What is “1776 curriculum?” We stopped by a Peoria school teaching it to find out

PEORIA, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) -- The 1776 curriculum got renewed attention this week when Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake said she supported it. So what is it exactly? What does it involve? Arizona’s Family learned a school in Peoria uses it.

It’s called Candeo Peoria. The public charter school says its “mission is to grow wisdom and virtue for a life well lived.” A part of their liberal arts education includes the 1776 curriculum.

“It really lays out this prescribed knowledge that all Americans should know. Starting in their youngest years, in kindergarten and with that it includes key vocabulary, big ideas and questions, important dates, timelines,” Becky Palisuri, the Head of the School, said.

The 1776 curriculum, which focuses on history and civics, was developed by Hillsdale College, a private Christian school in Michigan. It was partly inspired by what former President Trump called a “patriotic education.”

“They learn patriotic songs in music class, perform them in different assemblies, a rite of passage here is every morning greeting the fourth grade does a recitation of the preamble of the Declaration of Independence,” she said.

The school refers to it as an added layer of knowledge taught in addition to history and social studies. But some argue, including the Arizona Education Association, that celebrating those figures doesn’t tell the whole story.

“What’s concerning is trying to eliminate any part of American history or even Arizona history. I teach and live in an area where segregated schools existed a generation ago,” Marisol Garcia, the President of AEA, said.

Arizona’s Family asked Palisuri about that. “It’s not meant to leave out any part of history, history is education and so certainly as we’re talking about the civil war, it talks about some of the darkness that was present in that time period,” Palisuri said.

“Every piece of curriculum that is taught in Arizona’s schools should include a community decision making process,” Garcia said.

Palisuri has a different perspective. “When we all share a body of knowledge or information or key dates or historical people and events, it’s something that actually brings us together,” she said.

According to Hillsdale College, several dozen schools across the country teach this curriculum. In addition, Candeo has a second school in Scottsdale.

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