Pearson and Its Palm Scan (and More) | deutsch29

Pearson and Its Palm Scan (and More) | deutsch29:



Pearson and Its Palm Scan (and More)

 As the “stakes” in “high stakes testing” increase, then the imposition of testing company rights over the rights of the individual will increase. (Educational blogger Anthony Cody addresses this idea in his March 15, 2015, post entitled, High Stakes Testing makes Surveillance Necessary.)

Let us consider how Pearson is guaranteeing the security of its product, the Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE Academic).

Here is a description of PTE Academic from the pearsonvue.com website:

PTE Academic is a computer-based test which assesses the Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing abilities of non-native speakers of English who need to demonstrate their academic English capability — often to obtain places at English-speaking universities, higher education institutions or as proof of their language ability for a visa application.

PTE Academic is endorsed by, and the preferred test of GMAC^® — the owners of the Graduate Management Admission Test^® (GMAT^®). The test is recognized by universities and colleges worldwide and is officially approved by the UK Border Agency for Tiers 1, 2 and 4 visa applications.

So, the PTE Academic is related to the high-stakes outcomes of American and other English-speaking university admission, and to the obtaining of visas for entrance into English-speaking countries.

The PTE Academic test takers are typically 16 or 17 years old, an age generally considered internationally to be that of minors. Thus, to ensure it has a solid-legally-binding PTE Academic test-taker contract, Pearson must have a written agreement Pearson and Its Palm Scan (and More) | deutsch29:

AFT President Randi Weingarten and NEA President Lily Eskelsen García will discuss the impact of the reauthorization of ESEA on teachers, parents and students. - Virtual Conference

Ideas and Innovations 2015 - Virtual Conference - Lesson Plans - Share My Lesson:

Join Us for the 2015 Ideas & Innovations Virtual Conference - March 23-25

Description

Ideas & Innovations is a professional learning virtual conference, March 23-25, brought to you by Share My Lesson in partnership with content leaders, authors and experienced educators. With 29 sessions to choose from, there's something for every new or experienced educator, PreK-12, spanning all subject areas from arts education, science and math to integrating technology and games into the classroom.

Make sure you register now!

What will I learn from this conference?

• How to implement techniques based on the Common Core State Standards
• What changes are ahead in the education industry and how they affect you
• New, fresh, innovative content that you can bring to the classroom tomorrow

How do I register?

• Simply scroll through the many sessions listed below and register for the ones that interest you. If you are looking for something specific, use the search box or click on the sort feature to find the topics you need.
• Click on the session you would like to attend. Each session starts on the hour and will last about 45 minutes.
• You will be prompted to register and once registered, you can click on any webcast without having to resubmit your information.

KEYNOTE: ESEA and the Impact on Teachers—A conversation with Randi Weingarten and Lily Eskelsen García

6:00 PM ET / 3:00 PM PT The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is currently pending reauthorization in Congress, with discussion on how it may change or adapt the current law, No Child Left Behind (NCLB). With this in mind, AFT President Randi Weingarten and NEA President Lily Eskelsen García will discuss the impact of the reauthorization of ESEA on teachers, parents and students. They will break down the legislation into easy-to-understand language so that everyone involved can understand the potential impact of ESEA.

All Virtual Conference Sessions Ideas and Innovations 2015 - Virtual Conference - Lesson Plans - Share My Lesson:

Our members: Powerful educators thinking outside the tiny testing box - Lily's Blackboard

Our members: Powerful educators thinking outside the tiny testing box - Lily's Blackboard:

Our members: Powerful educators thinking outside the tiny testing box

March 16, 2015 by Lily

Categories: Education, I just had to say this

I’m still overwhelmed with tears, with pride, with hope… ok, now you’ll think I’m just exaggerating. I couldn’t. This is real. This is the way forward. I have seen the future of humanity, and it makes me smile.

Thomas Lentz, Amanda McCallister and Cristina Vega are teachers at Ridge Community High School in Polk County, Florida.

They are union leaders. They are education leaders. They are creative to their core. They understand the power produced when you give leadership and authority to people – whether those are big people or little people. They understand the energy produced from knowing you’re responsible for making decisions that will impact something important.

They understand the very human thing produced when people come together in a democracy to propose and plan and debate and decide what to do. Apathy falls away. New ideas are generated. You have a sense of purpose and become driven to succeed.

They thought of their own students who were at risk at becoming lost in an inhuman, irrelevant bureaucracy that only counted test score points. These powerful educators began to think outside that tiny testing box.

What if the students at their school could feel the power to lead? What if their students could propose, consider and decide important things in their lives – things that mattered to their education; to their community; to their world? What if their students could clearly see the purpose of a whole and human education and the power in their how hands to achieve what they wanted to achieve?

Not much in the lives of these students appeared to be in their own hands. Ridge Community High School is made up of a diverse population of white, African-American and Latino students. Many of their families face financial struggles and immigration issues. It’s not uncommon that in schools like Ridge Community, demographics become destiny.

Parents, who had little opportunity to learn when they were children, work hard at low-wage jobs with no benefits. Most have not attended college and are unsure how to help their own children navigate a system where you begin in jr. high school preparing for a pipeline of classes that will result in the right credits needed for a college Our members: Powerful educators thinking outside the tiny testing box - Lily's Blackboard:

Mayoral Candidates Rahm Emanuel and Jesus "Chuy" Garcia said during Monday night's forum ‪#‎Chuy2015‬ ‪#‎imwithchuy‬

Ward Room | Chicago's Political News and Analysis Blog | NBC Chicago:

Mayoral Candidates Rahm Emanuel and Jesus "Chuy" Garcia said during Monday night's forum 

Join NBC Chicago for a post-forum round table discussion analyzing what mayoral candidates Rahm Emanuel and Jesus "Chuy" Garcia said during Monday night's forum.

Three guests will participate in the discussion: Mick Dumke, senior writer at the Chicago Reader and host of the "Tuesdays with Ben and Mick" politics panel at The Hideout; Nancy Day, chair of the journalism department at Columbia College in Chicago and former editor and reporter for the Associated Press and the Chicago Sun-Times; and Elias Cepeda, NBC Chicago's newest Ward Room blogger.

During the forum, which begins at 6 p.m., NBCChicago.com will post polls about various hot topics in the election. Our guests will analyze the poll results as well as weigh in on the shockers and headlines from the forum.

The round table discussion will be live streamed at NBCChicago.com and will begin immediately after the forum.

Toward Fiscal Sustainability: A New Approach in Prudent Fiscal Management of Chicago

Click here to go to Jesus "Chuy" Garcia for Mayor of Chicago Website

‪#‎Chuy2015‬ ‪#‎imwithchuy‬

The Personification of Pearson: Always Earning | Poetic Justice

The Personification of Pearson: Always Earning | Poetic Justice:

The Personification of Pearson: Always Earning

Posted on March 16, 2015 by Poetic Justice

By Lucianna M.  Sanson – Poetic Justice Editor and Blogger

My daughter was in Kindergarten when she first met Pearson. According to my daughter, Pearson was the bully that chased you around and around the playground until he finally got a grip on your blue denim jacket- and- with a mighty heave, stopped you dead in your tracks, spun you around, grabbed you by the collar, put his face right up close into yours, demanding not only your lunch money, but anything else you had in your pockets: coins, pencils, rubber bands, erasers, paper scraps, chewing gum, jawbreakers, even lint. Even Lint. Yeah, Pearson was THAT kind of bully. It seemed that he wanted everything that every kid had- all of your money, paper, ABC gum- you name it.

Needless to say, I marched myself down to the elementary school and discussed Pearson with my daughters teacher. I was told that Pearson was a challenge but that he had been adopted by the state and would be staying in my daughter’s school. As a ward of the state, there was nothing the teacher could do about that; however, she would make sure that my daughter was exposed to Pearson as little as possible and that she would never have to be in the same room with him during testing. Time passed- and my daughter- through lack of contact- rarely saw Pearson during the remainder of elementary school.

Fast forward to Middle School. Orientation. Guess who greets us at the door???? Yup.  Pearson. This guys is everywhere AND suddenly he is popular!!!  POPULAR! He is the darling of the new Teach for America teacherThe Personification of Pearson: Always Earning | Poetic Justice:

Making Schools the “Best in the World”:

Making Schools the “Best in the World”

MARCH 15, 2015 BY NANCY BAILEY 2 COMMENTS
Words of wisdom from across the pond. By Leah K. Stewart

You know those fist-pumping speeches that invariably include the line, “make this nation’’s schooling the best in the world!” Almost without exception we hear this wherever national schooling exists: US, UK, Canada, Australia…

Am I the only one who shudders at this wholly accepted rhetoric around competition? Does this really make sense?

You might say “competition drives improvement!” Or national pride is good.” Yes! I wholeheartedly agree with both of these excellent points. But let’s explore what this means.

Competition

Would a world-class sprinter have any interest racing the nearest 30 people of the same age? We all know this race would be pointless, for our sprinter would probably thrash the competition without breaking a sweat. Then we have the runners forced to race when they ha’ve other interests and strengths. What a joyless experience for everyone involved!

When we push all students through the same exams, students, like our sprinters, are not challenged. Other students, shamed by their poor comparative performance, lose confidence, as they’’re beaten in races they never chose to run. This, my friends, is how a system creates student disengagement.

Some people may argue that “school exams are the basics!” Are they though? Basics? Are you able to read what you want to read in your own time? Can you add and subtract Making Schools the “Best in the World”:

Billionaire Ken Griffin puts in another $500,000 for Rahm reelection | Chicago #‎Chuy2015‬ ‪#‎imwithchuy‬

Billionaire Ken Griffin puts in another $500,000 for Rahm reelection | Chicago:

Billionaire Ken Griffin puts in another $500,000 for Rahm reelection

 Billionaire Citadel hedge fund founder Ken Griffin sunk another $500,000 into supporting Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s reelection, giving the sizable contribution to  the pro-Emanuel political action committee Chicago Forward.

The donation, which was reported on Friday, was on top of the $250,000 Griffin just donated directly to Emanuel’s campaign fund after the mayor failed to seal up the Feb. 24 first round election.

Chicago Forward last week launched an attack ad against “Jesus Chuy” Garcia, asking: ““What do we really know about Chuy Garcia?” It then answers the rhetorical question by saying, “He’s an old-style, Chicago politician who’s looked out for himself — not you.”

Griffin has given nearly $1 million to pro-Emanuel campaign committees over the last year, including $750,000 since March 2. Griffin was similarly a major financial force in the campaign of Gov. Bruce Rauner, the Republican’s largest donor outside of Rauner himself. Griffin’s support included a massive $8 million, post-Billionaire Ken Griffin puts in another $500,000 for Rahm reelection | Chicago:

Toward Fiscal Sustainability: A New Approach in Prudent Fiscal Management of Chicago

Click here to go to Jesus "Chuy" Garcia for Mayor of Chicago Website

‪#‎Chuy2015‬ ‪#‎imwithchuy‬

Updated: @TeachForAmerica tried to disappear their disappearing act | Cloaking Inequity

Updated: @TeachForAmerica tried to disappear their disappearing act | Cloaking Inequity:

Updated: @TeachForAmerica tried to disappear their disappearing act

Honestly, I would really write about something beside TFA today. But I can’t. In the post Do you have five minutes to understand whether @TeachForAmerica is effective? I posted the following figure from Bloomberg.

In the story Most Teach For America Instructors Plan to Flee Teaching. Akane Otani noted in the article,

More than 87 percent of TFA teachers say they don’t plan on remaining teachers throughout their careers, compared with 26.3 percent of non-TFA teachers working in the same subjects, grades, and schools.

To cover this up, TFA’s lobbyist have been busy beavers in Texas. TFA’s lobbyist and Rep Justin Rodriguez are trying to hide the fact that TFA teachers in the latest data (as of last week) are now reporting incredible future turnover rates. They have written HB 1060 to disappear TFA’s disappearing act.

Who is currently lobbying for TFA in Texas? How much are they spending? Thanks to Karen in Houston for digging Updated: @TeachForAmerica tried to disappear their disappearing act | Cloaking Inequity:

School Choice and the Fear of "Those People":

SCHOOL CHOICE AND THE FEAR OF “THOSE PEOPLE”

Rigid, compliant behavior is the main focus of many charter schools in poor neighborhoods. Photo Credit: johngirton.me via Compfight cc

“School Choice” is more about the deep fear of “those people” than proponents will admit. 

“Those people?” They are The They – the ones who you fear will corrupt your children if they sit in the same class with them.

“Those people” are the ones who just can’t wear the same uniform or school colors as your son or daughter, because, well, if they do, they and your kid may start thinking that they are peers.

Can’t have that.

The fuel

Group songs on a charter bus that got two students and the SAE fraternity kicked off the OU Campus are based on the same fear. That offending well-rehearsed, informal song captured on video was revealing of how we train a certain class of youth to think about “those people”.

The song rehearses the idea that we just can’t allow “niggers” to get into our fraternity, folks. Our children might start thinking that black people have a place in our society when we really don’t want them to.

Fear and private schools

That fear of “those people” is a boon to private schools that may not openly try to segregate our youth, but traffic in segregation under the guise of “high standards” or “rigor”.

And having known private school principals and teachers during my career, I can say that they are earnest in their desire for high academic excellence. But, this is not about that.

The urge toward private schooling for the consumer parent is driven by the desire to segregate their children from what they consider to be lesser classes, or corrupt people.

It may not be sinister in a direct kind of way. But more often than not, it really is. It’s based on a deeply dark view that certain classes of people have problems written into their DNA and will never improve, no matter what.

Giving up on whole classes of people

School Choice gives up on the idea that the whole of a public can receive a good education that prepares all of our youth to enter a democracy as thinking, creative participants.

Instead, it relegates the poor to attending rigid training academies School Choice and the Fear of "Those People":

Following the money on the Walton-Hutchinson takeover of Little Rock schools | Arkansas Blog

Following the money on the Walton-Hutchinson takeover of Little Rock schools | Arkansas Blog | Arkansas news, politics, opinion, restaurants, music, movies and art:

Following the money on the Walton-Hutchinson takeover of Little Rock schools

Posted By Max Brantley on Sun, Mar 15, 2015 at 9:19 AM

click to enlarge

It's not yet clear when the final House Education Committeebattle will be fought on HB 1733 to allow the state to privatize any or all of a public school district judged to be in academic distress.

It's monumental legislation that would make all school teachers and administrators fire-at-will employees without due process rights.  It would destroy one of the two last remaining teacher union contracts in Arkansas. It allows for the permanent end of democratic control of a school district or those portions of it privatized. It would capture property tax millage voted by taxpayers for specific purposes, including buildings, and give them to private operators. It would allow seizure of buildings for private operators at no cost. CORRECTION:  I'd originally written that Little Rock was the last collective bargaining district in the star. Fort Smith classroom teachers still negotiate with the Fort Smith School District. An anti-union organization the Waltons fund, the Arkansas State Teachers Association, has spent a great deal of money trying to solicit members in Fort Smith, a teacher there reports.

This bill is the work of the Walton Family Foundation. People the Walton money supports — lobbyistsGary Newton of Arkansas Learns, Scott Smith of the Arkansas Public School Research Foundation, Kathy Smith of the Walton Family Foundation and Laurie Lee of Arkansas Parents for School Choice — are the leading lobbyists. Smith has been quoted by others as saying he's the primary author (his organization gets $3 million a year from the Waltons), but it follows similar legislation introduced in other states, with poor to disastrous results (New Orleans).

(Concurrently and coincidentally, the Walton Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation are sponsoring a school study in Little Rock by the Boston Consulting Group, an outfit that has studied and recommended mass privatization in other cities.)

The goal is to make the Little Rock School District a laboratory for the pet education aims of the Waltons, who own the University of Arkansas, particularly the department ginning out propaganda in behalf of this bill. Gov. Asa Hutchinson is fully on board. He's been resisting a solid plan to put competent people in charge in Little Rock and moving on fixing the six schools on which the entire district of 48 schools was placed in academic distress. His plan is to pass a law to overcome Johnny Key's lack of a teacher certificate, master's degree and 10 years education experience and become state Education Commissioner. Key would then find a Walton-favored outfit to run the six schools at issue and be poised to take over as many others as the Waltons deem necessary.

It's been a long battle, but money does tend to win out. The last firewall is the Democratic Party's capture of half the seats on the House Education Committee. Can the 10 Democratic members be held firm against the Walton millions? Is there a possibility that the intervention of school superintendents against the bill (because it puts every single district in similar peril of loss of local control) could peel off a vital Republican vote or two? It will be high drama when the day comes.

Meanwhile, here are some Republican votes to watch. I'd predict they wouldn't stray from the pro-Walton voting column.

Reps. Bruce Cozart, Bill Gossage and Charlotte Douglas and Sens. Jane English and Bart Hester.Cozart is chair of House Education. English is chair of Senate Education.  Douglas and Gossage also serve on House Education.  Hester? Wherever an ignoble cause can be found, you can usually find Bart Hester.

Last August, according to lobbyist expense filings, they all got expenses-paid trips to an "education reform" meeting in Washington courtesy of Laurie Lee's School Choice client. The amount reported for each legislator's plane ticket and Capitol Hilton stay was $1,982.60.

(Yes, I checked to see if all the legislators had reported their free trips. When legislators appear in official capacities and get more than $150 worth of expenses, they are supposed to report it.  All but Douglas' Following the money on the Walton-Hutchinson takeover of Little Rock schools | Arkansas Blog | Arkansas news, politics, opinion, restaurants, music, movies and art:

My Son Takes the Year Off from Math, and His Teacher is OK - Living in Dialogue

My Son Takes the Year Off from Math, and His Teacher is OK - Living in Dialogue:



My Son Takes the Year Off from Math, and His Teacher is OK 

 By Sarah Lahm.

I need to thank my son’s teacher for loving him, even when it seems like an impossible task.

She called me the other day, to say he had disappeared for about thirty minutes during school. She hadn’t been able to find him, and then, when she did, she told him he couldn’t come to the YMCA with the rest of the class, as planned, to go swimming.

After I swallowed hard, feeling shame and dread creep up my throat (there have been quite a few phone calls home this year), I thanked her for not letting him go swimming with the class. He has to learn, we both agreed, that he can’t run off like that.

As I suspected, he had run out of class to avoid the day’s math lesson. Trying to teach my boy math, we’ve learned, turns him into a sad, frustrated, angry kid who feels cornered and defeated.

He has math anxiety. I think he developed it last year, when his regular teacher was gone on a leave of absence, and the substitute teacher–who meant well, I am sure–brought a different kind of pressure to bear on the kids than his regular teacher did. The substitute kept the kids in from recess because “they had so much (math) work to catch up on,” and pushed the kids to plow through a bunch of work in order to be on schedule with the Minneapolis Public Schools’ “Focused Instruction” approach, which revolves around frequent benchmark testing.

I cannot say for sure this is what caused my son’s anxiety around math to develop, but it has gotten worse this year.

Thankfully, he has a teacher who knows him very well, or at least tries to. He is an expert button-pusher, and can be tough, stubborn, and disruptive, yet also sweet, kind, and funny. He can read and spell very well, and My Son Takes the Year Off from Math, and His Teacher is OK - Living in Dialogue:

NYC Public School Parents: City Hall rally: Our Schools, our Voice and the Governor's Missed Opportunity Agenda

NYC Public School Parents: City Hall rally: Our Schools, our Voice and the Governor's Missed Opportunity Agenda:

City Hall rally: Our Schools, our Voice and the Governor's Missed Opportunity Agenda

On Sunday at City Hall Park a rally was held hosted by Public Advocate Letitia James about the need to fight for fair funding for our schools and against the Governor's damaging education proposals. Tish was terrific as usual about the need to support and protect our schools and listen to parents and teachers but that instead, the Governor has put forward a "Missed Opportunity Agenda." .  

Other electeds and advocates who spoke eloquently included AM David Weprin and Joanne Simon, former Councilmember and lead plaintiff  in the CFE education funding lawsuit Robert Jackson, and Zakiyah Ansari of AQE.  Here is a news story; below is my speech: 

On Thursday there were a beautiful series of rallies at more than 100 schools throughout NYC in all the five boroughs.  Parents, students, and teachers held hands and surrounded their schools, in a peaceful, and even joyful symbolic action to protect their schools.  They were out there to show they are united in spirit and determined to defend against the Governor’s destructive proposals to defund, disrupt, dismantle and privatize our public school system.  Parents do love their public schools; they just want them properly supported and funded, with smaller classes and a well-rounded education, full of arts, music and science and all the things that children need to flourish.

And what was the Governor’s response?  According to his spokesperson, he called our peaceful protests “a tantrum of special interests”.  Then he said, “Frankly, the louder special interests scream — and today they were screaming at the top of their lungs — the more we know we’re right.”

Well, Governor, parents are NOT a special interest – at least in the way you meant it.  Parents have one special interest – their children, and you need to recognize that parents in NYC are fed up with the agenda of test prep, budget cuts, and punitive sanctions on our schools and teachers that we had for 12 years under Michael Bloomberg – and that failed utterly to improve our schools.  Instead we demand that you give us the support that they need – and that the state’s highest courts said was your constitutional obligation. 

I also want to warn you, the last time a state leader called parents a special interest was John King – and he was run out of the state on a rail for his arrogance and refusal to listen to our concerns.

Now the Governor has put forward many outrageous proposals as part of his budget but I want to focus on just one - his proposal to raise the charter cap– which could send 250 more charters to NYC.  This could truly be disastrous for our schools and drain even more resources and space from our already underfunded and overcrowded public schools.

Why?  Because last year in the budget, he included a clause in the law that obligates the city to provide space to new charters within our already overcrowded school buildings going forward – or pay for NYC Public School Parents: City Hall rally: Our Schools, our Voice and the Governor's Missed Opportunity Agenda:

California Department of Education Monitoring Social Media During STAR Testing

Monitoring Social Media During STAR Testing - Year 2013 (CA Dept of Education):

California Department of Education Monitors Social Media During STAR Tests

SACRAMENTO—Heightened monitoring and reporting of California's Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) assessments this year identified 242 schools where social media postings occurred during administration of the tests, only 16 of which included postings of test questions or answers.

None of the postings affected school test results. As in 2012, when similar numbers of social media postings occurred, the majority involved students posing with the covers of test booklets or with materials that were not legible. The California Department of Education (CDE) placed a cautionary flag on the publicly posted test results for all schools where a posting occurred. (A list of the flagged schools is attached.)

"We take the validity and reliability of our assessments very seriously, and our schools do too, which is why we redoubled our efforts to monitor these postings and alerted school districts when they occurred," said Deputy Superintendent Deb Sigman, who oversees assessments and accountability issues for CDE. "These postings look to be attempts by students to gain attention among their friends, not an effort to gain an advantage on a test."

The 242 schools identified this year compares with 216 schools in 2012. That year, 12 schools had postings that included legible test questions or answers.

In addition to the more rigorous monitoring, CDE also conducted random security audits, instructed examiners and STAR coordinators as to the proper protocol, and reinforced the responsibilities of local officials to maintain security of all test material.

Though the implications for accountability have not yet been determined, in general, if a security breach affects less than 5 percent of the number of students tested, the school is ineligible for academic awards. If the breach affects more than 5 percent of the number of students tested, the school's API—the state's measure of accountability—could be invalidated.

Final decisions regarding accountability reports for affected schools will be made within the next few weeks, when CDE releases its statewide accountability reports.

Attachment

2013 Schools with Social Media Postings of Legible Test ItemsMonitoring Social Media During STAR Testing - Year 2013 (CA Dept of Education):

Big Education Ape: P is for PARCC, Pearson and Pushback (and Peeps) | EduShyster http://bit.ly/1BMT6C3

Big Education Ape: To Catch a Cheat: More on the Pearson Problem as Our Problem | the becoming radical http://bit.ly/1BMWi0w

Big Education Ape: High Stakes Testing Makes Surveillance Necessary - Living in Dialogue http://bit.ly/1NXWpeI

Big Education Ape: Talking to Bob Braun about Pearson spying on children. 03/15 by Busted Pencils | Education Podcasts http://bit.ly/1BMWCfz

Big Education Ape: Pearson Caught Spying On Students. Big Brother Is Here http://bit.ly/1BMWIE5

Big Education Ape: Big Pearson and New Jersey's State Department of Education are Cooperating in new Spy Gate http://bit.ly/1xnP4Lc

Ethnic Studies Now (SCUSD) - Ethnic Studies Now

Ethnic Studies Now Petition (SCUSD) - Ethnic Studies Now:

ETHNIC STUDIES NOW PETITION (SCUSD)

 Why Ethnic Studies?

We, the undersigned, support the effort to construct and implement an ethnic studies class as a high school graduation requirement in the Sacramento City Unified School District.

Sacramento, CA is the 2^nd most ethnically diverse city in the United States (US Census Bureau, 2015). Our school district is a beautiful mirror of our population; our students are 37% Hispanic or Latino, 17.4% Asian, 18% African American, 19% white, and 5.3% of students are two or more ethnicities. In our district, residents speak over 44 languages and 38% do not speak English at home (SCUSD, 2015).

We need a high school curriculum that reflects the diversity of all students.  Despite our numbers, only 1 out of 13 high schools within our district offers ethnic studies.  Because over 80% of our school district populations are students of color, we need to offer a course that includes and investigates these rich histories and lived experiences.

By having an ethnic studies course, our hope is that all students will learn to respect, accept, and love themselves.  We want all students to think critically about the importance of their race, ethnicity, location, and identity as it exists in history and in the present.  We believe that ethnic studies courses can offer important narratives that are missing from the euro-centric lens that history is often shown through.  We want to empower our students to learn more about themselves and their communities, build empathy and unity with other ethnic groups, and push for social justice.

Who's signing Ethnic Studies Now Petition (SCUSD) - Ethnic Studies Now: