Re: Support AB 1750 (Alejo)
Dear Assemblyman Alejo:
As Director of the Democracy and Education Institute, I
write in support of AB 1750 –Ethnic Studies, and to offer assistance in this
work.
Given California’s increasing diversity, it is vitally
important that students receive knowledge of the various ethnic groups in our
state and that they learn to work together toward building our democracy.
The Democracy and Education Institute has been working on
this issue since 2009, and I have been working on the issue since 1986.
As a part of the effort to include Ethnic Studies I
encourage you to concentrate on expanding Ethnic Studies in the History/Social Science
Framework for California public schools.
This state document determines what is taught in our schools and what is
included in the textbooks. There is
almost no Mexican American history in the document. There is a 9th grade elective
course that could be offered. Your bill
should assist in that the CDE should report on the number and the nature of
Ethnic Studies offerings.
The current
Framework was written in 1986 and published in 1987 after a great deal of
controversy. The Framework is supposed to be revised each 7 years. The
Framework, along with the standards, provides the guidelines for what is to be
taught and what is to be included in the history and social science textbooks
in California. In 2009, the History /Social Science Framework was up for
re consideration but the process was halted by the budget crisis.
The 1987
History Framework still in use in our schools today expanded African
American, Native American, and women’s history coverage but remains totally
inadequate in the coverage of Latinos and Asians. The only significant change
between the 1985 and the 2005 adopted Framework was the addition of a new
cover, a cover letter, and additions of photos such as of Cesar Chavez . As you know descendants of Latinos currently
make up 50.1 percent of students in California schools.
During the
winter and spring of 2009, a committee of educators appointed by the State
Board of Education met in staffed working sessions to review the current
History-Social Science Curriculum Framework and Evaluation Criteria and to
recommend revisions to the document. The committee met in a series of two-day
public sessions which were well attended by professionals and civic advocates
concerned about the content of history
and social studies education in California.
I and others gave testimony. My
own effort, and that of my colleagues, was to focus on the failure of the
current framework to adequately describe the history and contributions of the
Mexican American people to California history.
The state fiscal crisis of 2009 stopped all work on this
revision. Your bill AB 1750 should
assist in re-opening the discussion.
I can tell you that the Curriculum Framework
Committee listens when legislators make suggestion.
Based upon my
own experience of following this issue for decades, I am concerned that you
bill as amended only asks the State Department of Education to commission a
report on model programs and standards.
For your information, the SDE frequently creates committees that lack
substantive diversity and particularly expertise in ethnic studies.
The 2009 review committee, which performed in a
professional manner, had a total of two Hispanics on a committee of 22. It was clear that they did not invite well
informed members. However, they did
listen and make positive recommendations.
It is particularly important to act on ethnic studies before new
national common core standards are adopted, predicted for 2016. Common
core standards have been established in Math and Literacy and are
producing major changes in curriculum textbooks and teaching in
California. There are no
(national) Common Core standards in History or Social Studies at this
time.
The process for developing common core standards has been to
look at existing standards in the states and adopt one’s state’s work or to
integrate several states.
History standards in Texas, Arizona, and California, among
others, lack the inclusion of even the most minimal history of Mexican American
people. When the profession gets around to writing Common Core Standards
in History and Social Studies, if they turn to our state standards, unless we
amend these standards, we can anticipate that they will adopt the current
standards that fail to include Mexican American history. Adoption of such
standards would put in place starkly inadequate standards for the nation for
the next decade.
I served as a professor of Bilingual/Multicultural Education at
CSU-Sacramento for over 35 years. I have
written and published curriculum. I
would be pleased to work with your office in developing plans for advancing
your bill AB 1750. For example, we could recruit articulate local teachers to
testify for the bill.
Please let me know if I can be of assistance.
Cordially,
Dr. Duane E. Campbell
Democracy and Education Institute
Write your Assembly person or Senator today. http://assembly.ca.gov/assemblymembers
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