Excerpt:
Students will continue to learn the origin and central features of Islam in middle school under new draft standards proposed by the Tennessee State Board of Education.
The teachings of Islamic culture and history have been a subject of controversy among some parents across the state and there has been a strong backlash to the standards as they were previously written due to what some described as an effort to "indoctrinate students."
But the changes to the standards for all grades, currently under review, are meant to streamline the content teachers are expected to teach students in any given grade, said Laura Encalade, director of policy and research.