By Beckie Mostello
Civics Alliance is a national coalition of conservative education reformers, policymakers, parents, and citizens dedicated to preserving and restoring traditional civics education in American K-12 schools.
Convened by the conservative National Association of Scholars (NAS) in 2021, the group opposes what it describes as radical ideology and “action civics”—which it defines as vocational training for left-wing activism. Civics Alliance leaders have said American Birthright is the kind of project President Trump’s now-disbanded 1776 Commission might have created.
The group provides model legislation and social studies standards for policymakers, including the American Birthright Social Studies Standards, and has also created the History of Communism standards, based on Florida’s Communism Social Studies Standards, as well as ELA, Science, and Math Standards.
To share information about its academic standards, Civics Alliance partners with a parental rights organization called Freedom in Education. Civics Alliance supports a ban on political activism, service-learning, and social-justice propaganda in the formal curriculum. Its American Birthright standards are supported by conservative networks and groups such as Moms for Liberty, the Eagle Forum, Defending Education (formerly Parents Defending Education), as well as State Policy Network partners and affiliates, including the Goldwater Institute and the Heartland Institute.
Some Colorado History
In 2019, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed House Bill 19-1122 into law. This law mandated that Colorado’s social studies curriculum reflect the history, culture, and social contributions of specific minority groups such as American Indians, Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, and LGBTQ individuals.
House Bill 1192 also established the 1192 Commission—a diverse panel appointed to recommend updates ensuring the inclusion of minority history, specifically targeting American Indians, Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, and the LGBTQ+ community.
In 2021, the Colorado Board of Education began revising its Social Studies Academic Standards. The process was driven by several state laws, notably the 2019 House Bill 1192, to better incorporate the history and contributions of minority and LGBTQ groups. Colorado revises its academic standards every six years using a staggered cycle in which specific content areas are evaluated on a rotating basis.
As the Colorado Board of Education revised the social studies standards, Debora Scheffel, a board member and dean of the School of Education at Colorado Christian University, introduced the Civics Alliance’s “American Birthright” model standards as an amendment. The American Birthright Social Studies Standards were written by the Civics Alliance. In a final vote, the board narrowly rejected the American Birthright Standards, 4-3.
While the Colorado State Board of Education formally rejected the American Birthright standards for being too extreme, the Standards were adopted by a conservative-led school board in Woodland Park, Colorado, in 2023. In 2021, the Woodland Park School Board was taken over by supporters of Charis Bible College and the Truth & Liberty Coalition. The Truth & Liberty Coalition is a conservative Christian nonprofit based in Woodland Park, Colorado.
Founded in 2018 by televangelist Andrew Wommack and other prominent ministry leaders, the organization aims to mobilize believers in Jesus Christ to influence the public sphere and promote biblical values in government and culture. The Truth & Liberty Coalition formed Transform Colorado, which then created church school board voter guides for more than 30 Colorado school board races.
It is also worth noting that evangelical Christian author, political activist, and the founder of WallBuilders, David Barton, who serves on the Texas Social Studies Curriculum Advisory panel, is also a member of the Truth and Liberty Coalition.
After the Woodland Park School Board adopted the American Birthright Social Studies standards, the Woodland Park community became very active in their school board meetings and has since flipped the board. Recently, the school board decided not to use the American Birthright Social Studies Standards for multiple reasons.
Problems with Civics Alliance Standards and Suggestions
Since 2021, Civics Alliance has sought to influence several State Boards of Education to revise their states’ Social Studies Standards in accordance with its view of what should be included in Social Studies Instruction. The states include Virginia, Louisiana, Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio, Arizona, Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, and South Dakota. South Dakota has adopted the Hillsdale 1776 Curriculum and Civics Alliance’s Archimedes Math Standards.
Civics Alliance has been unsuccessful in Ohio, New Mexico & Virginia. In Virginia, the revisions were rushed and had sloppy rewrites. According to the National Council for the Social Studies about the Virginia revisions, “There were concerns that the “November Rewrite” was politically biased, historically inaccurate, culturally insensitive, and developmentally inappropriate. The initial draft removed prominent Black Americans, including Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jackie Robinson from elementary school study. It undermined the culture of native peoples by referring to them as “America’s first immigrants.” And the document included numerous instances of age-inappropriate content. Social studies teachers took particular offense, noting that these Standards of Learning with an overt political and ideological agenda came from the same administration that had lodged repeated accusations of “indoctrination” in public schools.” For details about Virginia, please read Defending History: Educators Stand Up to Protect Virginia’s Social Studies Standards.
The National Council for the Social Studies has also released a statement about the American Birthright Standards, stating that “NCSS has determined that the suggested social studies standards developed by the Civics Alliance do not align with best practices related to the development of social studies standards. If implemented in schools, these suggested standards would have damaging and lasting effects on the civic knowledge of students and their capacity to engage in civic reasoning and deliberation. NCSS does not endorse nor support the use of these standards.”
Texas is also currently revising its Social Studies Standards. David Randall, the Executive Director of the Civics Alliance; Jordan Adams who is an advisor to School Boards for Academic Excellence and supports Hillsdale 1776 curriculum and evangelical Christian author, political activist, and the founder of WallBuilders, David Barton were all appointed to the Texas Social Studies Curriculum Advisory Panel, here is the public comment that the American Historical Association to the Texas State Board of Education AHA Submits Comment Raising Serious Concerns About Proposed Texas Social Studies Standards
For more details about Texas revisions, please read The Social Studies Advocate.
In Colorado, one of the main complaints was the lack of inquiry-based learning. The inclusive Colorado Social Studies Standards, which were approved by the State Board of Education, incorporate inquiry-based learning into Social Studies Instruction.
Final Thoughts
Because of the expansion of Civics Alliance’s influence over State Social Studies Standards, it is imperative for parents and teachers to engage in their State’s Academic Standards Revision process. Public School parents in Woodland Park, Colorado, were caught off guard; this can be avoided in the future.
What Can Parents Do
- Find information about your State’s Academic Revision Process. Information about your State’s process can be found on your State’s Department of Education website.
- Know who is on your State School Board, and learn if those Board members are elected or appointed by your State’s Governor.
- Learn when your State Board of Education meets, watch meetings online if available, or attend meetings in person.
- Read what the National Council for the Social Studies says about American Birthright Standards as well as the American Historical Association
- Familiarize yourself with the curriculum adoption process used by your local school board. Oftentimes, local school boards have curriculum materials available for parents to view during the curriculum adoption process.
Suggestions for Action (From Defending History: Educators Stand Up to Protect Virginia’s Social Studies Standards)
- Build a Coalition
- Designate a Coordinator
- Leverage Networks and Elevate Voices
- Get attention from local, state, and national media
States Launching Active Revision Processes (2026–2027)
Maryland, North Dakota, South Carolina, Utah, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas,
States Implementing or Finalizing Updates in 2026–2027
Alabama, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Texas
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Beckie Mostello is a former teacher and parent to two public education graduates.
Every time this comes up, my mind races to this poem by Gil-Scott Heron. https://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/heronblackhistory.html I taught many subjects throughout my tenure as a public school teacher and one of them was American Government. I worked hard to bring REAL leaders into the classroom, spent my summers educating myself on the US Constitution and civics programs. It took a lot of time and energy to make sure my students were well educated on the what was critical in their lives. I even found out the book we had left out one of the most prominent Supreme Court Landmark court cases — Roe v. Wade. We triple-checked; I followed the “money trail” to see who the publishers were and so forth. We all thought that it was really weird to “leave truths out” for our young people to discuss and learn. Years ago, I read about what they called the “Texas Taliban” removing historical components from books because they were “too liberal” and replacing them with untruths. I didn’t budge and brought the best education to my students so they would be informed voters. And some of them even were voter registrars. Nearly all my students (18+) were registered to vote and we studied everything. Sad to think THEY still want to promote false history.