Independent Institute Creates Ethnic Studies Curriculum for California High Schools

Oakland, CA-The Independent Institute announces the creation of a curriculum in ethnic studies offered to California high school teachers free of cost. The curriculum helps educators comply with a state mandate of a one-semester course in ethnic studies in order to graduate in the 2029-30 school year. Schools must begin teaching the subject by the 2025 school year.

The creation of the Comparative Cultures Ethnic Studies Curriculum was overseen by Independent Institute Senior Fellow Williamson Evers, Ph.D., who is a former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education for policy.

"Our curriculum exposes students to views from across the political spectrum. Educators often lack guidance to materials from outside the left-of-center," said Evers. "By providing an alternative to the state's model curriculum, we encourage educators to acquaint students with evidence-based views from left, right, and center," he added.

Signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021, the ethnic studies mandate calls for providing students a better understanding of contributions from Asian, Black, Latino and Native Americans in US history. The state has issued a model curriculum, but school districts can adopt their own versions.

The eighty-two lessons are available as downloadable files and include resources in subjects that allow students to investigate personal and collective agency across American ethnicities and see examples of how groups advanced, including by resisting and overcoming discrimination.

A robust reading list is included in each lesson plan, allowing examination of several viewpoints on ethnic groups, helping students understand today's complicated events.

For more information, or to interview Williamson Evers, contact Robert Ade, [email protected], or (510) 635-3690.

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The Independent Institute is a non-profit, public policy, research, and educational organization that promotes the power of independent thinking to boldly advance peaceful, prosperous, and free societies grounded in a commitment to human worth and dignity.