California becomes first state to make ethnic studies a requirement for high school graduation

SAN FRANCISCO – In addition to English, science, math and other graduation requirements, high school students in California will need to take an ethnic studies course to graduate from 2029-30.

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed a bill that makes California one of the first in the country to make ethnic studies a graduation requirement for all public high school students.

Congressman Jose Medina, a Democrat from Riverside who drafted the legislation that has been drafted for years, called this a big step for California.

“It’s been a long wait,” said Medina. “I think schools are ready now to create more equitable and social justice curricula.”

The new law requires all public schools in the state to offer at least one course in ethnic studies from the 2025-2026 school year and requires that students graduating from the 2029-30 school year have completed a course. of a semester on the subject.

The ethnic studies movement has its roots in California, where students demonstrated in the late 1960s at San Francisco State University and the University of California at Berkeley to demand African studies classes. American, Chicano, Asian and Native American.

Earlier this year, the state’s Board of Education approved a model ethnic studies curriculum that features dozens of suggested lesson plans and instructional approaches. The curriculum is not compulsory, but schools can choose from its lesson plans or use it as a guide to design their own.

The program underwent several drafts over three years and was the subject of heated debate before being approved in March.

The model curriculum focuses on four historically marginalized groups that are central to college-level ethnic studies: African Americans, Chicanos and other Latinos, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans. It also includes lesson plans on Jews, American Arabs, American Sikhs, and American Armenians who are not traditionally part of an ethnic studies curriculum. These groups were added after opposing an earlier project that left them behind.

The new legislation adds completion of an ethnic studies course to other standard graduation requirements, including three years of English and social studies, two years of math and science, among others. This gives a few years of lag for schools to prepare.

“Schools can’t just flip the switch and be ready. It gives school districts a lot of time to get their curriculum up and running and hire well-qualified teachers to teach these classes,” Medina said.

Many of California’s biggest school districts are ahead of the game.

The Los Angeles Unified School District, the state’s largest, voted last year to require an ethnic studies course as a condition of graduation by the 2023-24 school year. The Fresno Unified School Board voted last year to require two semesters of ethnic studies for students entering high school this year.

In San Francisco, where high schools have offered elective ethnic studies since 2015, students will need to complete two semesters of ethnic studies courses to graduate from 2028.

Other states have taken different approaches. Oregon is developing ethnic studies standards for its social studies program, and starting this year, it requires the subject matter in the K-12 curriculum. Last year, Connecticut passed a law requiring all high schools to offer black and Latino studies classes by fall 2022.

Another bill signed by Newsom on Friday requires middle and high school health education classes to include mental health education, to help students identify common mental health issues and know how to get them. ugly.

Educators say it’s appropriate that California took the lead in ethnic studies legislation, and that it was also long overdue. More than three-quarters of California’s 6 million public school students are not white.

Medina initially introduced its measure in 2019, but it was sidelined amid the debate over the model program. Newsom vetoed an earlier version, saying the curriculum needs to be revised and should be in place before the state makes ethnic studies a requirement.

State Superintendent of Education, Tony Thurmond, praised ethnic studies legislation as a way to help students of color to be reflected in what they are learning, and also to learn more about their stories.

Medina said the broader U.S. discussion of race and racism since the murder of George Floyd last year makes such an agenda more important than ever.