GenEd to create California state curriculum on Armenian Genocide
The Genocide Education Project has begun a 2-year project to provide the California Department of Education curriculum on the Armenian Genocide aligned with the new state History-Social Science educational framework. Led by the Sacramento County Office of Education, the Content, Literacy, and Citizenship (CLIC) project has created History-Social Science Statewide and Regional Communities of Practice which will implement the “inquiry-based” curriculum throughout the state. GenEd is collaborating with these Communities of Practice with two teacher-training workshops scheduled for June, 2019, and more to come across California.
October, 2018 – Roxanne Makasdjian, The Genocide Education Project Executive Director, gives a presentation to members of the Statewide and Regional Communities of Practice, tasked with implementing the History-Social Science education framework across the state.
USC Shoah Foundation. The organizations had their first planning meeting in December, discussing ideas for various collaborative projects, combining GenEd’s Armenian Genocide curriculum with Armenian Genocide survivor videos (originally filmed by J Michael Hagopian) that USC Shoah foundation has made available online for use by teachers and students.
Texas Curriculum Standards Revised
The Texas State Board of Education has updated its education standards to include the Armenian Genocide (p. 80) as an example of genocide students must be able to identify. GenEd successfully advocated for the change and collaborated with the Austin, Dallas, and Houston Armenian-American communities to send public comments to the board. Board member Patricia Hardy introduced the amendment, referring to the 2017 Texas House of Representatives recognition of the Armenian Genocide and the numerous public comments received.
Beth Hudson, Social Studies Curriculum Specialist for the Austin Independent School District and participant of several GenEd teacher workshops said, “I am delighted and gratified that my home state took the necessary steps to appropriately include the Armenian Genocide in our educational standards, supporting our efforts to truthfully and effectively teach this part of history.”
2018: A banner year for educator outreach
GenEd attended more educational conferences and hosted more professional training workshops than ever, introducing a wider spectrum of teachers to the the value of teaching about the Armenian Genocide and the pattern of genocides that followed.
Exhibit booths and workshop sessions were provided at social studies conferences and full-day teacher-trainings were carried out in California, Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey, Texas, and Chicago, where GenEd interacted with hundreds of high school history teachers.