Questions Related to the Textbook

APUSH New Teacher Training in the Form of a Blog Post

Here are some of the most common questions new teachers ask related to the textbook:

Q1:

I have the choice of picking a textbook; any recommendations?

The best advice for any teacher wanting to choose a new textbook is to (1) join the Facebook APUSH Teacher Community (2,700 members) and the College Board AP US History Online Teacher Community (20,000 members) and (2) ask for a recommendation there, being sure to provide details about the reading level of your students and any other relevant information. This context matters and will help group members provide the most accurate recommendations.

Q2:

What textbook does your school provide the students?

At San Marino High School, the high-achieving California public high school where I teach, we provide the students with a copy of America’s History for the AP Course (2018). The textbook is described online this way: “This textbook is known for its comprehensive coverage and rigorous academic standards. It offers a balanced blend of narrative and analysis, which helps students develop critical thinking skills and a deeper understanding of historical events. The text is well-organized, with clear headings and summaries that aid in student comprehension and retention. Additionally, the accompanying resources, such as primary source documents and review questions, provide valuable tools for both teaching and assessing student progress. This makes the Henretta book an excellent choice for preparing our students for the AP exam and fostering a robust understanding of U.S. history.”

Q3:

Can you give a more student-friendly, easy-to-read recommendation?

This question is also best answered by consulting with the teachers who belong to either the Facebook APUSH Teacher Community and/or the College Board AP US History Online Teacher Community.

Q4:

Does the College Board have a recommended list of textbooks?

No, it does not. College Board only provides an “Example Textbook List,” with this list, which appears below, representing examples of textbooks that meet the curricular requirements of AP U.S. History. CB then goes on to state here that:

The list is not exhaustive and the texts listed should not be regarded as endorsed, authorized, recommended, or approved by College Board.

For discussions regarding the usefulness of these texts and other teaching materials in the AP U.S. History classroom, please consult the AP U.S. History Teacher Community.

Here’s the Example Textbook List

• Berkin, Carol, Christopher L. Miller, Robert W. Cherny, and James L. Gormly. Making America: A History of the United States. 7th edition. National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning, 2015.
• Boyer, Paul S., Clifford E. Clark Jr., Karen Halttuenen, Joseph F. Kett, Neal Salisbury, Harvard Sitkoff, and Nancy Woloch. The Enduring Vision, A History of the American People (AP Edition). 7th edition. National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning, 2011.
• Brinkley, Alan. American History: Connecting with the Past, Updated AP Edition. 15th edition. McGraw-Hill Education, 2014.
• Corbett, P. Scott, Volker Janssen, John M. Lund, Todd Pfannestiel, Sylvie Waskiewiewicz, and Paul Vickery. U.S. History. OpenStax, 2014.
• Davidson, James West, Brian DeLay, Christine Leigh Heyrman, Mark H. Lytle, and Michael B. Stoff. Experience History, Interpreting America’s Past. 9th edition. McGraw-Hill Education, 2019.
• Divine, Robert A., T.H. Breen, R. Hal Williams, Ariela J. Gross, H.W. Brands. America Past and Present. 10th Edition, Pearson, 2013.
• Faragher, John Mack, Mari Jo Buhle, Daniel Czitrom, and Susan H. Armitage. Out of Many: A History of the American People. 8th edition. Pearson, 2016.
• Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty, AP Edition. 6th edition. W.W. Norton and Company, 2020.
• Fraser, James. By the People: A History of the United States. 2nd edition. Pearson, 2016.
• Henkin, David and Rebecca McLennan. Becoming America, A History for the 21st Century. 1st edition. McGraw-Hill Education, 2014.
• Henretta, James A., Eric Hinderaker, Rebecca Edwards, and Robert O. Self. America’s History, For the AP® Course. 8th edition. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014.
• Hewitt, Nancy A., and Steven F. Lawson. Exploring American Histories: Combined Volume. 2nd Edition. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2017.
• Kamensky, Jane, Carol Sheriff, David W. Blight, Howard P. Chudacoff, Fredrik Logevall, Beth Bailey, and Mary Beth Norton. A People and a Nation: A History of the United States. 11th edition. Cengage Learning, 2019.
• Kennedy, David M., and Lizabeth Cohen. The American Pageant. 17th edition. National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning, 2019.
• Locke, Joseph and Ben Wright, eds. The American Yawp. Stanford University Press, 2019.
• Murrin, John, Pekka Hämäläinen, Paul E. Johnson, Denver Brunsman, James McPherson, Alice Fahs, Gary Gerstle, Emily S. Rosenberg, and Norman Rosenberg. Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People. 7th edition. Cengage, 2015.
• Oakes, James, Michael McGerr, Jan Ellen Lewis, Nick Cullather, Jeanne Boydston, Mark Summers, Camilla Townsend, and Karen Dunak. Of the People: A History of the United States. 3rd edition. Oxford University Press, 2015.
• OpenStax; Bill of Rights Institute. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. 1st edition. OpenStax, 2020.

Q5:

I hear it doesn’t matter what textbook you have; students won’t read it today. Is this true?

At my school, this is true unless I implement various strategies to hold them accountable. This sentiment is echoed by teachers in the two online groups I’ve mentioned and by many of the APUSH teachers who attend the conferences where I speak. The reasons why students don’t read anymore are complex, with the Steve Heimler video below providing a very good yet brief explanation.

Q6:

How often do you require the students to read something from the textbook and then hold them accountable?

Only now and then do I require students to read sections of the textbook and then hold them accountable for it. The same is true for the other AP social studies teachers at my school do this only occasionally. I’m not exactly sure why we don’t do it more frequently, as we’ve never actually had that discussion, but I can guess it might be for one of the following reasons:

1. We suspect that any form of handed-in notes related to the textbook will likely have been produced with the help of AI, so assigning tasks that students may not genuinely engage with seems counterproductive.
2. There’s a general lack of confidence that traditional textbook reading assignments lead to significant learning. We question whether the effort put into these assignments results in meaningful understanding or retention of the material.
3. Other teachers at my school, particularly in math and science, assign so much homework that we doubt students would have enough time to complete additional textbook readings. Worse yet, forced to chose, they won’t choose their AP social studies homework.

For me personally, I haven’t assigned textbook readings over the years because I believed that the only way to truly hold them accountable is with a reading quiz, which meant creating the quiz, taking time in class to administer it, and worrying about cheating, especially since I have five sections of APUSH. It ends up being more hassle than it’s worth.

Q7:

See below for a range of comments from teachers in the Facebook APUSH Teacher Community and the College Board’s APUSH Online Teacher Community on this post.

When asking the members of both the Facebook APUSH Teacher Community and the College Board AP US History Online Teacher Community about textbook recommendations, you are likely to receive various responses. For a sampling of the responses, see below:

I went with Fabric of A Nation for readability, alignment to the CED, and online text/tools. The section readings are really not that much longer than AMSCO, but they are written to explain, not summarize. I asked students from this year’s and last year’s “crops” to review the texts too, and they all found Fabric to be their preference.

My kids won’t read the textbook but they will read the AMSCO book because it’s an easier read.

Out of my 80 students, maybe five actually read the chapters I assigned. So I don’t think it matters what textbook you buy. The students aren’t going to read it anyway.

I use AMSCO and love it.

I say stay stick with AMSCO to keep it accessible to your lower readers.

It doesn’t get much easier than AMSCO.

My students were not gaining a deeper understanding with AMSCO (so I switched) to Fabric of a Nation.

I use Foner’s Give Me Liberty!, High School, Brief Edition. I like the coverage and depth, and it allows me to add my own reading during the week.

We just switched from American Pageant to Fabric of a Nation, and my biggest change is that a higher percentage of students are digesting and understanding what they read, which is awesome! I also find the AP writing tips helpful in supplementing what we do in class.

I recommend the Fabric of a Nation. The textbook person at my school says they are coming out with an updated version that I hope we adopt next year. Right now, I’m using the 2020 version.

I use Give Me Liberty by Eric Foner. I have recently discovered the brief edition for AP, and my students love it so much.

I bought Henretta, and I regret it. I should have bought Brinkley. My issue with Henretta is that it’s too compartmentalized.

We use Give Me Liberty, but I have to say that the way the chapters are organized confuses my students.

I am using Give Me Liberty, by Foner as my primary text and supplementing with AMSCO.

I wouldn’t buy a textbook now. I’m betting, urging even, that the APUSH course be divided into three different courses within the next two years One to be structured as the course is presently structured (P1-P9 as we know it) but with the course to include a required performance task that students are to complete before the exam, are permitted to use AI when completing the task, then assessed on exam day on some work related to the task. And the other two are structured from 1607–1865 and from 1848-to the present, or something similar, but with whatever structure utilized, both courses also include a performance task that permits students to use AI and that has a test day assessment

Our school recently switched to Fabric of a Nation and I found that more students were able to read for meaning and digest the material with that textbook! Ones who were higher reading levels seemed to be able to dive deeper into good note taking strategies!

American Yawp is online and free. Some AP teachers use that and it looks to be relatively easy to read for lower reading levels.

For lessons/activities: lots of primary source evaluation (use the SHEG site for free lessons), some annotated timelines, comparison charts (ex: comparing policies of presidents, the 3 regions of colonial America, etc), supplementary readings if needed (gilder lehrman has some good ones), kahn academy has basic info for APUSH, my students liked Heimlers history videos a lot for review- I never assigned them.

Collectively the social studies teachers at my school, the AP social studies teachers do not assign any textbook readings. That said, I don’t know exactly why we don’t. We haven’t had that conversation. But if I were to guess, it would be for one of the following reasons: 1. We suspect any form of handed-in notes related to the textbook will likely have been produced with the help of AI, so why bother assigning tasks that students may not genuinely engage with? 2. There’s a general lack of confidence that traditional textbook reading assignments lead to significant learning. We question whether the effort put into these assignments results in meaningful understanding or retention of the material. 3. Other teachers at my school (math and science, in particular) assign so much homework that we doubt students would have enough time to complete additional textbook readings. If I were to give homework calling on students to read, I wouldn’t require them to take notes. Instead, I would use AI to help me create a quiz to hold them accountable to the reading/assignment. This way, I can ensure they engage with the material without placing an undo burden (related to the making of the quiz) on me.

I got several sample texts from publishers and ultimately went with Fabric of A Nation for readability, alignment to the CED, and online text/tools. The section readings are really not that much longer than AMSCO, but they are written to explain, not summarize. I asked students from this year’s and last year’s “crops” to review the texts too, and they all found Fabric to be their preference.

I inherited AMSCO and learned quickly students were not grasping the “story” of the history. It is a review book after all, and it makes sense it is not an approved textbook under the College Board requirements.

I tried Yawp with them because it was free and online…too complex for my sophs.

I’ve. Been teaching APUS for 18 years and never once assigned textbook reading. Not even a days worth. At the conclusion of th year o give a class survey. One of the questions states “I never opened my textbook for any reason. Not even once….agree, strongly agree, disagree”, etc, etc with room for writing in explanations. On average, over 15 years, 92% of the students selected agree. Yet, year after year somewhere between 70% and 94% (when I’ve been told by administration, I’ve never once looked..I don’t even know how) get 3, 4, or 5 on the AP exam…with about 65% getting 4 or higher. My notes are quite extensive and make up about 35% of the textbooks writing, so that may be why I dint feel the need. But I can say for sure that I do not feel any need to use a textbook. Why do you feel that need?

Many admins don’t like lecturing, I have 40 min periods 5x a week. No way I can get to all of the content and cover skill practice, assessments, discussions, etc., textbook is a backstop.

I have 40 min periods 5 times a week too and though its true admins don’t like lecture, most kids do.

Use AMSCO. There are tons of free resources out there for readings guide that go with it. Highly recommend. My students read everyday and complete their reading guides as well.

Good luck getting kids to read anything. Just hand feeding notes day after day over here. Lincolns still alive and well in northeast Ohio.

I use Heimler videos on YouTube. Super engaging and he hits the entire curriculum topic by topic.