AB 659, as amended, Nazarian. Pupil instruction: Armenian Genocide.
Existing law requires the State Department of Education to incorporate materials relating to civil rights, human rights violations, genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources, consistent with the subject frameworks on history and social science and other requirements. Under existing law, the Legislature encourages the incorporation of survivor, rescuer, liberator, and witness testimony into the teaching of human rights, genocide, and the Holocaust. Existing law establishes the Instructional Quality Commission and requires the commission to, among other things, recommend curriculum frameworks to the State Board of Education.
This bill would encourage the department to incorporate materials related to the Armenian Genocide into those publications, and would require the commission to consider the Armenian Genocide for inclusion in the history-social science curriculum framework when the history-social science framework is revised as required by law. The bill would also specify that the Legislature encourages the incorporation of survivor, rescuer, liberator, and witness oral testimony into the teaching of human rights, the Holocaust, and genocide, including the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides. The bill would define oral testimony to mean firsthand accounts of significant historical events presented in a specified format.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 51226.3 of the Education Code is
2amended to read:
(a) (1) The department shall incorporate into
4publications that provide examples of curriculum resources for
5teacher use those materials developed by publishers of nonfiction,
6trade books, and primary sources, or other public or private
7organizations, that are age-appropriate and consistent with the
8subject frameworks on history and social science that deal with
9civil rights, human rights violations, genocide, slavery,
and the
10Holocaust.
11(2) The Legislature encourages the department to incorporate
12into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources
13for teacher use those materials developed by publishers of
14nonfiction, trade books, and primary sources, or other public or
15private organizations, that are age-appropriate and consistent with
16the subject frameworks on history and social science that deal with
17the Armenian Genocide.
18(b) (1) The Legislature encourages the incorporation of survivor,
19rescuer, liberator, and witness oral testimony into the teaching of
20human rights, the Holocaust, and genocide, including, but not
21limited to, the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan
22genocides.
P3 1(2) As used in this subdivision, “oral testimony” means the
2firsthand accounts of significant historical events presented in a
3format that includes, but is not limited to, in-person testimony,
4video, or a multimedia option, such as a DVD orbegin insert anend insert online video.
5(c) The Legislature encourages all state and local professional
6development activities to provide teachers with content background
7and resources to assist in teaching about civil rights, human rights
8violations, genocide, slavery, the Holocaust, and the Armenian
9Genocide.
10(d) The Legislature encourages all state and local professional
11development activities to provide teachers with content background
12and resources to assist in
teaching about the Great Irish Famine of
131845-50.
14(e) When the history-social science curriculum framework is
15revised as required by law, the Instructional Quality Commission
16shall consider including the Great Irish Famine of 1845-50 and
17the Armenian Genocide in the history-social science curriculum
18framework.
19(f) The Model Curriculum for Human Rights and Genocide
20adopted by the state board, pursuant to Section 51226, shall be
21made available to schools in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, as soon as
22funding is available for this purpose. In addition, the department
23shall make the curriculum available on its Internet Web site.
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