisher and grade. I do not find a more recent list on the state Board of Ed website - I'm not sure if that's because it doesn't exist or because it's not public.

I don't know that there is one answer at all, especially across grade levels. I think this is a research question that would require a lot more phone calls and on-the-ground knowledge; I'm not sure anyone tracks this even within a given school district. (I tried to see if Mobile County School District, the largest in the state, had a standard list - I didn't find one.)
posted by quadrilaterals at 9:11 AM on October 28, 2022

Best answer: This may be helpful:

Local districts must adopt textbooks from the state unless they receive approval for a contract from the state superintendent. In Alabama, vendors include Houghton Mifflin and Prentice Hall, and edition years vary. The ALSDE voted last year to extend textbook contracts to 2022, but according to the timeline, Alabama isn’t set to adopt a new set of approved books until 2027.

Standards are typically adopted, then textbooks. So the standards were last updated in 2010, and with that textbooks in 2013-2014. They may be reading new editions, but they will be the same books as listed in 2013-14.
posted by Toddles at 2:44 PM on October 28, 2022