Education Week - June 19, 2019 - 1

Education WEEk
VOL. 38, NO. 36 * JUNE 19, 2019

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Review Finds
Errors, Bias in
History Materials
Hundreds of issues flagged in
Studies Weekly lessons
By Sarah Schwartz

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Emily Kask for Education Week

including one that let to a stinging defeat for
Beshear last week.
Bevin's supporters and critics both agree
that the governor's direct and provocative
comments are characteristic of the state
leader. In 2018, when schools also closed for
teacher activism, he suggested that an unattended student might be sexually assaulted.
He later apologized, but the comment was
locked in the minds of Kentucky teachers,
who were already sparring with the governor over such issues as charter schools and
pensions.
"When Donald Trump talks about the 'failing New York Times,' that's something far
away that doesn't affect us," said Jeni Bolan-

When Nikita Walker, a parent in Rutherford County, Tenn., saw that her daughter's
homework asked the then-5th grader to write
a few sentences in support of slavery, she was
confused-and angry.
Walker's daughter was given the assignment last year in an issue of Studies Weekly,
a national social studies publication that
presents lessons on history, government,
and society in a newspaper format, designed
to be consumed week-by-week. The activity
instructed her to write from the point of view
of several Civil War-era actors, including a
southern cotton plantation owner. Walker
told the teacher that her daughter, who is
black, would not be completing the assignment. "You're teaching them the horrors of
slavery, and then you're asking them to give
three pros for slavery?" she said in an interview with Education Week.
Walker was angry with the teacher, but also
with Studies Weekly. "What editor was like,
this is a good idea?" she asked.
Her concern comes when there is growing call for schools to acknowlege the United
States' history of racism and oppression, and
elevate the voices of groups of people who have
been marginalized since this country's founding. Recent campaigns have pushed schools to
remove the names of Confederate leaders, and
some districts have resurfaced debates about
how to describe well-known historical events
and figures.
The article Walker identified wasn't an
isolated incident. An internal review of Studies Weekly's materials found more than 400
examples of racial or ethnic bias, historical
inaccuracies, age-inappropriate content, and
other errors in the materials, according to
internal documents that were presented to
the company's executive board, which were
recently provided to Education Week. The
staff review team flagged about 100 as highpriority fixes, which included biased language or age-inappropriate content, such as
descriptions of graphic violence, according

CAMP OUT: Mason Blake, Davion Perry, and Jakob Frasier inspect a sheep's heart they were dissecting during a science-focused summer camp in

Bossier City, La. The camp serves students who are homeless or are in foster care. PAGE 9

Teacher Tensions Fuel Ky. Governor's Race
Incumbent Bevin's Provocative Statements Hover Over Re-Election Bid
By Evie Blad
In a year marked by waves of teacher activism around the country, it wasn't unusual for
elected officials to take issue with teachers
calling in sick, walking out of classrooms, or
holding multiday strikes. What was unusual
was the personal and inflammatory tone of
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin's comments.
When a Rotary Club member asked the
Republican, who is running for re-election,
what should be done to stem gun violence, he
brought up a 7-year-old girl who was accidentally shot in March.
The girl was home that day after school was
canceled when teachers called in sick with
"pension flu" to protest proposed changes to

the state's public-employee retirement system-something they had done several times
before last year, Bevin suggested in April.
"One thing you almost didn't hear anything about while we had people pretending
to be sick when they weren't sick and leaving
kids unattended to or in situations that they
should not have been in-a little girl was
shot, 7 years old, by another kid," he said.
It was a prelude to a governor's race where
educators, the public's support of them-and
the incumbent's polarizing statements-have
had an outsized influence. In November,
Bevin faces Democratic Attorney General
Andy Beshear, who has an educator as his
running mate and has challenged Bevin in
court over several education-related issues,

Teacher Raises
at a Glance
A wave of
strikes and other
activism fueled
ambitious proposals for
teacher pay hikes from
governors nationwide.
Here's how they turned
out in this year's
legislative sessions.
See story, Page 18
Getty

A District Turns to Parents to Help It Improve
By Denisa R. Superville
Mahamed Cali, a Minneapolis parent, had
heard firsthand from fellow Somali parents
how frustrated they felt that many interactions with their children's schools were
negative.
He knew there were not enough interpreters and translators to help them understand
what was happening at school and to make
informed decisions. When they did hear from
schools, the messages were often about their
child being absent, or failing. When the school

requested a conference with them, the meetings were set for the daytime, without regard
for whether parents were working or had to
arrange for child care.
So when the Minneapolis district last year
announced it was seeking help to improve its
relationship with parents, Cali saw an opportunity to make a difference.
"There's a lot of misunderstanding between the
public schools and Somali parents," Cali said.
To change that dynamic, the district has
enlisted some essential allies. Cali, and other
parents from five Minneapolis communities-

Somali, Native American, African American,
Hispanic, and Hmong-have become frontline gatherers of insight in their respective
communities. The district's larger aim is to
improve its weak track record on serving students of color and immigrant students, as well
as their parents.
Drawing on deep connections they have in
their own communities, Cali and the other parents are using a range of techniques-surveys,
one-and-one interviews, and focus groups- to
collect information from fellow parents.
In a way, they act as researchers for the district, navigating community spaces that district evaluators do not always enter or where
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Education Week - June 19, 2019

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