African-American HS History
Core Code Alignment
Social Studies
History
09050000100: History Electives
History
09050000100: History Electives
Recommendation
Recommended Teacher Resource
Evaluation
Reviewed, Not Recommended
Educators Using These Materials
No educators found.
Rubric : Generic
Content
| Item | 3 - Extensive | 2 - Adequate | 1 - Inadequate | 0 - None | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alignment | The content of this resource aligns with appropriate grade-level core standards and is current, well-researched and referenced from reliable sources. | The content of this resource aligns with most grade-level core standards but will need supplementary materials to ensure coverage of all the objectives for this course. | The content of this resource aligns with a few grade-level core standards for a portion of the course. | The content of this resource does not align with standards and objectives for this course. | ||
| ****The textbook would be categorized as Reviewed, But Not Recommended. While the text is high level and may be appropriate with a college course or elective, a large concern at the high school level involved its implicit bias shown in the textbook that would not be acceptable for the public school system in an ultra conservative state. Currently, the state of Utah does not have requirements regarding African American History in the core standards. It would meet requirements for an elective course. Additionally, in the comparison to U.S. History I and II standards that are referenced in this textbook, it was determined that that the text does meet the state standards. However, due to the layout of the textbook, teachers and students may have to constantly flip between pages in order to find the various requirements, and skip several sections to find the most important that align to core and course standards. Please note that this textbook would not meet the core standards for U.S. History I and II, but may be a supplemental text. | ||||||
| Scaffolding | Scaffolding supports for these materials are complex and challenging, engage learners from various skill levels, assist all students in enhancing conceptual understanding, and offer opportunities for students to share evidence and research. | Scaffolding supports for these materials engage learners from various skill levels and assist students in enhancing conceptual understanding. | Scaffolding supports for these materials engage learners from various skill levels. | Scaffolding supports for these materials do not engage learners. | ||
| Access was not provided for supplemental student materials or the online textbook. The textbook provided gives a significant amount of information on the subject that is expansive on all parts of African American history. The text is well written an includes a high level of text that would encourage higher level thinking. However, the text is lengthy and requires a higher level of thinking skills. Because of this, the text may not be suitable for English Language Learners, English as a Second Language Learners, or Special Education learners. The teacher may need to summarize the material for students in these categories, or only assign specific areas for students to focus on. The text does provide subtext that provides definitions of specific terms, although more terms may be needed for higher-level vocabulary given throughout the text. | ||||||
| Navigation | This item has not been graded. | |||||
| The online source was not provided, and the review is given regarding the physical textbook. Finding a topic in the textbook is difficult to find, as many topics are spread over several pages and are referenced in many areas. Several sample topics tested proved difficult to find the full information on, and required extensive searching to find a full understanding of the topic throughout American History. Sample topics used include Martin Luther King, Jr. and African American Progressive reformers. Some chapters often skip around to various times and topics, in particular Chapter 23. While the rationale for the revisions is given, it becomes difficult for students in a history class as the information is consistently out of chronological order and similar topics are not placed simultaneously in the textbook. The format of the book reads more like an AP textbook, with multiple mini-sections in a larger sub-chapter. This may assist teachers in assigning small scaffolded text, but it may prove difficult for a student to fully understand a topic unless given the pages of the various sub-sections on the topic that are spread out as described above. The textbook is busy and filled with a lot of information, but also struggles to have certain parts of the textbook placed in a way that helps students and teachers. | ||||||
Accessibility
| Item | 3 - Extensive | 2 - Adequate | 1 - Inadequate | 0 - None | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Physical Characteristics | The design of the material is ADA-compliant and can be utilized by all students. In physical terms, this material is durable, interactive, and provides high-quality audio-visual and tactile experiences for all users. The material contains modern, up-to-date, and relatable visuals, including diverse groups of people. | In physical terms, this material is durable, interactive, and provides high-quality audio-visual and tactile experiences for all users. | In physical terms, this material is fragile in construction, and provides limited tactile experiences for students. | In physical terms, this material is designed to be disposable and temporary. | ||
| Statements following are in regard to the physical textbook. The textbook was not a visually pleasing or engaging textbook, with no sections causing the reader to become excited to read and explore further. While some photos and graphics are included, they are small and most pages are at least 80% text. Some charts are included but most are text-based or maps, with little pie charts, bar graphs, etc. that would help students understand the material and engage. Many core students would find the text dull and difficult to read with no encouragement to continue reading due to its lack of visual engagement. | ||||||
| Technical Standards | The material goes above and beyond meeting all the technical standards, ensures student data privacy is safeguarded, and can be easily installed or accessed without technical assistance. Licensing information is clearly stated in the description. | The material meets all the requirements of federal and state laws, along with the accepted technical standards (ISTE Standards and VPAT Compliance). Additional technical specifications and limitations, including hardware requirements, bandwidth demands, student data privacy, and software/ web access restrictions, are adequately noted in the description. The design of the material allows for error-free installation or access without purchasing additional components. | The material is limited by specifications requiring additional materials, technical assistance, hardware, software, or infrastructure. Student data privacy could be at risk. Resources within the material end after a trial period. | Student data privacy is at risk. | ||
| While we do not have current access to the material, previous uses of the software by educators show that all technical standards are met. | ||||||
| Adaptability | The material is currently relevant and adaptable for teacher and student use in individualized or group instructional settings across multiple content areas. The material can be customized for the needs of diverse learners. | The material is currently adaptable for a teacher or student to use in a limited instructional setting across a few content areas. The material can be utilized by diverse learners (not customizable). | The material has some features adaptable for students in at least one content area. The material has limited options to address the needs of diverse learners. | The material is not adaptable or easily incorporated into various educational settings or with various diverse learners. | ||
| Any printed text has limitations regarding more recent events. Chapter 23 attempts to reference those events, but it quickly jumps around and is difficult for students to easily find more recent events. Suggestions would include making this chapter chronological or putting concepts into topics that are then organized chronologically. | ||||||
Pedagogy
| Item | 3 - Extensive | 2 - Adequate | 1 - Inadequate | 0 - None | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instructional Support | The material provides multiple examples and strong support to educators of ways to deliver instruction. These may include: -Scaffolding Lesson Plans, Personalized/Differentiated Instruction, Experiential Learning, Concept Mapping, Questioning Techniques, or Family Involvement. Furthermore, this material has content that can be problem/project-based, with incorporated skills and concepts that are integrated with all disciplines equally to support student sense-making. (Transdisciplinary/ Interdisciplinary Content Integration) | The material provides some examples to educators of ways to deliver instruction. It contains a few of the following: Scaffolding Lesson Plans, Personalized/Differentiated Instruction, Experiential Learning, Concept Mapping, Questioning Techniques, or Family Involvement. | The material contains limited instructional support on using the material with diverse groups of students, various skill levels, and student needs. | The material does not provide instructional support or examples for the educator. | ||
| Instructional support materials were not provided for review. | ||||||
| Supplemental Resources | The material provides a wide variety of supplemental resources that are evidence-based and are linked to real-world circumstances and current events. | The material references numerous available supplemental resources. | The material references some available supplemental resources. | The material does not refer to any supplemental resources. | ||
| While supplemental materials are provided for students at the end of the chapter, the way that they are provided does not interest or engage a student, and it is unlikely that students would engage in those materials. Suggestions to the textbook manufacturer would include taking suggested historic sites ("Retracing the Odyssey") and recommended reading throughout the textbook with visuals and possibly a url linking to the text (for example, "Did you know that you can visit Frederick Douglas' home and explore how he succeeded in expanding African American rights?....."). While some primary sources are provided at the end, it is doubted that students or teachers would use these materials as they are lengthy and uninteresting to students. | ||||||
| Assessments | The material contains a variety of formative and summative assessments aligned with Utah Core Standards, Personalized Competency-Based Learning, and Universal Design for Learning. It provides appropriate intervention strategies that lead to observable performance and real-world experiences for students. The assessments are ADA-compliant. | The material contains summative assessments aligned with Utah Core Standards with few interventions and is ADA-compliant. | The material contains a limited number of assessments without intervention strategies but is ADA-compliant. | The material does not provide assessment materials. | ||
| Assessments are provided at the end of a chapter with a few review questions for students, and a few documents have guiding questions throughout the chapter. The review questions are short and only include an average of 5 questions that are meant to assess 30+ pages of material which does not adequately assess students. However, students are not actively assessed throughout the chapter, and online resources were not provided for review. | ||||||
Culture of Learning and Belonging
| Item | 3 - Extensive | 2 - Adequate | 1 - Inadequate | 0 - None | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bias Free | This material is free from bias and is in compliance with all relevant federal and state laws, rules, and regulations, as listed in the next “2-Adequate” section for this item. Furthermore, this material focuses on shared identity and includes the unique characteristics & cultural differences of students in Utah. (53E-4-204.1) This material supports civic and character education. (53G-10-204) | This material is neutral and is in compliance with the laws, rules, and regulations below: -It can be used by all students regardless of sex, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or membership in any other protected class, such as ethnicity, or disability, as described in (R277-328). -This material supports educators to be in compliance with (53G-10-202.4), where they may not use their positions to endorse, promote, or disparage a particular religious, denominational, sectarian, agnostic, or atheistic belief or viewpoint. -The material is free from discrimination and does not support stereotyping of character traits, including hard work ethic. (53G-10-206) -It is free from advertising, e-commerce, or political interest and is in compliance with the law and community standards. | This material may be interpreted as biased. Or promoting advertising, e-commerce, or political interest. Or maybe considered to regard or treat some groups unfairly. | This material does not comply with federal and state laws, rules, and regulations. This material is biased and favors a point of view that may be distracting to the educational experience of students. | ||
| While the textbook provides an unbiased appearance towards the beginning of the book, more recent events are heavily biased with a left-liberal bias. Many pages in the later part of the book are heavily biased and show clear disregard to right-conservative political beliefs and action. Samples include page 733 (views on Obama vs. Romney) and page 739 (regarding mass shootings and Black Lives Matter). This bias overshadows much of the validity of the book. | ||||||
| Cultural Awareness | This item has not been graded. | |||||
| Inclusive Components | This item has not been graded. | |||||
| Shared Values and Character Traits | This item has not been graded. | |||||
UTAH STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
250 East 500 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84111-3204
Phone: 801.538.7807