Pennsylvania’s second-largest school district is promoting a variety of resources for its teachers in an effort to add anti-racist lessons into classroom instruction, according to its website.
Pittsburgh Public Schools’ Office of Equity provides teachers, parents and students with several resources including books, videos and webinars in order to “support and sustain the development of a racial and equity consciousness,” according to its website. One recommended resource includes an “educator’s guide” to Ibram X. Kendi’s “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You,” which teaches that “racist ideas were embedded in the formation of the US government by the founding fathers,” according to the lesson plan. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Parent Org Critiques Arizona Hotline Created To Report Teachers For CRT Lessons)
“Here, we provide resources to support and sustain the development of a racial and equity consciousness for central administration, school-based educators and leaders, parents and family, and students — offering links to articles, videos, webinars, guides, podcasts and comprehensive web sites for you to access on your own or with a learning community,” the school district website read. “We invite each individual to enter at whatever developmental stage—new to antiracism, deep in self-reflection and self-interrogation, working to better understand antiracist practice, or actively working against racism.”
The educator’s guide to Kendi’s book, recommended for ages 12 and up, advises teachers to ask students to analyze what the consequences are “of continued omissions about the history of racism and antiracism” and to identify “ways racism [is] woven into the fabric of American institutions.”
Another recommended resource includes a professional development webinar titled “Let’s Talk! Discussing Whiteness,” which helps teachers reflect on the “privilege and power” that comes with “whiteness” and how recognizing the racial identity leads to “racial justice.” A recommended professional development course titled “Let’s Talk! Discussing Black Lives Matter” teaches educators about the origins of the movement and provides them with tools for “engaging students about the Black Lives Matter movement in the classroom.”
Robert Grom, president of Heritage Health Foundation, chats with children at the 4 Kids Early Learning Center August 24, 2004 in Braddock, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)
Under educator resources, Pittsburgh Public Schools provides a “common racial equity detours” worksheet which examines how schools may adopt practices “in the name of equity that might create the illusion of equity progress, but that do not cultivate more equity.” A “racial equity detour” may include “adopting antibias approaches or studying microaggressions instead of antiracism approaches,” the worksheet notes.
Throughout the country, school districts, teachers unions and educators are pushing to implement anti-racist and equity and inclusion lessons within the classroom. In California, a school district advised teachers that parents are unable to opt their child out of anti-bias lessons on race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation. A New York City teachers union hosted a workshop in March to teach school counselors about resisting the “harmful effects of whiteness.”
Pittsburgh Public Schools did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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