Education in Focus

Taxpayer-funded equity-focused events directed school employees to push public school boards to focus on race and gender, encouraged staff to focus on “disrupting whiteness” and promoted ideologies that critics say lay “the groundwork for a communist worldview.” Chalkboard reviewed recordings of federally sponsored virtual roundtables and events where presenters promoted controversial ideas like critical race theory, intersectionality and critical consciousness for school administrators, teachers and staff. A September virtual roundtable discussion focused on “disrupting racism at the intersections in schools” and used the definition of intersectionality created by the founder of critical race theory Kimberlé Crenshaw. 

Full story: https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/accountability/article_5edc1172-07d0-11ef-a87d-f3905d2aa2f2.html

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Chicago Public Schools adopted a policy last year to honor academic credits received during virtual classes, citing equity as one of the reasons underpinning the policy as well as the benefits of the online instruction model. But as Chalkboard reported last year, researchers have questioned the efficacy of virtual learning and raised concerns that virtual credit recovery classes actually hurt those who need help the most. A spokesperson from Chicago Public Schools said the district would not provide a comment to Chalkboard News about virtual credit recovery classes in response to questions about the district's policy adopted in May last year, which added a section about equity in the implementation of virtual learning. 

Full story: https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/accountability/article_cf9b83f4-0bed-11ef-99da-63cc15a9265c.html

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A federal judge is allowing a class action lawsuit against the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education over its use of the “Quiet Time” transcendental meditation program, which allegedly required student participation and incorporated Hindu rituals. Chicago Public Schools stated it ended the Quiet Time program in 2020 and that it denies any liability related to the program, which former students allege violated their constitutional rights because of the religious aspects of the program.

Full story: https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/cultural-issues/article_5b64bd92-027f-11ef-a81f-6f4d8211a742.html

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A new report tied to the 70th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision Brown v. Board of Education says schools nationwide legally discriminate against some students based on their address. Available to All, the nonprofit watchdog group that advocates for equal access to public schools, released the report Monday asserting that top public schools can legally prevent disadvantaged students, often those from minority communities, from enrolling based on their address. "Today Linda Brown would most likely be turned away from the best public school in her city because of her address,” said Derrell Bradford, an Available to All board member, in a press release this week. “Our system is built on exclusionary maps that determine who can or cannot enroll in a public school.”

Full story: https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/school-choice/article_d92ba468-025a-11ef-b0b6-5b442dccface.html

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Former secretary of education Betsy DeVos said Friday that the Biden administration's finalized Title IX rule change has "gutted" five decades of protections for women and girls and replaced it with "radical gender theory." The Biden administration’s Department of Education has finalized its long-anticipated Title IX rule that expands the definition of sex discrimination to include gender identity and pregnancy. Critics of the federal rule finalized Friday say that it rewrites the scope of the statute intended to prohibit sex discrimination at federally funded schools and institutions of higher learning. Proponents say the changes are necessary to protect all students. A separate rule on transgender athletes has not yet been finalized.

Full story: https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/cultural-issues/article_11e7a8b0-fe5f-11ee-8398-ab8f9ebfb794.html

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

School districts with diversity, equity and inclusion departments and organizations or individuals that offer professional development may use the term “intersectionality” on their websites, but what does it mean and what relationship does it have to critical race theory?Understanding the principles behind intersectionality and what it means can help add context to important and often divisive conversations at the local, state and national levels around equity and critical race theory. Conversations around power, privilege and racism continue to divide legislatures and school board meetings. Kimberlé Crenshaw, who coined the terms intersectionality and critical race theory, recently gave the keynote lecture at the American Educational Research Association’s annual meeting last week. 

Full story: https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/cultural-issues/article_e21fe7e4-fe92-11ee-b49b-6f3fa440ef94.html

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The U.S. Department of Education has directed millions of federal funds toward equity assistance centers that provide teachers and administrators with resources positing views on controversial topics like comprehensive sex education and versions of critical race theory. The Midwest and Plains Equity Assistance (MAP) Center, one of the four regional technical assistance centers sponsored by the Education Department, provides resources based on critical race theory to schools and educators and directs them to override parental rights on sex education. The MAP Center is housed in the Great Lakes Equity Center at the Indiana University School of Education-IUPUI.

Full story: https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/accountability/article_dab8e6e6-f79d-11ee-8f02-6f348cdea4ae.html

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Biden administration’s Department of Education is asking for $82.4 billion budget for the 2025 fiscal year, $3.1 billion more than the previous fiscal year to help students recover from school closure-related learning loss and bolster operations at the agency’s enforcement arm. In a House appropriations committee hearing this week, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona defended the Education Department’s proposed $22 million increase for the Office of Civil Rights, saying its workload has tripled in the last decade and a half, in part because of rising rates of antisemitism and anti-Arab discrimination.

Full story: https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/funding-spending/article_7e12479a-f903-11ee-93c3-0f2a1ffef7fd.html

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Seattle Public School District says activities requiring students to provide information protected by federal and state law do not violate the statutes as long as teachers do not store the information without parental consent. Seattle Public Schools has defended its use of “social identity wheel” handouts in which students are asked to reflect on their "privilege" based on income, race, mental health, sexual identity and religion. Federal and state laws prohibit schools from asking students for that information without approval from parents.

Full story: https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/parental-rights/article_ab748a8a-f2ab-11ee-ac39-5bbe7eff3b83.html

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday that it will use to determine the legality of what would be the nation’s first religious charter school, which received approval last year from the state's Virtual Charter School Board. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed a lawsuit in October, claiming that the board’s approval of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual Charter School violates the state’s constitution prohibiting sectarian control of public schools. The state board’s lawyers maintain the law used to approve private schools may not exclude religious schools. 

Full story: https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/school-choice/article_89147c48-f0df-11ee-a563-6ff06b30b632.html

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.