Fresno Unified has a new graduation requirement: Class on ‘race, ethnicity and indigeneity’
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Starting with incoming freshmen in the fall of 2023, students in Fresno Unified will be required to complete one 10-credit, two-semester-long ethnic studies course to graduate.
FUSD defines ethnic studies as “a critical and interdisciplinary study of race, ethnicity, and indigeneity” — distinct from the field of history in the way it specifically looks at how race and racism “have been, and continue to be” powerful social, cultural and political forces.
District leaders said they initially planned to implement the new requirement starting last school year after the board passed a resolution in August 2020 but delayed the launch to recruit and train more teachers for the newly required courses.
That still puts Fresno “ahead of the state” with its requirement, said Carlos Castillo, an instructional superintendent in curriculum and instruction with the district. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation in Oct. 2021 requiring ethnic studies for all California high school students, starting with incoming freshmen in 2026.
California also finalized a model curriculum for ethnic studies courses in March 2021, which FUSD is following. Still, the district has had to build this program out for themselves in some ways, including the question of what makes a good ethnic studies teacher.
“If you want to be an English language arts teacher in the state, there’s a credential program. That does not exist for ethnic studies,” Castillo said.
The district is offering training opportunities for its current instructors who are interested in teaching ethnic studies, including funding to earn a graduate certificate in the subject, said Kimberly Lewis, a vice principal on special assignment who is overseeing the ethnic studies program. The district is also looking to hire teachers with a passion for ethnic studies.
A group of FUSD teachers called the Fresno Ethnic Studies Coalition was behind the push in 2020 to make ethnic studies a requirement for all high school students in the district.
Fernando Santillan, FUSD’s ethnic studies teacher on special assignment, was one of them. To go from creating a Chicano Studies course at Edison High several years ago to now, when he’s helping bring classes like these to students across the district, feels “surreal,” he said.
“I go into classrooms for ethnic studies all over the district, and it’s just amazing — the learning that’s happening,” he said.
FUSD trustees also applauded the move at the board’s Aug. 24 meeting, where the board voted to amend board bylaws to include the new graduation requirement.
“I think this is hugely valuable to helping our students learn their personal cultural histories and contributions to the state and to this nation,” said Trustee Veva Islas.
In addition to excitement, Trustee Keshia Thomas voiced worries that it may create confusion surrounding critical race theory (or CRT), the much-discussed academic framework that has drawn sharp criticism from conservatives around the country who allege that it pits students of different races against each other.
“One of my concerns — while we’re talking about making sure that we communicate efficiently with our parents — is that we make sure they understand the difference between what we’re doing with ethnic studies and what critical race theory is,” she said. “Some people feel that there’s a fine line. But I want our parents to understand that we’re doing what’s in the best interest of all students.”
Where is that ‘fine line’?
CRT has been around for decades, although conservative activist Christopher Rufo helped bring it into the crosshairs of the culture war raging through U.S. school boards in 2020.
CRT’s roots lie in graduate-level legal studies. In the 1970s, scholars like Harvard Law School’s Derrick Bell argued that landmark Supreme Court cases and civil rights laws hadn’t eliminated racial oppression and that racism in the United States was still supported by laws, policies and practices.
This idea was further developed by other academics in the 90s into what they called “critical race theory,” which they said aimed to “understand how a regime of white supremacy and its subordination of people of color have been created and maintained in America.” The framework has since been applied to anything from racism in housing discrimination to the disproportionate disciplining of students of color in schools.
Conservatives have attacked the theory for its ties to some Marxist scholars who originally backed CRT and accused the framework of making students feel guilty for the past actions of white Americans.
But California educators haven’t reached a consensus yet on whether CRT has a place in high school ethnic studies curriculum.
Rita Kohli, an associate professor of education at the University of California, Riverside, said in an email to the Ed Lab that the foundation of ethnic studies is its emphasis on the past and present experiences of people of color in the U.S. But if they’re teaching those experiences “to fidelity,” she said, those courses should also analyze racial power dynamics and racism.
That’s the overlap between the two areas of study: their focus on race and racism, Kohli said. “But to be clear, most teachers have not received education or training on what CRT is or how to engage K-12 students in this complex theory,” she added.
“The issue is that CRT has been demonized and misappropriated, and so school districts are distancing themselves from it without a clear and true understanding of what CRT even is because they fear a parent backlash,” she said. “Ethnic Studies is not CRT, and while I am confident CRT is likely not being taught in schools, both are focused on and useful to advancing our understanding and remedy to racial equity, inclusion, and justice.”
Castillo said he couldn’t say that FUSD will never teach critical race theory, but right now, there isn’t a model out there as to how to teach CRT at the K-12 level.
The ethnic studies program leadership isn’t too worried about potential politicization, given the overwhelming support they’ve received for the program from Fresno students and parents — as well as the backing from the state.
“Will we have some people who don’t agree with it? Absolutely. But our kids deserve this. They’ve been waiting for this for a very long time,” Castillo said.
Are any other graduation requirements are changing?
In addition to the ethnic studies requirement, the school board also approved a change in history course requirements Aug. 24.
Students used to be required a 10-credit modern world history class, a 10-credit U.S. history course, a 5-credit American government and a 5-credit economics course.
These classes are now lumped into a 30-credit social science requirement.
Students’ elective credit hours requirements were also cut down from 70 to 60, and the requirement to pass the California High School Exit Exam — which first became a requirement for the Class of 2006 — was eliminated.
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The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab at its website.
