Title: U.S. history: How teaching America's past varies across the country - CBS News
Headings: 50 states, 50 different ways of teaching America's past
50 states, 50 different ways of teaching America's past
Slavery and civil rights movement
Cause of the Civil War
Racism and white supremacy
Politics and other challenges
Role of teachers

Content: And Heafner said the process for adopting state standards, especially in a field like social studies that wrestles with the history of racism or white supremacy, can be politicized. "There are ideologies and beliefs that tend to guide the decisions that are made at the policy level in states to determine what can be included and what cannot be included in standards," she said. " Given that nature it does not surprise me that the language is not present because many policy makers are unwilling to tackle those hard issues." When asked why change has been slow when it comes to textbooks and the state standards in Texas, Ellis, the chair of the Texas State Board of Education said: " I think (Texas), as well as a lot of states in the South, were behind the times in coming to change that process," he said. Ellis told CBS News as the board has changed and new people have been elected, more progress has been made. He pointed to changes the board has made in recent years, including adding the teaching of Jim Crow laws and Ku Klux Klan to the state standards, and making sure slavery is listed as the central cause of the Civil War. The state is also poised to add a high school African American studies elective this year, which Ellis has been publicly pushing for. Ellis told CBS News he feels it's important all children are able to see themselves reflected in what they are learning, and the board strives to do that. "I think that we are in a much better place than we were 10 years ago, 20 years ago and I'm optimistic that even five years from now we are going to be in an even better place than we are even today," he said.