New Advanced Placement U.S. history classes have drawn fire from state and federal Republican lawmakers who object to recent changes to course guidelines that they claim give a negative view of American history.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) has condemned the guidelines, claiming they are “radically revisionist,” a sentiment echoed by lawmakers in Colorado, Georgia, Oklahoma and Texas.

Georgia’s senate adopted a resolution that mirrored the RNC’s complaint, saying it was important to protect students from the AP history’s “radically revisionist view” of American history.

The Republican push to end AP history began after The College Board, the nonprofit that administers the AP program, overhauled the course. College Board officials said they merely tried to address concerns that the previous AP history classes didn’t allow teachers to focus more on some areas of American history. In addition, the guidelines are just that—a framework to which other materials should be added by teachers.

But Republicans argue the curriculum glosses over “or inaccurately reflects people and ideas including the nation’s Founding Fathers, the Judeo-Christian influences on the country’s development and U.S. foreign policy as outlined in the Monroe Doctrine,” Kristina Torres wrote at the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

The battle by Republicans against the AP history curriculum has been run in parallel with that against Common Core State Standards, the curriculum now being implemented in 43 states and the District of Columbia.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Senate Targets AP History Courses As Too ‘Radically Revisionist’ (by Kristina Torres, Atlanta Journal Constitution)

Rewrite of AP Framework for U.S. History Criticized (by Liana Heitin, Education Week)

Why Oklahoma Lawmakers Voted to Ban AP U.S. History (by Margaret Hartmann, Daily Intelligencer)