ED 41 Week 10 Readings: People of Color in Curriculum, Teaching & Ed Policy

Readings

Hughes, R. (2007). A Hint of Whiteness: History Textbooks and Social Construction of Race in the Wake of the Sixties. The Social Studies, 201-208.

Branch, A. (2001). Increasing the Numbers of Teachers of Color in K-12 Public Schools. The Educational Forum, 65(3), 254-261. Retrieved November 5, 2015, from ProQuest Social Sciences Premium Collection.

Need to Know: Banned in Arizona http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/video/need-to-know-february-15-2013/16294/

Letter from the State of Arizona Department of Education http://www.edweek.org/media/letter_to_dr_carroll_tusd.pdf
Abstract

For Tuesday, we will be holding a classroom debate on cultural relevancy in education, in particular for the benefit of students of color. There will be two sides of this debate based off of the viewpoints expressed in the readings. These texts set the stage for our discussion on the challenges of teaching a multicultural history curriculum, and the debate over the classroom as a political space.

In the PBS video, we see a conflict over Mexican-American studies in Arizona, with one side arguing for its educational and cultural merits, and the other arguing against it as divisive. The letter from the State of Arizona Department of Education illustrates how the conflict has been articulated in the policy landscape.

Branch points to the challenges of recruiting and maintaining teachers of color in schools-low wages and better job prospects- and their importance in a society with a growing people of color population and presents solutions to the growing issues-new forms of teacher evaluations, recruitment, and making colleges/universities as spaces for empowerment.

Hughes writes that in the aftermath of the 1960s civil rights movement textbook publishers struggled to incorporate and understand narratives of the United States’ racial history; however, one textbook offered a narrative of whiteness that broke that mold.