UPDATE: ROCKWOOD SAYS THEY DID NOT USE THAT CONTROVERSIAL QUESTION. BUT, WHAT THEY DID USE FOR THE CLASS HAS ALSO DRAWN SOME CRITICISM.

UPDATE:

We heard back from Rockwood.

Custodian of Records, Janet Sadowski, gave the district's answer, as to whether that controversial question was used in Rockwood. 

She said Rockwood uses a different publisher for that particular class (AP Government), so, quote: "our teachers did not utilize this question in preparations for the AP Government exam."

(Rockwood does use that publisher--Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers--for other classes. More on that below.)

The question at issue was used in an AP American Government class in the Wentzville school district. This is the question:

"Teresa has heard in the news about the fatal shootings of unarmed African American men by police officers, but does not think it is necessarily due to racism. Teresa is most likely a:

Democrat.

black woman.

Republican.

Democrat-leaning woman."

question from Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers

Records show Rockwood does use this same publisher, responsible for the question, in other AP classes. Specifically, for AP World History and for Literature.

Textbook for Rockwood's 
AP Government class
But, the issue is AP Government classes. 
So, which publisher/textbook DOES Rockwood use for those?

Sadowski says Rockwood high schoolers use the "American Government: Roots and Reform" textbook, which is published by Savvas (formerly Pearson). 

An online search showed this is that textbook.

Presumably because it is the January, 2017 edition (not the most recent), not much was readily available about the contents. 

We haven't heard anything controversial about it from students or parents, but, it is worth noting that this government class textbook elicited these types of online reviews:
Amazon reviews for the January, 2017 edition of this textbook. 
It is the same textbook Rockwood says it uses in AP Government classes.


Again, this is for the January, 2017 edition that included the 2016 Presidential election a few months prior.

There is also a newer version of this textbook. 

It is not clear whether Rockwood uses anything from the newer version (2020 edition), but, screenshots from inside do indicate there may be information that is controversial or that could be interpreted as more negative than neutral.









These are the records that show when Rockwood's Board of Education approved the purchase of the 2017 AP Government textbook:


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This is an update to the original post, seen in its entirety below....
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original post May 10, 2022:

RECORDS SHOW THE PUBLISHER OF THAT CONTROVERSIAL TEST QUESTION IS ALSO USED IN ROCKWOOD.

It made national news: A question in an AP course about racism and political affiliation. 

Discovered in the Wentzville school district, in an Advanced Placement government class, the question reads:

"Teresa has heard in the news about the fatal shootings of unarmed African American men by police officers, but does not think it is necessarily due to racism. Teresa is most likely a:

Democrat.

black woman.

Republican.

Democrat-leaning woman."


This question has been the subject of posts on social media and covered by national news outlets such as Newsmax and Fox & Friends, thanks to a parent in the Wentzville School District, Lindi Williford. 

RECORDS REQUEST 

Williford did a records request and learned the district has paid that publisher more than $50,000 two years in a row.

ROCKWOOD ALSO PAID

We checked online records in Rockwood, and our quick review discovered our district also uses that same publisher. 

Records show Rockwood's Board of Education has approved a grand total of at least 
$ 220, 045.29  worth of instructional materials from Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers since 2016.

It is not known whether the controversial question above was also noticed by students here, but, we reached out to Rockwood's Coordinator of Social Studies to find out whether the question was used at all. We are waiting for a response.

We do know Rockwood has used the publisher of that question in AP World History classes. 
(The question above was in an AP government class in Wentzville.)

 DETAILS

Here's how Rockwood has used the publisher responsible for that question in Wentzville:

Records show Rockwood paid Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers $67, 883.12 in May, 2016 for "Ways of the World" AP World History textbooks.

Records show Rockwood has also paid the publisher an additional $152,162.17 in 2018 for 9th and 10th grade Advanced Language and Literature textbooks.


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Purchase in  January, 2018.


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Purchase in April, 2018.


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Wentzville's Lindi Williford updated readers Tuesday, saying that the publisher responsible for the question has now apologized, and said the question has been removed from its Learning Curve assessment bank. The publisher says it is also conducting a thorough review of remaining questions.

Response from Bedford, Freeman & Worth

Here's what Wentzville School District administrators had to say about the question, as reported on Newsmax:

"The resources used by the district are used widely nationwide and are aligned to the AP Government exam. The item encountered by the student is extreme and the District is reaching out to the resource developers to directly address this concern."

Interviewed on Newsmax, Missouri state Representative Nick Schroer said,

"...It's scary to see that this type of indoctrination is happening; the planting the seeds of hate, seeds of Marxism so to speak. So, they're going to create and grow the next Ocasio-Cortez, or Cori Bush. We need to get back to the crux of teaching kids how to think and not what to think."


Williford commented that questions like this violate trust between parents and educators.