Eight years later, 9/11 is a classroom topic but not much in current school textbooks
David Poole may not have the latest textbook that talk about the attacks on Sept. 11 - but that doesn't stop him from having a conversation about it with his students.
"A lot of my students were in elementary school when 9/11 happened, so it's interesting to see how much they do remember. They always seem to remember their teachers face and exactly where they were," said Poole, a world and U.S. history teacher at Chaffey High School in Ontario.
"Technically, we are taking time away from the standards, but we all think the 15 to 20 minutes that it takes to talk about it is worth it."
The push to meet state and federal standards has put a halt on further exploring topics not mentioned in already aging textbooks - such as the election of President Barack Obama, stem-cell research, global warming and even 9/11.
California's education budget cuts not only forced schools to reduce or eliminate spending for special programs, transportation and teachers, but when the state budget closed a $24 billion gap in July it also reduced state spending for textbooks.
The state Board of Education also won't approve new books for kindergarten through eighth grade until 2016 at the earliest, and the current law states that state board shall not adopt any new instructional material until after 2013, said Tom Adams, Department of Education's director of the curriculum frameworks and instructional resources division.
Even if the Department of Education wanted to make 9/11 a requirement in instructional material it would be years after 2013 when the books would get into the hands of students, Adams said.
"We would have to give publishers 30 months by law to develop instructional material on top of that," he said.
"By the time it gets into the classroom, it won't be until 2015 and that would be the earliest, and that's for K-8 textbooks. High schools don't face these types of restrictions necessary, but they just have to have the funds to buy the newer text books that mention the event."
High school textbooks that do mention 9/11 would be found in contemporary U.S. history books in "recent events" and in the context of America's engagement with the world and how it's the first attack on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbor, Adams said.
"If you were to look at a recently published U.S. history books you would find 'Middle East policy and its strategic political and economic interest - including those related to the first Gulf War,"' Adams said.
"So if someone needed a reason to explain or talk about 9/11 they can reference this portion of the book, but as of right now it is not part of the curriculum."
Textbooks with information about Sept. 11 have not been integrated into the curriculum as yet, but the district gives their teachers the flexibility to discuss current affairs, said Syeda Jafri, spokeswoman for the Rialto Unified School District.
"In this case, a tragedy of this magnitude has a place in history," Jafri said. "We trust our teachers to know how much they can teach about what happened on that nightmarish morning."
Although the California Standardized Testing and Reporting, or STAR, tests 11th-grade U.S. history, the program doesn't make reference to 9/11 because it is not part of the standards, Adams said.
"Unless they update the standards you won't see it on the test. There are some newer textbooks that include 9/11 as a connection to current events, but for the most part it is up to the district to buy those new textbooks," he said.
"But 9/11 was so significant because so many people were affected by it, I'm sure one doesn't really need the standards to talk about this topic."
Despite a lack of funding to have a book that mentions 9/11, Poole said it's hard to ignore such a major event.
"I think it's very rare that you see any us brush past the day and not talk about any of it all," he said. "It is certainly something you want your students to remember it and be aware of it."
Staff writer Debbie Pfeiffer Trunnell contributed to this report.
canan.tasci@inlandnewspapers.com
(909) 987-6397, ext. 425
"A lot of my students were in elementary school when 9/11 happened, so it's interesting to see how much they do remember. They always seem to remember their teachers face and exactly where they were," said Poole, a world and U.S. history teacher at Chaffey High School in Ontario.
"Technically, we are taking time away from the standards, but we all think the 15 to 20 minutes that it takes to talk about it is worth it."
The push to meet state and federal standards has put a halt on further exploring topics not mentioned in already aging textbooks - such as the election of President Barack Obama, stem-cell research, global warming and even 9/11.
California's education budget cuts not only forced schools to reduce or eliminate spending for special programs, transportation and teachers, but when the state budget closed a $24 billion gap in July it also reduced state spending for textbooks.
The state Board of Education also won't approve new books for kindergarten through eighth grade until 2016 at the earliest, and the current law states that state board shall not adopt any new instructional material until after 2013, said Tom Adams, Department of Education's director of the curriculum frameworks and instructional resources division.
Even if the Department of Education wanted to make 9/11 a requirement in instructional material it would be years after 2013 when the books would get into the hands of students, Adams said.
"We would have to give publishers 30 months by law to develop instructional material on top of that," he said.
"By the time it gets into the classroom, it won't be until 2015 and that would be the earliest, and that's for K-8 textbooks. High schools don't face these types of restrictions necessary, but they just have to have the funds to buy the newer text books that mention the event."
High school textbooks that do mention 9/11 would be found in contemporary U.S. history books in "recent events" and in the context of America's engagement with the world and how it's the first attack on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbor, Adams said.
"If you were to look at a recently published U.S. history books you would find 'Middle East policy and its strategic political and economic interest - including those related to the first Gulf War,"' Adams said.
"So if someone needed a reason to explain or talk about 9/11 they can reference this portion of the book, but as of right now it is not part of the curriculum."
Textbooks with information about Sept. 11 have not been integrated into the curriculum as yet, but the district gives their teachers the flexibility to discuss current affairs, said Syeda Jafri, spokeswoman for the Rialto Unified School District.
"In this case, a tragedy of this magnitude has a place in history," Jafri said. "We trust our teachers to know how much they can teach about what happened on that nightmarish morning."
Although the California Standardized Testing and Reporting, or STAR, tests 11th-grade U.S. history, the program doesn't make reference to 9/11 because it is not part of the standards, Adams said.
"Unless they update the standards you won't see it on the test. There are some newer textbooks that include 9/11 as a connection to current events, but for the most part it is up to the district to buy those new textbooks," he said.
"But 9/11 was so significant because so many people were affected by it, I'm sure one doesn't really need the standards to talk about this topic."
Despite a lack of funding to have a book that mentions 9/11, Poole said it's hard to ignore such a major event.
"I think it's very rare that you see any us brush past the day and not talk about any of it all," he said. "It is certainly something you want your students to remember it and be aware of it."
Staff writer Debbie Pfeiffer Trunnell contributed to this report.
canan.tasci@inlandnewspapers.com
(909) 987-6397, ext. 425
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