Episode 72: Education Under Scrutiny — The Ongoing Debate of Critical Race Theory

Are you doing these critical things to help your child succeed academically? Take the quiz now to find out the important actions you can take to enhance your child's education. Go to my website, liberationthrougheducation.com quiz and take the quiz today. Foreign.

Welcome to another episode of K12 Education Untangled. My name is Dr. Kim Fields, former corporate manager turned educational researcher and advocate, and I'm the host of this podcast. I got into this space after dealing with some frustrating interactions with school educators and administrators, as well as experiencing the microdiscriminations that I faced as an African American mom raising my two kids who were in the public school system. I really wanted to understand how teachers were trained and what the research provided about the challenges of the public education system. Once I gained the information and the insights that I needed, I was then equipped to be able to successfully support my children in their educational progress. If you're looking to find out more about current information and issues in education that could affect you or your children, then you're in the right place. Thanks for tuning in today. I know that staying informed about K12 education trends and topics is important to you, so keep listening. On today's episode, I'll be discussing what are the latest updates and actions being taken regarding Critical race theory in K12 public education? Critical Race theory is a topic that seems to consistently be in the news in some form or another. I first addressed this issue in Season one, Episode one. What are some of the latest actions being taken by proponents and opponents of crt? I discuss which stakeholders seem to be the most vocal on this issue, as well as other updates on this episode. Let's get started. The bulk of the updates regarding recent Critical Race Theory issues seem to center on a pilot AP African American Studies course. At the beginning of this year, Florida banned a pilot Advanced Placement course on black history from its high schools. This drew protests and threats of lawsuits, and a statement from the organization that oversees the AP program indicated that it would not consider the state's input on the final course. This course was piloted in 60 high schools and still remains banned in Florida for allegedly lacking educational value and being historically inaccurate, at least according to a letter from the Florida Education Commissioner, Mattie Diaz. He indicated in his letter to the school board that the state would reconsider the ban if a few topics of concern were removed from the final framework. Those topics include Black queer studies, which Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis said is pushing an agenda on our kids, and if intersectionality and activism, as well as ranks people based on their wealth, race, gender and sexual orientation. Florida is one of 18 states that have passed laws restricting some of the lessons on race and racism. Florida's laws specifically ban teaching critical race theory, Although CRT has been misused by some lawmakers as a catch all term or a number of lessons about the history of racism. To be fair, these topics seem to be one sided, meaning that they give students only the progressive perspective on topics such as intersectionality, reparations and colorblindness. Florida also told the School Board that the pilot framework of the AP African American Studies course is allegedly illegal. So what was the response from the College Board? The organization has not addressed the ban publicly. Its initial statement only indicated that the final framework would be released February 1st of this year, the first date of Black History Month. Now, in a letter to its members, which includes districts and higher education institutions nationwide, the College Board basically said that Florida or any other state cannot weigh in on deciding the content of the final framework. Well, lawsuits have been threatened in Florida and they have been placed because they have threatened Florida that if they didn't rescind the ban the lawsuits would continue. Civil rights lawyer Ben Crump threatened to Sue DeSantis on behalf of three Florida high schoolers if the state didn't reverse the ban. The NAACP also threatened to sue, although no lawsuits have actually been filed yet. Given that the course was banned across these 60 high schools, students were unable to take the elective Black history course after the course was banned. The College Board later announced a revised course framework which actually broadened and deepened the history. The political elements were pared back while the new topics included black political gains, Democratic and religious diversity in the black community and black achievement in science, medicine and technology. More than 2/3 of voters and parents aren't worried about teachers indoctrinating their children or pushing a woke agenda on them or teaching critical race theory. These findings were the result of December 2022 poll by the American Federation of Teachers which collected data from more than 1500 voters, including 558 parents, about their priorities and areas of concern about public education. In fact, these voters indicated that the culture wars that seem to be present and typically instigated from a political agenda perspective actually distract public schools from their core mission of educating students. Further, most parents and voters agreed that districts should focus on providing a safe and welcoming environment for children, ensuring that all children, regardless of background, have the opportunity to succeed and that they are provided with strong fundamental skills in reading, math and science as well as developing the students critical thinking and reasoning skills. Eighteen states have passed laws limiting teaching about race and racism in public schools under the guise of opposing critical race theory. Florida's Stop Woke law specifically bans critical race theory at New York Times 1619 Project. These laws are called divisive concepts laws which ban teaching that anyone is inherently racist, should feel guilty or anguished because of their race and bears responsibility for past actions of their race. This propaganda only works when you think there's something that you can divide. However, history is what it is and the truth cannot be changed. These types of bills that have been passed in Florida create a chilling effect on lessons about race because while black history is required to be taught in Florida, this puts hurdles on the fact that the history needs to be taught and it makes accurate and honest lessons about teaching black history harder to teach. Here's a breakdown of 18 states that have passed laws limiting teaching about race and racism in public schools. The state level actions for or against the AP African American History course has basically been along party lines. In four Republican led states, the Department of Education decided to review the course in order to determine if it complied with their restrictions on lessons about about race and racism. Another state passed a bill that would ban the course if it interfered with state law. All five states, Arkansas, North Dakota, Mississippi, Texas and Virginia are among the 18 that have passed anti CRT laws. On the other hand, two Democrat led states, Illinois and New Jersey, are emphasizing the need for AP African American Studies and in fact have stated that if the College Board censored the content in the course, they would not accept the course. It's important to Note that since January 2021, 42 states have introduced bills or taken other steps that would ban critical race theory or divisive concepts from the classroom or otherwise limit how teachers can discuss racism and sexism. These states of the 42 also include Iowa, Oklahoma, Idaho, Tennessee and South Dakota. In Missouri, lawmakers have introduced three bills that would ban race and sex stereotyping and give parents the right to to monitor school curricula and other materials. Republicans in that state tried and failed to enact similar legislation, filing at least 20 related bills in the last legislative session, none of which passed. Most teachers and school administrators have stated that educators and subject matter experts, not politicians, should lead the curriculum selection process. It's when elected officials use education to stir up partisan culture wars that the children ultimately lose. A small group of teachers, students and parents, as well as local teachers unions from the California community are suing the school district and and the school board for passing a resolution banning critical race theory, which they argue censors teachers and restricts students fundamental rights. About a dozen teachers, students and parents, along with the Temecula Valley Educators association union, filed the lawsuit in August of this year in the California Superior Court against the Temecula Valley Unified School District. The school board passed the resolution, which bans the teaching of critical race theory and other similar frameworks, in December 2022. The vagueness of the language in the resolution and the consequences for educators violated have created a harmful environment, Bellocid argues. Even some students have protested against the resolution, claiming that it would violate their constitutional rights to learn and to be free from discrimination. According to some of the Temecula school board members, crt is a divisive ideology that assigns moral fault to individuals solely on the basis of an individual's race. It judges educational outcomes on the color of somebody's skin and not their character. And according to the school board members, that's un American. The lawsuit calls for the resolution to be declared unconstitutional under state law. Although California is not One of the 18 states that have passed laws restricting schools from teaching lessons about racism and race, this lawsuit sets a precedent. California has actually taken steps to expand educational reasons, as well as the contributions of specific other racial and ethnic groups to U.S. history educators, civil rights organizations, students and parents have filed lawsuits in these four states and state laws that restrict education on race, racial racism, sex and gender. At least one of the lawsuits, the one in Arizona, was successful in the efforts to reverse the law. This is an especially confusing resolution for teachers because they're now conflicted with how to teach California standards without violating the terms of the resolution. Here are the action steps that you can take regarding this topic. The main thing that you can do is to stay abreast of these political issues and monitor what's going on in your child's school as far as curriculum is concerned, as well as what's going on in his or her classroom. You should voice your concerns and raise your objections to the necessary school leaders so as to make them aware of your perspective and position. You can also one be aware of what your state legislature is proposing regarding bills banning critical race theory concepts in schools. Some states, like Missouri and Indiana, push for curriculum transparency in and they require teachers in schools to make instructional materials available for parental review 2 talk with your children's teachers about their curriculum and how it supports all children. Many fail to understand the implications of critical race theory and its application to the educational process and 3 keep an open dialogue with other parents about news and updates regarding the school district's position on implementing the principles of CRT in their district curriculum. Here are this episode's takeaways. Critical Race theory and its potential contributions to K12 public education continues to be under scrutiny by lawmakers and parent groups across the United States. Banning the tenets of CRT will produce even less equitable outcomes for the most vulnerable student populations. Yet politicians continue to use this academic area as a basis for for limiting what children learn. Lawmakers have continued to churn out numerous proposed legislations against the teaching of race and racism in public schools. As of 2021, 42 states have introduced bills or taken other steps that would ban critical race theory or divisive concepts from the classroom or otherwise limit how teachers can discuss racism and sexism. Most teachers and school administrators have stated that educators and subject matter experts, not politicians, should lead the curriculum's selection process. It's when elected officials use education to stir up partisan culture wars that the children ultimately lose. More than 2/3 of parents are not worried about teachers indoctrinating their children, pushing a woke agenda on them, or teaching critical race theory. Most parents agree that districts should focus on providing a safe and welcoming environment for children, ensuring that all children, regardless of background, have the opportunity to succeed, and that they are provided with strong fundamental skills in reading, math and science, as well as developing the students critical thinking skills and reasoning skills. If this is the type of subject matter discussion that resonates with you, please follow my podcast or whatever service you also. I'd love to hear from you, so please leave me a rating, a review, or a comment on Apple or podchaser if you like this podcast. The best way to support me and help me grow it is by leaving a review. This helps my rankings and entices other people to listen to the show and share this episode with anyone that you think will find value. Be sure to tell your friends, family and community about my podcast. Thanks for listening today. I hope you come back for more K12 educational discussions with even more exciting topics to untangle. And be sure to stay tuned on the next episode. Be discussing soft skills and STEM until next time. Aim to learn something new every day.

Love my show. Consider being a regular subscriber. You can subscribe for as little as $3 per month. Just go to Podcast support. There's no contractual obligation. You can cancel at any time. If you choose to subscribe, I'll give you a special shout out thanking you in an upcoming episode. Remember, that's tinyurl.com podcastsupport to subscribe.