GARLAND, Texas — Since the Texas State Board of Education has approved African American Studies and Mexican American Studies to be offered as a core curriculum credit, districts across the state are beginning to discuss how the year-long courses will be offered.

Administrators in the Garland Independent School District are developing the core curriculum for African American Studies by seeking input from the communities they serve. Students, teachers, and civic leaders have lent their voice and expertise to Garland ISD administrators as the course gets ready to be offered across the district to all tenth grade students.

Students in Collete Parker's African American Studies course at Sachse High School are a microcosm of what is about to be offered across the state. Those currently taking the one-semester course are given an elective credit, but changes are on the horizon beginning the 2021-22 school year.

A teacher in class (Chris Grisby/Spectrum News)
A teacher in class (Chris Grisby/Spectrum News)

"I know that we want to have an authentic course that speaks to the real African American experience," said social studies coordinator John Hatch. "We're creating sort of what I would call the foundation documents. Lining up our units, how the standards align with the units."

Garland ISD district leaders like Hatch have stepped out of their office and into schools, as they get ready to expand the one-semester elective course, into a full-year core credit for those who sign up for the course.

"We have a lot more depth to African Americans than what the other subjects teach," said Sachse High School student Devan Winners.

Hatch says listening to the voice of others is key, as he and other district leaders develop the curriculum that will have an everlasting effect on students who opt in for the course.

"You want them to be interested, you want them to see how it affects their lives or how it relates to their life," said Parker. "The history of Black people in this country didn't start with the whole narrative of slavery."

District leaders hope the future classroom discussions will engage students towards creating a more equitable society.

"We had a lot of things, a lot of different trials and times that we had to fight and get through than just slavery," said Winners. "Now in society we're still trying to fight and get to where we're equal, and some people just don't feel that way."