Opinion ID: 4562748
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: California Content Standards, The Curriculum

Text: Framework, And Their Relevant Provisions The California State Board of Education (State Board) develops model curriculum outlines to provide standardized guidance to individual school districts. These outlines, known as Content Standards and Curriculum Frameworks, are used by individual school districts to design more tailored course curricula. See Cal. Educ. Code § 60000(b). The State Board first issues Content Standards, which are broad guidelines for each major subject area, such as history and math. See Cal. Educ. Code §§ 60602.5(a)(1), 60605, 60618. The State Board then issues Curriculum Frameworks which fill in more detail lacking in each of the Standards. See Cal. Educ. Code §§ 60000, 60005, 60200(c). The local school districts in California decide the precise contours of what is taught in their public school classrooms, and can supplement the materials or omit content contained in them. See Cal. Educ. Code § 60000(b). The State Board, in 1998, adopted the Content Standards for history and social science that Appellants challenge in this lawsuit. In just a few pages, the Content Standards outline the history of the world’s first major civilizations and religions, and invite sixth grade students to engage in critical analysis of the “geographic, political, economic, religious, CAPEEM V. TORLAKSON 9 and social structures” of each civilization, including Ancient India. The State Board then adopted the Curriculum Framework for history and social science in 2016 after a lengthy comment process that solicited feedback from the public. Like the Content Standards, the Curriculum Framework calls for students to analyze ancient civilizations from a social science perspective, with materials to include, among other subject matter, “the birth and spread of religious and philosophical systems.” The Curriculum Framework provides the additional detail and context lacking in the Content Standards.