Ethnic studies have helped Sacramento City Unified students. Now Elk Grove wants in

The Sacramento City Unified School District has been successful in adding an ethnic studies program to its curriculum. Now activists are trying to make it happen in Elk Grove schools.

An Elk Grove chapter of a grassroots organization has been vital in pushing for ethnic studies in school districts, despite slow progress in state Legislature.

California’s student body reflects diversity. Minorities account for more than 71 percent of the student population within the state.

More than a quarter (27 percent) of the students in Elk Grove Unified are Hispanic or Latino, followed by 25 percent of Asian students and 19 percent white students, data from the state’s Department of Education this year shows. The percentage of Asian students is overwhelmingly higher than the statewide percentage of 9.3 percent, illustrating a need to address student diversity.

Following Sacramento City Unified’s footsteps

Sacramento City Unified has launched its ethnic studies program in 2015, voted for by school board members and incorporated into class for ninth-graders to pass the high school graduation requirements. It became the fifth school district in California to do so.

The district began to implement its first year of ethnic studies pilot program in 2016 and has gradually expanded the program to high schools in the district.

Ethnic studies will replace the contemporary global issues course as a graduation requirement in all high schools in Sacramento City Unified for the graduating class of 2023 and onwards.

Students who took the ethnic studies class feel an unprecedented sense of belonging to school and a desire to learn about their classmates and communities, according to an early stage internal study at the district that collected initial survey data from roughly 230 students.

Dale Allender, ethnic studies professor at Sacramento State University and adviser for Sacramento City Unified, advised in the study.

He said students in ethnic studies have seen an increase in test scores, grade point averages and graduation rates. The dropout rates and classroom disruptions have also been reduced.

Many students have never heard about some of the academic information in a formal classroom setting, Allender said. Students are more engaged as a result of a more relevant curriculum that can help them affirm who they are.

Elk Grove is following the statewide and local footsteps.

Enter Ethnic Studies Now Coalition. A grassroots advocacy group that has been pushing for making ethnic studies as a graduation requirement in California’s school districts inspired local leaders to establish its Elk Grove chapter to advocate for a similar curriculum for children in the city.

Rubén González, co-chairman, said the group will have to get approval from department chairs on the proposed curriculum and then whether it could be made a graduation requirement. The proposed curriculum is still in development and will be presented to school board members.

Let the marginalized be ‘seen’

Racial tensions have long been seen and felt in the district. In 2017, an African American high school senior at Pleasant Grove High School shared her experiences on being screamed the “N-word” – a “common occurrence” at school, the student said – from a car filled with white children while walking home from school. That same year, a Snapchat video made by a student disparaging African Americans went viral. Two weeks ago, a Muslim student was assaulted on campus.

Ethnic studies is a long-term solution to instill change and tackle racism in the district. according to Elk Grove Ethnic Studies Now co-chair Cha Vang and fellow advocate Elaine Mateo.

Vang, a Sacramento City Unified alumni and now an Elk Grove resident, said the course will be easiest way to talk about race.

Vang’s nieces and nephews are enrolled in the school district. The curriculum, Vang said, would be reflective of the shifting student population and demographics.

“We should talk about power, privilege and roles we play and the responsibility that comes with it,” Vang said.

Mateo’s son is a student in the district. As a graduate of the school district herself, Mateo said she would love to see the schools as a space for students to unpack what culture and diversity means, including fundamental problems in the immigration system, which could build compassion and critical thinking skills among students.

Mateo believes in bringing state advocacy into local conversations.

“We strongly believe we can lead the state. Elk Grove’s diversity is one of its strengths, like Sacramento, and it is something we should take pride in,” she said.

“I want to center on the most marginalized and vulnerable kids, for them to see themselves in the curriculum and to engage together in a more productive and tolerant space because they’d understand their shared histories, unique differences and when human conditions intersect and build around them,” Mateo added.

Looking forward

Progress has been slow but steady.

A regular professional development program for high school teachers – a brainchild of a $2.6 million federal grant for Sacramento State – aims to cover training on their teaching of ethnic studies, Allender said. The third year of funding with two more years to go, the program spans across teachers from different backgrounds in Sacramento City Unified and is expanded throughout the region. The program is to restart in spring next year.

Vang noted how Sacramento City Unified has been supportive in allowing Elk Grove teachers to observe classes as a part of the professional development program.

“Staff have taken time to facilitate the conversations,” she said. “Once the proposal goes to the board, they would have staff knowing about it, and not parachuting in.”

The district’s ethnic studies sub-committee will be bringing a course curriculum for review this month, said the district’s communication director Xanthi Pinkerton. The program will be put forward to the school board for approval as early as January.

Once approved, the course will be available for student course selection for the 2020-21 school year.

This story was originally published December 17, 2019 at 4:00 AM.