|
 The first is a Part 24 rules change from the
Illinois State Board of Education or ISBE to make ubiquitous changes
to the classroom experiences of all students in kindergarten through
12th grade. It requires all state licensed teachers in all subject
areas to incorporate new cultural standards and sensitivities into
their teaching regarding race and cultural heritage, including those
state licensed teachers in private schools.
The New York Times 1619 project produced curriculum that is
currently being used in Chicago public schools (CPS) and other
school districts across the nation teaching that the United States
was not founded in 1776 to escape England's tyranny, but rather in
1619 when black slaves arrived on our shores. The 1619 writers claim
that the United States has improperly taught history and has
inappropriately influenced our culture to suppress the freedom and
prosperity of a race of people to the benefit of all others. This is
being called Systemic Racism, and is said by the 1619 Project to
permeate all areas of our social fabric.
The Part 24 rules change, called the Culturally Responsive Teaching
and Leading Standards for all Illinois educators, seems to emanate
from the 1619 Project. It mandates that all teachers integrate the
exploration of racial backgrounds especially those of repressed
races and hold discussions of those children's experiences of such
repression. The ISBE Part 24 section “‘emphasize the responsibility
of PreK-12 education institutions to affirm, validate, leverage,
support, and listen to students’ backgrounds and lived experiences …
[and] challenge us to be anti-bias, anti-racist, mindful, and
inclusive of our most marginalized populations.” The stated reasons
for this new standard are to “prepare future educators to teach
diverse students [and] to foster classroom and school environments
in which every student feels that they belong.”
IllinoisPolicy.org said in their article on this subject that
"critics of the proposed standards have said they require educators
to embrace left-leaning ideology and prioritize political and social
activism in classrooms at a time when Illinois students are
underperforming on basic skills tests." The Part 24 standards are
broken into sections that address: educators’ “self-awareness and
relationship to others,” “systems of oppression,” “students as
individuals,” “students as co-creators,” “leveraging student
advocacy,” “family and community collaboration,” “content selections
in all curricula” and “student representation in the learning
environment.”
Critics of this change have expressed concerns that this will
increase Illinois' already critical shortage of licensed teachers as
more educators will either leave the profession or move to other
states in order to escape these new liberal teaching mandates.
Critics also cite that pushing these new regulations on politically
charged topics including race, gender identity and the role of
power, privilege and student activism is not the proper focus for
our public school systems in the face of the continuing decline of
academic performance in areas such as English studies and
mathematics.
These Part 24 changes are currently before the
Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR), an Illinois
legislative committee composed of six democrats and six republicans.
Unless 8 of the 12 members of JCAR vote to suspend these new rule
additions at its upcoming meeting, these standards will immediately
apply to all Illinois professional educators licensed in the state
of Illinois.
[to top of second column] |
Curriculum to support these Part 24 changes is
currently being prepared and is expected to be ready for inclusion
in Illinois classrooms sometime in 2023.
The second proposed change to public school education in Illinois
comes from the Illinois legislature in Senate Bill SB2762, called
the REACH Act, resubmitted by Senator Ram Villivalim (D-IL) and
backed by Planned Parenthood of Illinois and the LGBTQ community.
This bill mandates that age-appropriate sex education and gender
identity education be taught in all grade levels from kindergarten
through 12th grade.
According to an article in The Center Square (the centersquare.com),
a similar bill was filed in 2019 but was tabled because the Covid-19
crisis kept the political measure from going forward.
According to SB2762 kindergartners would be taught lessons on
personal safety and respecting others. Grades three through five
would cover anatomy and function, sexual orientation, gender
identity and gender expression. Grades six through 12 would continue
with such subjects as the benefits of abstinence, birth control and
the prevention of AIDS and STDs.
Thirty other states have required curriculum in their public schools
regarding personal health and safety education, but Illinois has
never adopted these standards. This Senate Bill includes gender
education standards not included in these thirty other states.
Critics of this bill state that the teaching of gender identity and
gender expression is a liberal hot-box topic not appropriate to our
public school education system and this educational area does not
aid in the development of the healthy psyche of young children.
This bill is currently making its way through the legislative
process.
|
Read all the articles in our
new
2021 Education Magazine
Title
CLICK ON TITLES TO GO TO PAGES |
Page |
|
Educating
in a most challenging year |
4 |
| A
preschool that is exciting, educational and
engaging |
5 |
| Local
educators creating practical math |
6 |
| The
efficacy of remote learning |
9 |
|
Differences in college education during the
pandemic |
13 |
|
Changing the social dynamics of education |
19 |
| School
resource officer makes positive impact |
24 |
| What's
a dog doing in school? |
26 |
|
Academics and meaningful lessons blended |
31 |
| The
return of school sports |
35 |
| Logan
County School profiles |
38 |
|
|
