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The 7-Day Neurodiversity (ND) Inclusion Challenge is a self-guided learning and reflection experience that highlights the need for true inclusion and acceptance in the Brandeis community and beyond of those with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and other neurological disabilities. The ND Challenge is modeled on the 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge that the Heller community also spearheaded. Because the concept of neurodiversity is not yet familiar to many people, the ND Challenge adds additional introductory text to each day's suggested sources and allows individual participants to select from a varied set of reading, viewing, and listening options.

The ND Challenge includes many perspectives on neurodiversity from within the framework of inclusion, seeking to move from awareness to acceptance at Brandeis and beyond. It emphasizes the need to listen to and prioritize the voices of autistic and other neurodivergent people, though the voices of several supporters and professionals are also included. The 7-Day Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge offers participants the opportunity to engage each day with articles, videos, podcasts, and blog posts and reflect on what actions should be taken to achieve true inclusion and acceptance of neurodiversity and neurodivergent people.

Daily Readings and More:

The daily selections of the ND Challenge were compiled by Mel Ptacek, MPP/MBA'20, who also wrote the introductory text for the ND Challenge and the text accompanying each day. Thanks go to Finn Gardiner and Ari Ne'eman for helpful comments and suggestions. Thanks also to the Brandeis Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which helped coordinate the ND Challenge with DEIS Impact 2021.

Utilize this 7-Day Challenge Tracking Tool after engaging in materials daily.

Download the full 7-Day Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge. Daily downloads are also available below for each day of the Challenge.

(Download the Introduction to the 7-Day Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge)
Many people are unfamiliar with the term "neurodiversity," a concept originating in the autistic community and made widely known, in particular, by Jim Sinclair, a pioneer of autistic self-advocacy. Briefly, "neurodiversity" refers to the range of neurological divergence from "neurotypical" patterns of cognition. The term and concept originated from the neurodiversity movement, a social movement that argues that society should accommodate and include people with neurological disabilities rather than seek to cure them or enforce typical behavior. Human minds vary, and these variations do not all require a cure. The term also can imply that no typical or normal brain exists at all; all brains are variations on a theme.

Associated primarily with autism (now known clinically as autism spectrum disorder [ASD]), neurodiversity usually also includes attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, and dyspraxia as well as many other conditions. Some apply the term not only to innate conditions but also to acquired conditions, for example, neurological divergence caused by brain injury. Different disability communities have different politics. While some do seek cures or other interventions designed to promote typical function, a growing number of communities have adopted the neurodiversity framework as offering a better approach to research, support, and advocacy.

While neurodiversity is consistent with services and supports designed to help people achieve important person-centered goals like communication, independent living, and avoiding self-injury, therefore, the neurodiversity movement rejects the idea that service provision or research should promote typical behavior, like eye contact or standard movement and speech patterns.

Neurodivergent people are subject to much stigmatization, discrimination, exclusion, and bullying in various aspects of life. While the numbers of those diagnosed as autistic have grown particularly dramatically in recent decades, autistic people and other groups of people with neurological disabilities continue to face high rates of unemployment and underemployment, even when obtaining significant education and other credentials. Add to this that, all too often, neurodivergent people have been prevented from advocating for their own needs. Much as in the workplace, the dominant practices and structures of education are generally not designed with neurodiversity in mind.

Because we are compressing multiple issues into the span of seven days, each day we will offer a set of main suggested readings, videos, podcasts, and the like. We'll also provide several additional resources for those wanting more, as well as a set of resources relevant to that day's focus. That way, you will have many options for participation.

We hope you enjoy it all, but do read, view, or listen as you choose.

With each day's topic, we will also include an introduction. This should be especially helpful for those who are less familiar with the idea of neurodiversity.

You also may notice some areas of disagreement and debate, even within the framework of inclusion. We present a variety of views and resources that support inclusion and acceptance; however, we do not necessarily endorse any particular position or interpretation. To promote discussion and reflection, we are setting aside an opportunity for people in the Brandeis community taking the Challenge to come together to process their thoughts and feelings. This will be held midway through the Challenge. It is entirely optional, and all are welcome in this space.

Introduction to Neurodiversity

( Download Day 1 of the Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge)

Statistics on neurodiversity vary by source of information as well as over time. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) currently reports that 1 in 54 children in the United States is autistic.

For ADHD, the CDC estimates that just about 11% of all US children have been diagnosed at some point with ADHD, but these rates have changed over the years. In addition, there are debates not only about causes of ADHD and about disparities in diagnosis, both correct and incorrect ones, but also about how rising diagnoses may, for example, be the result of pharmaceutical company influence. There has furthermore been some debate over the concept of ADHD itself and its underlying elements, some of which appears motivated by denialism. All of this is exacerbated by the relative lack of people with ADHD running ADHD advocacy and policy organizations and otherwise directly involved in these discussions.

The prevalence of dyslexia likewise has been hard to pin down, with perhaps a fifth of the population being dyslexic, while research into dyspraxia is sparse, even though roughly 10% of the total population may be dyspraxic and some estimates are higher.

Not only are diagnoses increasing, but disparities in diagnosis by race and gender are also diminishing (issues we discuss this week). Meanwhile, laws protecting disabled people from discrimination such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Improvement Act (IDEA/IDEIA) have helped larger numbers of students obtain the supports they need to complete high school. As a result, larger numbers of neurodivergent people are attending college and entering the workforce with a range of degrees and other credentials, many facing discrimination and other obstacles.

As we begin our 7-Day Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge, you may notice that many discussions of neurodiversity are highly medicalized, more inclined toward medical descriptions of individual impairments (the medical model) than toward analyses of social structures and practices that create impediments for some people but not others (the social model of disability). This tendency is common throughout discussions of neurodiversity and in some cases reflects an expectation (or hope) to eliminate or cure autism or other similar neurological disabilities. Related to this is the fact that many people describe neurodiversity in terms of certain deficits. For example, autism is often characterized as a set of deficits relating to communication, social interaction, and behavior rather than as a range of strengths and differences that autistic people possess. The same is true of other neurological disabilities falling under the construct of neurodiversity.

Although some medicalized perspectives are included, the intention is to present a range of views from varying perspectives of social justice and to provide a sample of pertinent resources. Neurodiversity, as a concept and a movement, acknowledges challenges that many people with neurological disabilities face as disabled people in our society, but sees autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and other neurodiversity in terms of strengths and differences as well as challenges.

We hope you enjoy the readings, videos, podcasts, and blog posts we offer in the Heller School's Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge.

Jim Sinclair, "Don't Mourn for Us" (Autism Network International; originally published 1993) and "Why I Dislike 'Person First' Language" (Love & Autism; originally published 1999)

"Neurotypical" (Trailer, 1:41 mins)

Rosie King, "How autism freed me to be myself" (TED talk, 6:01 mins)

Dean Bragonier, "The True Gifts of a Dyslexic Mind" (TED talk, 16:51 mins)

Blake Charlton, "Defining My Dyslexia" (Op-Ed, New York Times, May 22, 2013)

If you'd like more for today:
Further Resources for Day 1:

Joanne Kaufman, "Campaign on Childhood Mental Illness Succeeds at Being Provocative" (New York Times, December 14, 2007)

Ari Ne'eman, "An Urgent Call to Action: Tell NYU Child Study Center to Abandon Stereotypes Against People With Disabilities" (post, December 8, 2007)

Sarah Pripas-Kapit, "Historicizing Jim Sinclair's 'Don't Mourn for Us': A Cultural and Intellectual History of Neurodiversity's First Manifesto" (Ch. 2 of Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement)

Steve Silberman, Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity

MaryAnne Wolf, "Dyslexia's Puzzle and the Brain's Design," Ch. 7 of Proust and the Squid

Neurodiversity and Representation

( Download Day 2 of the Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge)

There are many misunderstandings surrounding autism and other neurodiversity, often leading to fear, prejudice, and stigma. Nonverbal or minimally verbal autistic persons are especially subject to misperception. In many cases, these misunderstandings have led to interactions with others that harm autistic people. Negative interactions with teachers, health workers, police, and others are linked to high rates of discrimination and social exclusion that autistic people particularly experience. Similarly, they face high rates of health challenges (including COVID-19), homelessness, and suicide. We will explore some of these challenges this week.

In response to the problems facing the autistic population, on April 2, 2008, the United Nations celebrated the first annual World Autism Awareness Day and April is designated as Autism Awareness Month. Currently, many have been pressing to replace the word "awareness" with "acceptance," giving us Autism Acceptance Day and Autism Acceptance Month, which would stress a more inclusive goal.

Today we look at awareness and representations of neurodiversity and neurodivergent persons among the public and in the media, exploring the extent of acceptance. Of all neurodiversity, autism has received the most attention. From Dustin Hoffman's portrayal of "Rain Man" to Greta Thunberg's public embrace of her actual autism as a "superpower," a lot has changed in how autism is represented and perceived; yet much misperception persists, as do numerous barriers to inclusion and equity. (Thunberg met with many positive but also some negative depictions in the media; see Further Resources for more.)

In recent years, several characters in TV series, novels, movies, and other formats-most portrayed by non-autistic actors-have been coded as or perceived to be autistic or "on the spectrum"; more rarely, some have been identified as such. The list is growing. These would include series such as Atypical, The Big Bang Theory, Bones, Criminal Minds, The Good Doctor, House, and Parenthood, and the HBO adaptation of the Stephen King novel, The Outsider, as well as the Korean drama It's Okay to Not Be Okay and the Danish-Swedish drama The Bridge (remade for American audiences from the original Bron/ Broen); novels such as Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes books and, more recently, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and the Stieg Larsson Millenium series; movies such as Adam, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (based on the Larsson novel), and Mary and Max; and video games such as Overwatch (which includes the autistic-identified character Symmetra). Many of the representations on this list and beyond have been criticized by those in the autistic community as inaccurate and/or harmful.

Autistic Self Advocacy Network, "About Autism" (Web resource)

Melanie Yergeau, "I stim, therefore I am" (Video, 3:01 mins)

CommunicationFIRST, "LISTEN" (Video, 5:26 mins)

Autistic Self Advocacy Network, "Disability Community Condemns Autism Speaks" (post, October 7, 2009) *You may want to view one of the videos to which this resource responds: Autism Speaks, "I Am Autism" (3:43 mins)

If you'd like more for today:
Further Resources for Day 2:

Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Welcome to the Autistic Community (web resource)

Julia Bascom, ed., Loud Hands: Autistic People, Speaking

Alaina Leary, "Autism On Television Needs More Diverse Representation" (Teen Vogue, April 18, 2017)

Sara Luterman, "Trouble on Sesame Street" (Slate, August 16, 2019)

Sara Luterman, "Don't Call Greta Thunberg 'Superhuman'" (Slate, October 11, 2019)

Sonya Freeman Loftis, "The Autistic Detective: Sherlock Holmes and His Legacy" (Disability Studies Quarterly, 2014)

Pixar, "The Making of Loop" (Video, 3:14 mins)

Steve Silberman, "Greta Thunberg became a climate activist not in spite of her autism, but because of it" (Vox, September 24, 2019)

Washington Post, "How TV shows like 'Sesame Street' can help normalize autism" (Video, 3:41 mins)

Suzannah Weiss, "Here's Why We Absolutely Need to Stop Using the Term 'On the Spectrum'" (Mic, April 15, 2016)

Neurodiversity, Race, and Ethnicity: Representation and Diagnosis

( Download Day 3 of the Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge)

As noted in a recent Ruderman white paper: "Disability intersects with other factors such as race, class, gender, and sexuality, to magnify degrees of marginalization and increase the risk of violence. When the media ignores or mishandles a major factor, as we contend they generally do with disability, it becomes harder to effect change." Because disabled persons are subjected to widespread discrimination and are also overrepresented in communities most subject to systemic racial discrimination, such as the African-American community in the U.S., a complex relationship between disability and race leads to particularly negative interactions of disabled persons of color (among them, those who are autistic and otherwise neurodivergent) with police, healthcare workers, and the like. Autistic young people, for example, are already more likely to be stopped by police than their non-autistic counterparts, affecting as many as 20% of autistic youth, according to one study, and many of these will be arrested. In addition, autistic people of color are often victims of violence, including within their families.

Without solid intersectional research, however, we cannot understand the full relationships between neurodivergence, race, and ethnicity. Another factor to consider is the scarcity of researchers of color who study issues relating to neurodiversity.

Autism itself has a white privilege problem, as Morénike Giwa Onaiwu has written.

Research on racial and other similar disparities affecting neurodiverse people has in the past suffered from the disparate diagnosis rates by race and ethnicity (and sometimes, too, by immigration status). A recent CDC report does suggest, however, that for autism these diagnostic gaps may be diminishing. At the same time, media representation of neurodiversity promotes the association of autism and other conditions with white men and boys, in particular. (And this association has been reflected, though negatively, in the media discourse on the "autistic shooter.")

With respect to ADHD, these diagnoses are the subject of much debate and controversy, including as diagnosis relates to race, and how and why racial differentials have been changing. These discussions are ongoing and our sources below provide a snapshot at the time they were produced of that ongoing debate.

Because of the number of issues involved and range of views, we offer two days devoted to neurodiversity, race, and ethnicity. Each day still has many resources from which to choose.

Today is devoted to issues mainly of representation and diagnosis. Tomorrow is devoted to issues related to the impact and effects of the intersection of racial and ethnic disparities with neurodiversity.

Carrie Arnold, "Autism's Race Problem" (Pacific Standard Magazine, June 14, 2017)

Kayla Smith, "Disability Rights in Black 2020" (Video, 2:09 mins) and Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, "Autistics of Color: We Exist...We Matter" (Reprinted February 19, 2020)

Casey Rentz, "Black And Latino Children Are Often Overlooked When It Comes To Autism" (NPR, March 19, 2018)

Finn Gardiner, "Rejecting the Politics of Shame" (Thinking Person's Guide to Autism, April 29, 2016)

Lee Romney, "Public Schools Are Failing Black Students With Dyslexia: One Grandmother's Story" (Audio, 19:06 mins)

Areeba Ahmed, "Now Desi Me, Now They Don't: Growing up With Asperger's as a South Asian-American" (Brown Girl Magazine, July 13, 2016)

Adriana White, "Why We Need More Latinx Autistic Stories" (WNDB, October 6, 2020)

If you'd like more for today:

"Timing of the Diagnosis of Autism in African American Children" (Video, 4:09 mins)

Michel Martin, "African-Americans With Autism Face Additional Challenges" (NPR, February 21, 2016)

Myles Moody, "From Under-Diagnoses to Over-Representation: Black Children, ADHD, and the School-To-Prison Pipeline" (Journal of African-American Studies, 2016)

Joseph Milord, "Experts Worry Black Kids Are Misdiagnosed With ADHD" (Elite Daily, December 16, 2016)

Scyatta A. Wallace, "70 percent increase in ADHD among black children, study finds" (The Grio, February 15, 2013)

Further Resources for Day 3:

Lydia X. Z. Brown, E. Ashkenazy, and Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, eds. All the Weight of Our Dreams: On Living Racialized Autism

Melody Cao, "In Asian communities, raising a child with autism can be a lonely, difficult road" (Center for Health Journalism, July 12, 2015)
NOTE: This resource illustrates how many attempts at awareness, even when well-intentioned, are often not focused on autistic or otherwise neurodivergent persons, but instead generally on their families. Cao's investigation was reported as "Breaking the Silence," which focuses on awareness and adheres to the view, rejected by the neurodiversity movement, that autism is in need of cure.

Alicia Montgomery, "Autism, Like Race, Complicates Almost Everything" (NPR, April 12, 2014)

Steve Silberman, "The Invisibility of Black Autism" (Undark, May 17, 2016)

Neurodiversity, Race, and Ethnicity: Impact and Effects

( Download Day 4 of the Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge)

Today, we continue our examination of neurodiversity, race, and ethnicity by looking at some of the impact and effects of the intersection of neurodiversity with race and ethnicity. We concentrate on the African-American community and many of yesterday's resources are relevant to today's focus. Included in this discussion is reflection on how the neurodiversity community and movement itself has had discriminatory and exclusionary effects on people of color that need to be addressed.

As in Day 3, given the number of issues that fall under this topic, we once again offer numerous options from which you may choose. (And, even then, there are other angles we could still explore.) Our goal is to look at how these intersections play out in people's lives from various perspectives.

Romanza McAllister, "Catch-22: ADHD, Work, & the 'Black Tax'" (ADDA, May 13, 2020)

Shawn Anthony Robinson, "Ain't No Stopping (Me) Now" (Inside Higher Ed, October 7, 2016)

Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, "'They Don't Know, Don't Show, or Don't Care': Autism's White Privilege Problem" (Autism in Adulthood, 2020)

Eric Garcia, "What It Feels Like To Be An Autistic Person of Color in the Eyes of the Police" (Daily Beast, April 13, 2017)

Zack Budryk, "Amid Black Lives Matter protests, advocates seek pardon for autistic Black man convicted in 2010" (The Hill, Changing America, July 28, 2020)

Ameer Baraka, "Black Boys With Dyslexia Need Love and Learning, Not Shame and Prison" (Education Post, October 15, 2019)

Adriana White, "5 Must-Read Books by Black Autistic Authors" (Geek Club Books, January 27, 2021)

If you'd like more for today:
Further Resources for Day 4:
In addition to the previous day's resources:

ADDitude editors, "ADHD and Race: Fighting for Equality in Health Care" (includes extensive list of resources)

Bazelon Center, "'Defunding The Police' And People With Mental Illness"
NOTE: While mental illness is not always included under neurodiversity, it sometimes is and, in any event, many people with neurological disabilities do also have conditions classified as mental illnesses, conditions that may compound racial or ethnic discrimination and exclusion. In addition, some people may inaccurately perceive neurological disability as mental illness in instances where this is not the case.

Lorena Brownlee, "African-American Overstimulated And #Autistic" (Art of Autism, reposted June 1, 2020)

Kerima Çevik, "#AutisticWhileBlack #BlackHistory2021: Vaccination While Black" (The Autism Wars, February 6, 2021)

Kerima Çevik, "#AutisticWhileBlack: Justice For Marcus Abrams" (I∩tersected, June 29, 2017)

Desiree R. Jones and David S. Mandell, "To Address Racial Disparities in Autism Research, We Must Think Globally, Act Locally" (Autism, 2020)

Neurodiversity, Gender, and Sexuality

( Download Day 5 of the Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge)

The ratio of males to females diagnosed with autism has been traditionally high, around 4 or 5 to 1. More recently, however, studies more attuned to how autism might appear in girls, whether due to social expectations or other reasons, have been conducted. "Camouflaging" or "masking," for example, leading to detrimental effects, is known throughout the autistic community, but is especially common among autistic girls and women. This new approach to understanding autism in girls has reduced the ratio, although some disparities remain.

Some researchers have proposed controversial theories of autism and gender such as the "extreme male brain" theory, which is rejected by most autistic self-advocates. Concern over autism's association with homosexuality and transgender, nonbinary, and genderqueer identities has also produced harmful theories and practices.

There have also been issues of gender disparity in ADHD diagnosis and diagnosis of other neurodivergence, though these have been less widely explored.

Today we explore aspects of the intersection of neurodiversity with gender and sexuality, some of which have already begun to be considered in previous days. The depiction and understanding of autism have long been entwined in gender constructs, such as the belief of some experts that "refrigerator mothers" cause autism and the popular view, persistent to this day, that autistic people are predominantly "tech nerds" and the like.

Sarai Pahla, "Women and Autism. Towards a Better Understanding" (TED talk, 16:02 mins)

Francine Russo, "The Costs of Camouflaging Autism" (Spectrum, February 21, 2018)

Heidi Borst, "Navigating My Son's A.D.H.D. Made Me Realize I Had It, Too" (February 25, 2021)

Louis Molnar, "The Intersectionality of Autism and Homosexuality" (The Advocate, March 10, 2017)

Bryony White, "The Link between Autism and Trans Identity" (The Atlantic, November 15, 2016)

Nick Walker, "Neuroqueer: An Introduction" (Neurocosmopolitanism, May 2, 2015)

Sebastian Rubino, "The man behind ex-gay 'conversion therapy' started out trying to make autistic children 'normal'" (LGBTQ Nation, March 17, 2021)

If you'd like more for today:
Further Resources for Day 5:

Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network

Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, Information & Resources for Parents & Caregivers of Newly Diagnosed Autistic Girls

Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, Before You Go: Know Your Rights & What to Expect at the Doctor and in the Hospital (Trans Autistic Healthcare Guide)

Emily Paige Ballou, Sharon daVanport, Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, eds., Sincerely, Your Autistic Child: What People on the Autism Spectrum Wish Their Parents Knew About Growing Up, Acceptance, and Identity

Emily Paige Ballou, Kristina Thomas, and Sharon daVanport, What Every Autistic Girl Wishes Her Parents Knew

Kristin Bumiller, "Quirky Citizens: Autism, Gender, and Reimagining Disability"

Jordynn Jack, Autism and Gender: From Refrigerator Mothers to Computer Geeks

Deborah Rudacille, "Living between Genders"
NOTE: This article is informative but it does use some stereotypes of autistic and trans people.

Maxfield Sparrow, ed., Spectrums: Autistic Transgender People in Their Own Words

Melanie Yergeau, Authoring Autism: On Rhetoric and Neurological Queerness

Neurodiversity, Education, and Employment

( Download Day 6 of the Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge)

Education and employment are two of the most important social and personal challenges that neurodivergent people face. Through the hard work of activists and advocates, the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990 and other pieces of legislation and regulation such as the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Improvement Act (IDEA/IDEIA) have meant that a much greater number of neurodivergent people are completing high school and going on to employment or higher education.

Yet, education and employment pose numerous difficulties for autistic and other neurodivergent people, particularly due to prejudices against them and to structures and practices in schools and workplaces that impede or openly discriminate against them. Here again, more attention has been paid to autism than to other conditions falling under neurodiversity.

For example, research has shown that autism is one of the few conditions where those with a college degree, or higher, have a lower rate of employment than those without the degree, though both rates are high. And, while many more autistic people are graduating from high school and seeking employment or higher education, research shows that as a group they have lower employment rates not only compared with non-disabled persons but also compared with other disabled communities, and that they have fewer opportunities for independent living.

Both unemployment and underemployment are common among autistic people. This is occurring even as talk-which may be appealing to some employers-of an " autism advantage" or " neurodiversity advantage" is heard today. (A similar view can be found with respect to ADHD and to dyslexia.) However, the idea of such advantage may diminish support for the wide diversity of neurodivergent people in terms of interests and skills as well as needs.

Employment constitutes one of the most important means by which people find social inclusion and financial stability along with improved health. With ever more autistic people attending college or obtaining post-secondary education, the situation is a cause of great concern.

Some organizations and companies-such as through Autism @ Work programs at several large global technology and finance companies -have sought to address the autism employment problem, with some limited success. However, many of these efforts are aimed at individuals with highly specialized skills that not all autistic or neurodivergent people possess. In addition, the programs also can sometimes reinforce stereotypes of autistic and other neurodivergent people and, in the wrong circumstances, could be exploitative.

Today we look at the education and employment situation facing neurodivergent people along with some policies and practices that might address this situation.

Autistic Self Advocacy Network, "Navigating College: A Handbook on Self Advocacy Written for Autistic Students by Autistic Adult"

Paul Shattuck, "Youth with autism face barriers to employment and education after high school" (Video, 2:19 mins)

Maxfield Sparrow, "Why Is the Autistic Unemployment Rate So High?" (Thinking Person's Guide to Autism, February 26, 2018)

Sarah Carr, "The Tricky Path to Employment Is Trickier When You're Autistic" (Slate, September 22, 2017)
NOTE: This article describes a common problem for many neurodivergent people but is accompanied by a "puzzle-piece" image, often used to represent autism as a set of deficits.

If you'd like more for today:
Further Resources for Day 6:

Neurodiversity Going Forward: Where Are We Now?

( Download Day 7 of the Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge)

Today we will ask, "How can we achieve true acceptance and inclusion of neurodivergent people at Brandeis and the larger world?" The question is meant to encourage reflection and thought as well as plans for action.

In the Further Resources section, we offer some options for parents and others who seek to support their children, friends, coworkers, and so forth, but now pass the question of how to achieve inclusion and equity to the wider community at Brandeis and beyond. Views within the neurodiversity community are as varied as its members are, but most in the community hope to see an acceptance and true inclusion of neurodivergent people that goes beyond simple awareness. Examples abound in schools, workplaces, and the wider community where awareness exists, but not genuine acceptance and inclusion.

As part of today's suggestions, we offer a map of the Brandeis campus depicting the various offices, departments, or functions that a neurodivergent person, whether student, staff, faculty, or even visitor, might encounter, either regularly or occasionally. The idea behind creating the map is to allow us to imagine how such a person might feel when approaching and trying to navigate the campus or engage in learning or working, while also meeting their support needs. How, for example, would neurodivergent people, in all their variation, experience the spaces between these parts of campus? The answer one gives to this question could help to prompt reflection on how to support and include neurodivergent people at Brandeis and how to encourage any efforts that have begun.

"Nothing about us without us" is more than a slogan heard among disabled activists; it is a goal and a demand. As Morénike Giwa Onaiwu has said: "Far too often the labor of marginalized people is minimized and treated as if it were of little value; meanwhile, those with vastly more privilege go on to profit enormously from the resources they have derived from those same seemingly 'less valuable' people." Neurodivergent people of all races, genders, and other identities must be included in all forms of decision-making about themselves and in all knowledge production and policy formulation about autism and other neurodiversity. Parents and other family members cannot substitute for neurodivergent people themselves but have their own perspectives; they do have contributions to make.

Thank you for taking the Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenge this week and for thinking about the issues that have been raised. Now it's up to you.

Shain M. Neumeier, "'To Siri With Love' and the Problem With Neurodiversity Lite" (Rewire.News, February 9, 2018)

Jenny Bristol, "It's Time for Acceptance: 10 Reasons to End Autism Awareness Campaigns" (Geek Club Books, April 18, 2019)

Parenting Autistic Children with Love and Acceptance, About PACLA

DeThorne, Laura S., "Revealing the Double Empathy Problem" (The ASHA Leader, April 1, 2020)

A Neurodiversity Map of Brandeis (or click here for the text-only version, found in the appendix):

If you'd like more for today:

Peter Mitchell, Elizabeth Sheppard, and Sarah Cassidy, "Autism and the double empathy problem: Implications for development and mental health" (British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 2021)

Liz Pellicano, "Autism advocacy and research misses the mark if autistic people are left out" (The Conversation, April 10, 2018)

Monique Botha, "Autism: A Quick Trip to My Home Planet" (TED Talk, 30:00 mins)
NOTE: This might be paired well with the blog post by Tiffany Hammond, "Why the Social Model Will Not Save Us," or other discussion of the social model of disability and intersectionality, which complicates the discussion.

Reese Piper, "'Keep The Change' Is The Movie The Autistic Community Has Long Been Waiting For" (Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, April 9, 2018)

Further Resources for Day 7:

Autistic Self Advocacy Network, "First-Hand Perspectives on Behavioral Interventions for Autistic People and People with other Developmental Disabilities" (Report, 2017; by Finn Gardiner)

Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, "What is Autistic Burnout?" (Handout)

Steven K. Kapp, Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement

Cynthia Kim, I Think I Might Be Autistic: A Guide to Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnosis and Self-Discovery for Adults

Anne McGuire, War on Autism: On the Cultural Logic of Normative Violence

Damien Milton, "On the Ontological Status of Autism: The Double Empathy Problem" (Disability & Society, 2012)

Maxfield Sparrow, "If Not ABA, Then What?" (Thinking Person's Guide to Autism, April 7, 2017)

Michelle Sutton, ed., The Real Experts: Readings for Parents of Autistic Children

Text-only version of the Brandeis Neurodiversity Map. Represents Administration, Staff (includes some students), Faculty, Undergraduate Students, and Graduate Students, as well as campus offices and services that relate to neurodiversity:

Division of Student Affairs

Department of Community Living

Dean of Students Office

Academic Services

Student Accessibility Support (SAS)

Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO)

University Ombuds

Programming, Training, Education and Development (PTED)

Gender and Sexuality Center (GSC)

Intercultural Center (ICC)

Prevention, Advocacy, and Resource Center (PARC)

Brandeis Counseling Center (BCC)

Human Resources

Staff unions

Faculty unions

Brandeis Alumni Association

Heller Alumni Association

Undergraduate Students

DEISability

Divisions: Science; Humanities; Social Science; Creative Arts

Hiatt Career Center

Rabb School for Continuing Studies

Graduate Students

Schools:

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Center for Career and Professional Development

Heller School

Heller School Office of Equity, Inclusion and Diversity

Heller School Career Development

Heller Disability Working Group

Heller Student Association

International Business School (IBS)

Career Strategies Center

IBS Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee

Graduate Student Association

Library

Center for Teaching and Learning

Institutes:

Lurie Institute for Disability Policy

Institute for Behavioral Health

Other research institutes

Campus Accessibility Committee (launched October 2020): represented as long vertical box on the left side of the map, with lines extending horizontally outward across the map

Additional Resources to Consider:

Amythest Schaber, Ask an Autistic series

Autism and Race

Autistic Self Advocacy Network

Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Policy Advocacy Toolkits

Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Welcome to the Autistic Community

Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, Welcome Packet

Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, Parent Welcome Packet

The Color of Autism Foundation (parent-focused)

Dyslexia Awareness Foundation

Dyspraxia Foundation

Fund for Community Reparations for Autistic People of Color's Interdependence, Survival, and Empowerment

International Dyslexia Association, Dyslexia Laws in the USA: A 2018 Update

I∩tersected

The SAP Autism Inclusion Pledge initiative (for employers)

Thinking Person's Guide to Autism

Twainbow

Welcome to the Autistic Community, Take the Pledge

The Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity

The Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity, Speaking with One Voice: A Guide to Talking about Dyslexia

The ND Challenge launched with an Introduction on April 2, 2021, which is celebrated each year as World Autism Awareness Day, with April often designated as Autism Awareness Month. Many individuals and organizations now replace the word "Awareness" in these phrases with "Acceptance," arguing that we have gained enough awareness at this point and must instead address the pressing need for acceptance.

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The 7-Day Neurodiversity (ND) Inclusion Challenge is a self-guided learning and reflection experience that highlights the need for true inclusion and acceptance in the Brandeis community and beyond of those with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and other neurological disabilities. The ND Challenge is modeled on the 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge that the Heller community also spearheaded.

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Ability and Neurodiversity terms to broaden your understanding of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

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Is my child getting a great education? Is my child engaged and learning every day? How does the school make sure that all students are treated fairly? How do I know my child's teachers are effective? Will my child be prepared to succeed in whatever comes next?

These are just some of the questions included in the Parent Checklist developed by UNCF in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education, America Achieves, National Council of La Raza and National PTA.

"The Parent Checklist is an extension of UNCF's commitment to building a college-going culture within the African American community and providing support for getting more students to and through college." - Michael L. Lomax, Ph.D., UNCF President and CEO

Designed to help our nation's children get the quality education they need and deserve, the checklist's questions help parents and other caregivers address five key areas of teacher and school performance.

Quality:

Is my child getting a great education?

How will you keep me informed about how my child is doing on a regular basis?

How can we work together if my child falls behind?

Is my child on grade level and on track to be ready for college and a career?

Ready for Success:

Will my child be prepared to succeed in whatever comes next?

How will you measure my child's progress and ability in reading, math, science, the arts, social and emotional development and other activities?

How much time will my child spend preparing for and taking state and district tests?

How will my child's teacher and I know how to use the results to help my child make progress?

Safe and Healthy:

Is my child safe and cared for at school?

What programs are in place to ensure that the school is a safe, nurturing and positive environment?

What are the discipline and bullying policies at the school?

Are the meals and snacks provided healthy?

How much time is there for recess and/or exercise?

Great Teachers:

Is my child engaged and learning every day?

How do I know my child's teachers are effective?

How much time do teachers get to collaborate with one another?

What kind of professional development is available to teachers here?

Equity and Fairness:

Does my child, and every child at my child's school or program, have the opportunity to succeed and be treated fairly?

How does the school make sure that all students are treated fairly?

Does the school offer all students access to the classes they need to prepare them for success, including English language learners and students with special needs?

Other Issues and Resources

For more resources, download the Parent Checklist.

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Is my child getting a great education? Is my child engaged and learning every day? How does the school make sure that all students are treated fairly? How do I know my child's teachers are effective? Will my child be prepared to succeed in whatever comes next?

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At a glance

Culturally responsive teaching is a rich, intentional approach woven into every aspect of student learning.

It focuses on the assets students bring to the classroom rather than what students can't do.

It raises expectations and makes learning relevant for all students.

Culturally responsive teaching is a research-based approach to teaching. It connects students' cultures, languages, and life experiences with what they learn in school. These connections help students access rigorous curriculum and develop higher-level academic skills.

Our brains are wired to make connections. It's easier for our brains to learn and store information when we have a hook to hang it on. That hook is background knowledge. Students bring this knowledge to the classroom every day.

But for students of color, English language learners (ELLs), and other underserved student populations, those assets are often overlooked. When that happens, educators miss the chance to use them to support learning. (See recent work by Zaretta Hammond for the neuroscience behind this.)

Culturally responsive teaching values and reflects the assets of all students. By doing that, it raises academic expectations for all learners. It also sends the message that multiculturalism is an asset.

Dive deeper

The benefits of culturally responsive teaching

How culturally responsive teaching, UDL, and SEL work together

For educators: Culturally responsive teaching in the classroom

For educators: How to partner with families

Lydia Breiseth (director of Colorín Colorado), Shivohn García, PhD (senior director of the Impact team at Understood), and Shaquala Butler (Understood Teacher Fellow) contributed to this article.

About the author

About the author

Educators Team at Understood is made up of passionate writers, editors, educators, and subject matter experts who have worked in classrooms and with students who learn and think differently.

Reviewed by

Reviewed by

Karla Vigil, MAT is the chief executive officer and co-founder of the Equity Institute.

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Culturally responsive teaching helps create learning environments that validate and reflect the diversity, identities, and experiences of all students. Learn more.

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For decades, researchers have found that teachers in public schools have undervalued the potential for academic success among students of color, setting low expectations for them and thinking of cultural differences as barriers rather than assets to learning.

In response, scholars developed teaching methods and practices-broadly known as asset-based pedagogies-that incorporate students' cultural identities and lived experiences into the classroom as tools for effective instruction. The terms for these approaches to teaching vary, from culturally responsive teaching and culturally sustaining pedagogy to the more foundational culturally relevant pedagogy. Though each term has its own components defined by different researchers over time, all these approaches to teaching center the knowledge of traditionally marginalized communities in classroom instruction. As a result, all students, and in particular students of color, are empowered to become lifelong learners and critical thinkers.

This explainer unpacks what it means to be a culturally responsive teacher, how all these research terms are related, and where other academic concepts such as critical race theory tie in-or not.

What is the definition of culturally responsive teaching?

Culturally responsive teaching means using students' customs, characteristics, experience, and perspectives as tools for better classroom instruction.

The term was coined by researcher Geneva Gay in 2000, who wrote that "when academic knowledge and skills are situated within the lived experiences and frames of reference for students, they are more personally meaningful, have higher interest appeal, and are learned more easily and thoroughly."

It's the kind of teaching that helps students of color see themselves and their communities as belonging in schools and other academic spaces, leading to more engagement and success.

What is culture, and why is it relevant to student learning?

Culture refers to the customs, languages, values, beliefs, and achievements of a group of people. Students' culture and lived experiences that influence how they understand and make sense of the world or themselves are an integral part of who they are as learners. As Emily Style, the former founding co-director of the National SEED Project (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity), once wrote, "Half the curriculum walks in the door with the students."

While more than half of public school students are students of color, most schools are organized around the mainstream culture of white Americans. The culture that many students experience at home and in their communities is not always represented at school-or is represented in a stereotypical way.

Also, 80 percent of teachers are white. Research has found that teachers are just as likely to have racial biases as non-teachers, and those biases tend to influence the expectations they have for their students and their ways of managing their classrooms. For example, past research has found that white teachers have lower expectations for Black students than they do for white students, and those can turn into "self-fulfilling prophecies" when students internalize them or when teachers change their approach to students as a result of their mindsets.

One study found that white teachers were more likely to praise a poorly written essay if they thought it was written by a student of color than if they thought the essay was by a white student. Teachers' racial biases can also result in decreased access to advanced coursework and higher rates of suspensions.

When did culturally responsive teaching start?

Culturally responsive teaching stems from the framework of culturally relevant pedagogy, which was introduced by scholar Gloria Ladson-Billings in the 1990s. Ladson-Billings was tired of the commonly held narrative that Black children were deficient and deviant, and that there was something wrong with them. Instead, she wanted to find out what was right with Black children, their families, and their communities. To do so, she researched the practices of effective teachers of Black students.

For about two years, Ladson-Billings observed teachers who were identified by both principals and Black parents as being excellent. The teachers had different ways of teaching, but they all had high expectations for their students and fostered academic success. They also all valued and integrated themselves in the community from which their students came.

Ladson-Billings distilled the commonalities in those teachers' beliefs and practices into the framework of culturally relevant pedagogy, which she defined as a model that "not only addresses student achievement but also helps students to accept and affirm their cultural identity while developing critical perspectives that challenge inequities that schools (and other institutions) perpetuate."

There are three components of culturally relevant pedagogy:

student learning-prioritizing students' intellectual growth, including their ability to problem-solve;

cultural competence-creating an environment where students affirm and appreciate their culture of origin while also developing fluency in at least one other culture; and

critical consciousness-teaching students how to identify, analyze, and solve real-world problems, especially those that result in societal inequities against marginalized groups.

So, what are the characteristics of culturally responsive teaching?

Gay's research shows five essential components of culturally responsive teaching:

A strong knowledge base about cultural diversity. Teachers should understand different racial and ethnic groups' cultural values, traditions, and contributions to society, and incorporate that knowledge into their instruction.

Culturally relevant curricula. Teachers should include multiple perspectives in their instruction and make sure the images displayed in classrooms-such as on bulletin boards-represent a wide range of diversity. Teachers should also contextualize issues within race, class, ethnicity, and gender.

High expectations for all students. Teachers should help students achieve academic success while still validating their cultural identities.

An appreciation for different communication styles. Teachers should understand different communication styles and modify classroom interactions accordingly. For example, many communities of color have an active, participatory style of communication. A teacher who doesn't understand this cultural context might think a student is being rude and tell the student to be quiet. The student may then shut down.

The use of multicultural instructional examples. Teachers should connect students' prior knowledge and cultural experiences with new knowledge.

Doesn't that require teachers to reinforce stereotypes about students of color and even discriminate against white children?

In short, no. While the academic framework of culturally responsive teaching and other asset-based pedagogies emerged from how to best support students of color, it evolved into a teaching approach that serves all students, regardless of their racial background.

Sharroky Hollie, the director of the nonprofit Center for Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning, works with teachers to practice what he calls cultural and linguistic responsiveness. In his work, he talks about the rings of culture, meaning the various aspects of students' identities that can impact how they interact with the world around them.

To Hollie, it's not just about thinking of ways to validate and incorporate a student's racial background into the classroom. It's not about thinking of students in a one-dimensional, stereotypical way. Culturally responsive teachers must also consider the student's gender, age, socio-economic status, whether they live in the suburbs or a rural area, and more.

"It's not as simplistic as we're trying to value our students of color," he said. "We're actually trying to value the rings of culture that they bring to our schools, regardless of their racial background."

For instance, in predominately white school districts, there are white students who, due to where they live or their family's socio-economic status, are underserved by their school district and could benefit from a culturally responsive approach to education, Hollie said.

What is culturally sustaining pedagogy, and how is it different than culturally relevant teaching?

Schools are still places where white norms are considered the default standard in the curricula, behavioral expectations, linguistic practices, and more. Culturally sustaining pedagogy says that students of color should not be expected to adhere to white middle-class norms, but their own cultural ways of being should be explored, honored, and nurtured by educators.

The framework builds on the work of Ladson-Billing and others but offers a "loving critique" that cultural relevance in the curriculum is not enough for students in today's world, given demographic shifts toward a more diverse society. Paris and Alim also argue that asset-based pedagogies, like culturally relevant teaching, traditionally haven't paid enough attention to young people's more fluid relationships with their identities.

Ladson-Billings has embraced the evolution of her foundational pedagogy, writing in 2014 that "culturally sustaining pedagogy uses culturally relevant pedagogy as the place where the beat drops." She also told Education Week that she is now paying close attention to how teenagers shape culture, an aspect that wasn't present in her original work.

It's important to remember that these asset-based pedagogies-culturally responsive, culturally relevant, and culturally sustainable, among others-are not in conflict with each other. While their frameworks vary, they all have the same goal of dismantling a deficit approach to educating students of color and focusing instead on their strengths, assets, and communities in the classroom.

What does the research say about the effectiveness of these teaching frameworks?

A 2016 synthesis of decades of research on culturally responsive teaching and related frameworks found that engaging in culturally affirming practices across subject matters, including mathematics and science, led to positive increases in students' understanding and engagement with academic skills and concepts.  For instance, students in high school math class could learn about statistics by assessing the probabilities of racial profiling cases in various neighborhoods or using other datasets applicable to their communities that bring up questions about justice and injustice.

Culturally responsive teaching and similar approaches to teaching also increased students' motivation, interest in content, and the perception of themselves as capable students, among other benefits, the study found. Brittany Aronson, an associate professor in educational leadership at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and a co-author of the study, said, whenever teachers drew direct connections between classroom lessons and students' experiences outside of school, students could see greater value in the academic content as it applies to the real world. Such work helps students see themselves as knowledge producers and researchers.

Overall, teaching that makes school relevant to students helps them succeed both in terms of quantitative measures such as high test scores, and more qualitative measures such as becoming life-long learners able to ask critical questions about the world around them, both in and out of school, Aronson said.

What are some examples of culturally responsive teaching?

Teachers who practice culturally responsive teaching have a classroom full of books featuring characters and images that represent a variety of ages, genders, ethnicities, and other types of diversity. They share the achievements and expertise of people from different ethnic groups in every subject area. They include multiple perspectives when discussing historical and contemporary events, including those from oppressed groups who are often left out of the narrative. And they encourage students to draw on their prior knowledge and cultural experiences to make connections to the academic content.

Culturally responsive teaching also must have an element of critical consciousness, where students are empowered to critique and analyze societal inequities. For example, Teddi Beam-Conroy, an associate teaching professor at the University of Washington, was teaching the Declaration of Independence to a class of 5th graders. When they got to the line that said, "All men are created equal," Beam-Conroy asked her students, "Who were the men who were considered equal at that point?" To illustrate the point, she asked everyone to stand up-and then told them to sit down if they didn't identify as male, if they didn't identify as white, or if their parents rented instead of owned a home.

That exercise opened the door to a conversation about how Americans weren't all equal in the late 18th century. Beam-Conroy's students discussed when women and African Americans got the right to vote-and what implications that has had on the composition of U.S. Congress or the Supreme Court. The critical consciousness piece is "examining how historically, power has been distributed and guarded among particular folks who make the laws," Beam-Conroy said. "Fifth graders can understand that."

Culturally responsive teaching can also involve a deeper reimagining of classroom codes of conduct. For instance, in some students' culture, talking while someone else talks shows how invested and engaged they are in the conversation, said Hollie with the Center for Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning. Culturally responsive teachers find ways to incorporate that verbal overlap into their lesson rather than seeing it as rude or worthy of discipline.

What isn't culturally responsive teaching?

Researchers note that some educators say they're practicing culturally responsive teaching, but it's an overly simplified version. For example, for some teachers, a multicultural school potluck meal or adding diverse books to their classroom library sufficiently counts as affirming students' culture in education. But culturally responsive teaching is deeper, more critical work.

"There's a tendency to truncate culturally responsive teaching to be about a whole myriad of things-it's about relationships, it's about anti-racist education, it's about diverse books," said Zaretta Hammond, the author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. "It's like that old parable of the king who asks nine blind men to describe an elephant. Each one grabs a different part of the elephant. 'Oh, it's flat and wide'-he's got the ear. 'No, it's like a rope'-he's got the tail. No one has the whole picture."

Too often, she said, white progressive educators view culturally responsive teaching as an add-on to their regular instruction instead of a fundamental shift in their pedagogy. For example, a teacher might think students of color just need to see themselves in order to feel motivated and do the work, so she'll incorporate diverse books into her classroom or syllabus-but not change anything to the content or her way of instruction.

Another common misconception is that culturally responsive teaching is a way of addressing student trauma, which is a deficit-based ideology that assumes the universal experience of people of color is one of trauma, Hammond said.

How widespread is culturally responsive teaching?

Most teacher-preparation programs have also incorporated culturally responsive teaching into their courses. And some school districts, including New York City and Baltimore City, have adopted a culturally responsive and/or sustaining approach to education.

Still, experts say it's difficult to pinpoint exactly how many teachers have adopted these asset-based pedagogies because some may use only certain tenets. For instance, helping students develop a critical consciousness is often ignored.

What does all of this have to do with critical race theory?

Critical race theory, broadly speaking, is an academic concept with the core idea that race is a social construct, and racism is not only the product of individual bias or prejudice but is also embedded in policies and systems, such as a legal system-or as some scholars such as Ladson-Billings propose, an educational system.

Aspiring K-12 teachers in graduate level courses may study aspects of critical race theory to better understand how school systems are designed in ways that don't serve the needs of students of color. But critical race theory is not taught as a guide for classroom instruction, nor is it typically used as a culturally relevant or culturally responsive lesson plan for kids and teens, said Aronson with Miami University.

Asset-based pedagogies, like culturally relevant or culturally responsive teaching, are not the same thing as critical race theory. They have different theoretical bases and different goals. However, there might be some commonalities-for example, the questions students are encouraged to ask about social systems, including education, may ring close to the consciousness critical race theory is meant to evoke.

In an interview with Education Week, Ladson-Billings stressed that culturally relevant teaching, as she defined it, has nothing to do with critical race theory. But opponents to critical race theory have glossed over those nuances, she said, adding that deliberative public debate is hard when people don't know what they're talking about.

"The attack on anything that allows more participation and moves us toward equity is going full force," she said.

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Here's what it means to be a culturally responsive teacher and where critical race theory ties in-or not.

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Start Your Journey: Grading for Equity Online Course

Discover how to transform your school and classroom with equitable grading practices that are accurate, bias-resistant, and motivational!

Now Introducing: Grading for Equity Community Book Study

The Grading for Equity Book Study is a new program for schools and districts that provides a structured approach to collectively engage teachers and administrators (and even caregivers and students!) in meaningful discussions about the why, the what, and the how of equitable grading.

Book Study sessions are 90 minutes in length and can be scheduled based on your school or district's calendar. Each session will be led by a Crescendo Education Group Facilitator and will be held remotely.

Quiz:
How Equitable Is Your Grading?

We all want equity in our districts, schools and classrooms. Teachers and school leaders: Find out how equitable your grading is, and ways to improve.

Bring Equitable Grading to Your PLC, School, or District

Students need equitable grading in every classroom in every school. Find resources to help others understand the urgency, ideas, and strategies of equitable grading.

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Grading for Equity: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Schools and Classrooms. A powerful and growing movement among professional educators.

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Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain

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Book - Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain

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Helping Students be the Leaders of their Learning

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Personalized Tutoring For All Ages

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At No Limits Tutoring, we strive to get results through grades, scores, confidence, study skills, discipline, attitude, or any other area a student may need.

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An interactive week of fun with science where we will explore the practical applications of scientific knowledge.

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Personalized Tutoring For All Ages Workshops College Essay Writing, ACT, SAT, Optics/Magnetism AP Physics Study at any level, from beginner to expert. Recently established but with years of experience, our staff is made up of the most specialized and accomplished teaching staff available.

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Is my child getting a great education? Is my child engaged and learning every day? How does the school make sure that all students are treated fairly? How do I know my child's teachers are effective? Will my child be prepared to succeed in whatever comes next?

These are just some of the questions included in the Parent Checklist developed by UNCF in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education, America Achieves, National Council of La Raza and National PTA.

"The Parent Checklist is an extension of UNCF's commitment to building a college-going culture within the African American community and providing support for getting more students to and through college." - Michael L. Lomax, Ph.D., UNCF President and CEO

Designed to help our nation's children get the quality education they need and deserve, the checklist's questions help parents and other caregivers address five key areas of teacher and school performance.

Quality:

Is my child getting a great education?

How will you keep me informed about how my child is doing on a regular basis?

How can we work together if my child falls behind?

Is my child on grade level and on track to be ready for college and a career?

Ready for Success:

Will my child be prepared to succeed in whatever comes next?

How will you measure my child's progress and ability in reading, math, science, the arts, social and emotional development and other activities?

How much time will my child spend preparing for and taking state and district tests?

How will my child's teacher and I know how to use the results to help my child make progress?

Safe and Healthy:

Is my child safe and cared for at school?

What programs are in place to ensure that the school is a safe, nurturing and positive environment?

What are the discipline and bullying policies at the school?

Are the meals and snacks provided healthy?

How much time is there for recess and/or exercise?

Great Teachers:

Is my child engaged and learning every day?

How do I know my child's teachers are effective?

How much time do teachers get to collaborate with one another?

What kind of professional development is available to teachers here?

Equity and Fairness:

Does my child, and every child at my child's school or program, have the opportunity to succeed and be treated fairly?

How does the school make sure that all students are treated fairly?

Does the school offer all students access to the classes they need to prepare them for success, including English language learners and students with special needs?

Other Issues and Resources

For more resources, download the Parent Checklist.

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Is my child getting a great education? Is my child engaged and learning every day? How does the school make sure that all students are treated fairly? How do I know my child's teachers are effective? Will my child be prepared to succeed in whatever comes next?

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Brainiac Tutoring. College-degreed tutors; helping students from K to College; flexible times & locations; ACT/SAT test prep; local business - we're your home-town tutors!

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We know that the most important thing to you, as a parent, is to provide your child the best opportunities to succeed in life. When a child struggles academically, confidence and self esteem can begin to crumble, and success may seem uncertain. Find out what the Bowie difference can mean to you and…

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People talk about 'culture shock' as if it is something only found when traveling internationally, and yes, visiting another country could certainly provide the phenomena. But most times, 'culture shock' can be experienced through even a simple change in your life.

My family moved from San Francisco, California to Colorado Springs in the middle of my sophomore year of high school. Although moving itself was a bit of a culture shock, it was nothing compared to switching from a large public school in California to a minuscule private school in Colorado.

I remember struggling the first day with the shocking differences between the two school systems. At a small Christian school with a student population of only 200, everyone noticed I was new. Students would rush over to try to greet me, but at my old school of 4000, a new kid in school could go unnoticed for the duration of their high school career. Fortunately, when I left behind my first high school, I also left behind all of the anger-fueled fistfights that occurred on an almost daily basis in the cafeteria. Transitioning to a private school, I was astounded by the amount of love and support I felt among my peers.

But the one thing that I did not expect through this transition was to truly experience freedom of speech for the first time in the classroom. At my high school in California, students were told that they could speak their minds on important topics and share their beliefs, but that only happened if you said what was expected. As extreme as that sounds, that statement is not an exaggeration. Sometimes, other students would even question their classmates to elicit a reaction. The moment that people found out that I came from a Christian home, I would get nonstop questions about whether I hated a specific person just because they were gay or if I judged another because she had recently given a speech about her abortion. But at my small private school, I felt the liberty to express my viewpoints, questions, and doubts on certain topics, even if it might have been a different view than what they expected of me as a believer.

At my private school, every senior was required to take a class on worldviews for a semester, which opened up daily conversations on the different outlooks on life. This class allowed for anyone to ask questions and raise doubts and concerns within the classroom setting. It was through these discussions that I was able to not only process what I had been indoctrinated in, whether good or bad, but to make my own decisions on my personal worldview.

Through my experiences, I have thought a lot about what type of school I would want my future kids to attend. Although I am so grateful for my final two years of private school education, I have never dismissed the value of the public system. I learned about different worldviews theoretically in my private school, but it was in my public school that I actually saw them play out in action and practice. Although I was able to openly learn about Christianity at the private school, it was in California that I learned love those who are and think differently than me. As much as I love the private education system, I treasure every year I spent discovering the Lord and myself through daily life in a public school.
Bianca Huerta is a summer intern with the Global Ministry Department at Focus on the Family. Last year, she started a blog where she discusses different topics within the realm of Christianity, as well as opening up hard discussions about shame, anxiety and vulnerability. Studying Youth Ministry and Psychology at Colorado Christian University, Bianca is working towards writing books for young adults on what it means to practically live out grace and truth.

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Culture Shock: What I Learned from Attending Both Public and Private Schools

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
People talk about 'culture shock' as if it is something only found when traveling internationally, and yes, visiting another country could certainly provide the phenomena. But most times, 'culture shock' can be experienced through even a simple change in your life.

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Why A Private School's Culture REALLY Matters

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If you've been reading this blog for a while, you've probably read my posts about "school culture" or a school's vibe. That's because I think it is one of the most important things to know about L.A. private schools. Ideally, you'll learn as much about the school's culture as possible before you enroll your kid.

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Introduction

If you're reading this guide, perhaps something similar is happening in your child's school. Perhaps the school has issued an "antiracism statement" denouncing itself as racist or white supremacist. Perhaps it has required parents and students to attend training on "diversity, equity, and inclusion." Perhaps such discussion is leaking into your child's classes-not just in history or English but math and science. Perhaps your children have come home talking about how their whiteness, or blackness, or Asian-ness, or Hispanic-ness, really defines who they are, not their individual personality, hopes, and dreams.

In the wake of the death of George Floyd in May 2020, Black Lives Matter protests across the country ignited a burst of institutional changes in colleges and companies. High schools were not immune, as scores of students used social media to charge their peers and teachers with racial offenses from the slight to the obscene.[ 7]

In response, teachers and administrators have felt about for how to respond to accusations of racism that, quite reasonably, horrified them. Whether through preexisting school diversity offices, conferences, or the Internet, many have settled on a particular, radical brand of race theory-the theory now coursing through so many schools, including perhaps your child's.

Critical Pedagogy

An appropriate name for this phenomenon has proved elusive: "wokeness," "the successor ideology," or "neo-racism" have all been floated. In the context of schooling, sometimes critics allude to "critical race theory" (CRT), a school of thought in law schools that has been adapted into the educational domain. But because CRT is both overinclusive (it includes concepts not used in schools) and underinclusive (not all the ideas emergent in schools come from CRT), it is not the most apt name for what's going on.

Rather, what we are interested in here might be termed "critical pedagogy." "Critical pedagogy" names-without exhaustively defining-the host of concepts, terms, practices, and theories that have lately taken hold in many public and private schools. This term alludes to a connection to CRT-it might be thought of as critical race theory as applied to schooling-but also to "critical studies" and "critical theory," a broader set of contemporary philosophical ideas that have been particularly influential in certain circles of the modern Left.

In the American context, ideas espoused by proponents of critical pedagogy are the product of an influential group of thinkers in the 1970s and 1980s who were disappointed with the progress made on racial equality in America after the end of the civil rights movement. Given persistent racial disparities of wealth, health, and educational outcomes, critical pedagogy advocates argue that ostensible advances in racial relations are, in fact, a cover for persistent white supremacy that, they say, is inextricably entwined with the very fabric of American society.

Given this outlook, any particular racial inequality is taken to be evidence-indeed, a product-of racism. In an educational context, proponents of critical pedagogy claim that lower academic achievement and test scores among black or Hispanic students, higher dropout rates, school discipline, and nonrepresentative racial composition in admissions to selective private and public high schools are all evidence of persistent, systematic white supremacy.

This theory is behind many changes taking place in our schools. Constant conversation about race, including compelling students to identify and sort themselves along racial lines, is meant to resist "colorblindness." Endless workshops teach students to overcome their "white fragility" and embrace "antiracism." Efforts to end standardized testing are taken to be a blow against the "myth of meritocracy"-the presumption that educational outcomes reflect an individual's natural talent and hard work. Most important, students must be repeatedly reminded that theirs is a racist, white supremacist, nation, in whose crimes they are daily complicit.

Fighting Back

If all this makes you uncomfortable, you are not alone. Parents across the country are increasingly worried about the extremism spreading in their children's schools. These parents are not bigots and racists-they endorse tolerance and respect for all people and believe in equal justice under the law. They believe, as Martin Luther King, Jr., said, that people should be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. This is precisely why they are ill at ease with critical pedagogy, with its emphasis on teaching children that their skin color does matter-and that it is perhaps the only thing that matters.

Critical pedagogy has been germinating in our schools for decades, but its recent explosion has galvanized many parents to action. If you are with them-if you, like them, believe that the solution to racism and intolerance is not the further entrenching of ethnic stereotypes and division by race-then this toolkit is for you.

This guide is meant to give parents who are concerned about critical pedagogy a starting place to begin to respond to it in their children's school. The next section of this toolkit presents a glossary of critical pedagogy terms to give you the tools to understand what, exactly, your school's administrators mean by "antiracism" or "implicit bias." The final section offers groundwork for how to get organized, steps inspired by conversations with parent activists who have already been successful in this project.

If you are a parent worried about your child's miseducation but afraid to speak up for fear of being called a "bigot" and a "racist," recognize this: you are not alone, and thousands of parents like you are preparing to fight back.
A CRITICAL PEDAGOGY GLOSSARY
Proponents of critical pedagogy speak a complicated, often confusing, language of their own. They go on about "white fragility" and indict "white supremacy"; they complain about "implicit bias" and "microaggressions." Understanding what they mean is important in understanding what critical pedagogy is. It's also valuable for demystifying this often-confusing ideology, which is the first step to combating it.

The glossary that follows offers detailed definitions of commonly used critical pedagogy terms. While some criticism of certain ideas is offered, the focus is more on offering an explanation of these ideas in the terms and language of their proponents, in order to give you a better grasp on how their users think and feel.

- Achievement Gap -

The source of this gap, its persistence, and how to close it are all subjects of debate. The Obama administration identified key goals for closing the gap, including requiring a high, uniform standard for academic instruction, using statewide measures of student progress, increasing access to high-quality preschools, and holding schools that do not show progress accountable.[ 11]

Critical pedagogy advocates, however, see the achievement gap as proof of the persistence of racism and white supremacy. Gloria Ladson-Billings-a former professor of education at the University of Wisconsin who helped introduce critical race theory to education-rejected the idea of an "achievement gap" in her 2006 presidential address to the American Educational Research Association.[ 12] Instead, she called disparities in test scores an "education debt" that comprised accrued injustices done to black and Hispanic students and that is enshrined in school funding disparities. (Complicating this narrative, research shows that poor school districts receive slightly more funding than rich, and within districts, poor and minority students receive slightly more funding-1%-2% on average-than non-poor, white students.)[ 13]

More recent commentators have put it in blunter terms. Bettina Love, a professor of education at the University of Georgia, has written that "the achievement gap is not about White students outperforming dark students; it is about a history of injustice and oppression," identifying it entirely with "racism and White rage," which has left students as metaphorical "sharecroppers" unable to escape the debt.[ 14]

Others have argued that the idea of a gap is per se racist. Boston University professor and "antiracism" commentator Ibram Kendi has argued that the racist roots of standardized testing invalidate such assessments.[ 15] Kendi prefers different standards of achievement for different students:

What if different environments actually cause different kinds of achievement rather than different levels of achievement? What if the intellect of a poor, low testing Black child in a poor Black school is different-and not inferior-to the intellect of a rich, high-testing White child in a rich White school?. . . What if we measured literacy by how knowledgeable individuals are about their own environment: how much individuals knew all those complex equations and verbal and nonverbal vocabularies of their everyday life? What if we measured intellect by an individual's desire to know? What if we measured intellect by how open an individual's mind is to self-critique and new ideas?[ 16]

Responding to this view in the Washington Post, liberal commentator Matthew Yglesias notes that we could accept Kendi's analysis, but "the fact remains that if African American children continue to be less likely to learn to read and write and do math than White children, and less likely to graduate from high school, then this will contribute to other unequal outcomes down the road."[ 17]

- Affinity Group -

The term "affinity group," broadly construed, signifies a group organized within a school or workplace that is defined by its members' shared interest or identity-most often, but not exclusively, their racial or sexual identity. In an educational context, an affinity group is meant to give students a space to discuss their experience of their identity within the classroom context-an opportunity, proponents argue, to process the experience of feeling different in their school.[ 18]

In addition to affinity groups focusing on minority identities, some encourage the formation of "white" affinity groups. Although these are meant to foster criticism among the members about their own supposed shortcomings, such as "white fragility," they also serve to reinforce white racial identity.[ 22] By differentiating students by race or ethnicity and privileging certain categories over others, affinity groups may promote bullying-as, for example, Jewish students at one prestigious New York prep school reported:

For many of Fieldston's Jewish families, several told me, what distinguishes the problem at their school can be traced to the recently implemented Affinity Group program.... At the time, several families asked the school to add a Jewish affinity group; they acknowledged that no other religious group was offered, but argued that Jewishness should also be seen as a marker of ethnic and minority identity-not least because it has been seen so for centuries by oppressors of Jews. According to several parents, they were politely but firmly told that no such group would be forthcoming.... As certain teachers remodeled their courses, Jewish students found that their concerns about anti-Semitism were met by classmates who plainly suggested that, first, they should be considered white and privileged-and that second, as such, they could not be considered victims of discrimination.[ 23]

- Antiracism -

The canonical contemporary characterization of "antiracism" (sometimes stylized "anti-racism") is drawn from Ibram Kendi, who writes:

The opposite of "racist" isn't "not racist." It is "antiracist." What's the difference? One endorses either the idea of a racial hierarchy as a racist, or racial equality as an antiracist.... One either allows racial inequities to persevere, as a racist, or confronts racial inequities, as an antiracist. There is no in-between safe space of "not racist." The claim of "not racist" neutrality is a mask for racism.[ 24]

Within this framework, "racist" ostensibly loses the pejorative meaning with which it is popularly associated. Instead, it is meant to be purely descriptive. That's because calling things "racist" is, in Kendi's view, the way we reduce racism: "the only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it-and then dismantle it."[ 25] (See also: Colorblindness.)

But racism is also, on this view, much more than overt bigotry or bias. One guide to teaching teachers about antiracism defines racism as "an institutionalized system of economic, political, social, and cultural relations that ensures that one racial group has and maintains power and privilege over all others in all aspects of life," adding that "in the United States, Whites are automatically considered members of the dominant group, and people of color, including Asian-Pacific American, Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans, are automatically considered members of the subordinate or dominated group. The individual's relationship to racism is defined by group membership; so too are his or her responsibilities for anti-racism."[ 26]

More generally, antiracism is taken to mean opposition to white supremacy broadly construed. In the classroom, antiracism can mean the mandatory embrace of critical race theory, culturally responsive teaching, and restorative justice practices-all of which are ostensibly actively antiracist, i.e., working to dismantle the racist systems that their proponents identify as all-pervasive. Antiracism practices are distinguished by an almost compulsive willingness to label behaviors or policies as racist. Proponents say that doing so is key to combating racism, but critics argue that constantly identifying racial difference simply reinforces it.

- Colorblindness -

Critical pedagogy advocates regularly assert that it is important to talk about race-to consciously identify people with their racial category and to emphasize race in conversations about social institutions, including schools. This attitude is often constructed in opposition to the notion of "colorblindness," the "belief that racial group membership and race-based differences should not be taken into account when decisions are made, impressions are formed, and behaviors are enacted." Colorblindness, opponents and proponents agree, is a strategy for combating racism: "if people or institutions do not even notice race, then they cannot act in a racially biased manner."[ 27]

Whether we ought to be colorblind bears on a host of socially salient issues, so opponents argue that we ought to consider race in "college-admissions criteria, promotion guidelines, public policy, and legal adjudication."[ 31] In schools, critical pedagogy advocates argue that colorblindness has contributed to the achievement gap by ignoring racial injustice as an explanation of disparities in schooling outcome, rather than individual failures: "The discourse of color blindness allows school adults to disregard the racial identities of students by solely viewing them as individuals who are divorced from the social, economic, and cultural factors that shape their past and present experiences."[ 32]

- Critical Race Theory -

Much of the language identified in this glossary emerges out of a scholarly tradition called "critical race theory" (CRT), a set of ideas that emerged from law school professors but has since spread among education professors and others.

As Gloria Ladson-Billings describes it, CRT was first "a counterlegal scholarship to the positivist and liberal legal discourse of civil rights," criticizing "the slow pace of racial reform in the United States."[ 36] Some radical scholars, frustrated that the civil rights movement had not ended racial inequality, began to embrace more radical criticisms of the American legal order. The theory, CRT founder Richard Delgado writes, builds on the traditions of "radical feminism" as well as "critical legal studies," a more general legal movement critical of the effects of the civil rights movement.[ 37]

CRT scholars unified around a few basic propositions: an assumption that racism is "endemic" to American life, a call for a reinterpretation of civil rights law "in light of its ineffectuality," and a challenge to "legal neutrality, objectivity, color-blindness, and meritocracy" as tools of dominant groups and thereby an "insistence on subjectivity."[ 38] Kimberlé Crenshaw, another major CRT voice, identifies the critical approach as one that strives to identify legal "ideology and discourse as a social artifact which operates to recreate and legitimate American society," meaning that objective norms-legal or, in the case of critical pedagogy, educational-are a "fortifying earthworks" that uphold white supremacy.[ 39]

Though it began as a legal movement, CRT spread into the K-12 education field with the early work of Ladson- Billings and colleague William F. Tate IV.[ 43] In that space, CRT advocates focus on what they see as persistent instances of white supremacy, as characterized by phenomena such as "colorblindness, meritocracy, deficit thinking, linguicism, and other forms of subordination." Curriculum, for example, is "a culturally specific artifact designed to maintain a White Supremacist master script." Attempts to specifically help minority students are actually designed to "control."[ 44]

CRT K-12 scholars have offered various examples of critical race pedagogy, such as the use of "African proverbs" or hip-hop as "counternarratives" that must be made "a key component of school curriculum" because failing to do so "alienate[ s]" black students.[ 45] These scholars also tend to emphasize the need for hiring more minority teachers and focus on funding disparities between majority-minority and majority-white school districts. (See also: Achievement Gap.)

- Culturally Responsive Teaching -

Geneva Gay, a researcher at the University of Washington, defines culturally responsive teaching as "using the cultural characteristics, experiences, and perspectives of ethnically diverse students as conduits for teaching," which ostensibly facilitates better acquisition and retention of information. Culturally responsive teaching encourages teachers to understand their students through the lens of the culture from which they come, arguing that they "need to know," for example, "which ethnic groups" prioritize "communal living and cooperative problem solving,"; "different ethnic groups' protocols of appropriate ways for children to interact with adults"; and different ways of "gender role socialization in different ethnic groups"-all of which teachers should take into account.[ 46]

Culturally responsive teaching is sometimes presented as an alternative to a "more traditional," "carrot-andstick" approach to teaching, which tries to motivate better outcomes through grades, competitive assessments, and the like. Against this model, culturally responsive teaching aims to elicit the child's "true" self, "chang[ing] the concept of motivation from reward and punishment to communication and respect," by engaging with his or her culture.[ 47] This is meant to help address the achievement gap: "Because culture strongly influences the attitudes, values, and behaviors that students and teachers bring to the instructional process," one analysis puts it, "better teacher preparation is a major factor in solving the problems of underachievement."[ 48]

Culturally responsive teaching endorses a particular approach to curricular design, indicating that practitioners ought to be "dealing directly with controversy; studying a wide range of ethnic individuals and groups; contextualizing issues within race, class, ethnicity, and gender; and including multiple kinds of knowledge and perspectives."[ 49] That may appear in the history classroom or the English classroom but also in the STEM fields. A recent publication on "dismantling racism in mathematics instruction," for example, endorsed using "culturally relevant" practices in the classroom such as "us[ing] Ankara fabric to teach mathematical concepts such as tessellations, fractions, area, percentages, etc."[ 50]

While "traditional" classrooms encourage students to listen quietly and respond to didactic questions, culturally responsive teaching researchers contend that "the communicative styles of most racially and ethnically diverse groups are more active, participatory, dialectic, and multimodal" and encourage the use of "communal communication styles."[ 51] Such notions naturally overlap with concepts of "white" and "nonwhite" cultural norms (see also: White Supremacy), with many CRT advocates arguing that "direct, precise, deductive, and linear" communication styles are a feature of "white" culture alien to "nonwhite" cultures.[ 52]

- Equity -

In an educational context, advocates of critical pedagogy argue that their views promote equity in the classroom by treating students differently and therefore catering to their distinct needs. In order to promote equity in the classroom, one guide proposes:

Stopping teaching to "call in" comments deemed insensitive: specifically singling out students in the middle of class when they say something out of line with the teacher's views on race, sex, gender, etc.

"Setting the tone for learning" by having students identify their social backgrounds before class begins and telling them that "this is going to be in the room with us."

Taking into account students' "backgrounds, identities, and experiences" when teaching, specifically by identifying students' "various sexualities, races, genders, ethnicities" and treating students differently based on those identities. (See also: Culturally Responsive Teaching.)[56]

- Implicit Bias -

Implicit biases are prejudicial "attitudes, behaviors, and actions" that occur "automatically and unintentionally" but that still affect "judgements, decisions, and behaviors."[ 57] These are differentiated from explicit biases, which are more overt expressions of prejudice or hate.

Implicit biases are often blamed for the perpetuation of racial inequality in an ostensibly "color-blind" society-black-white gaps persist, and individuals continue to experience discrimination and racism, even as large swaths of American society explicitly condemn those things. Implicit biases are thought to help explain this apparent disparity: even though we may make no explicitly racist comments, deeply ingrained and culturally determined tendencies toward adverse racial judgments still color our actions and thereby sustain inequalities.

In an educational context, critical pedagogy advocates are often concerned with the implicit biases of teachers toward their students. Because teaching often entails snap judgment, implicit biases are thought to contribute to or produce disparate outcomes among students of different races. In the disciplinary context, for example, ambiguous infractions like "disruptive behavior" or "disrespect" are ultimately a matter of judgment, a judgment call that some blame for the disciplinary gap between black and white students. (See: Restorative Justice.) Similarly, implicit bias can be blamed for disparities in positive treatment of students.[ 58]

- Meritocracy -

Meritocracy is the proposition that "positions and goods be distributed solely in accordance with individual merit," as opposed to other qualifications like family connections, social class, or wealth.[ 65] As defined by British sociologist Michael Young, the originator of the term, merit refers to "one's IQ plus effort."[ 66] A meritocratic system, then, is one in which positions-academic admissions, jobs, wealth, etc.-are allocated based on skill.

In the domain of education, meritocracy is often identified by proponents, as well as critics, with test-taking[ 67]-the SAT but also test-based admissions to selective public high schools like New York City's specialized high schools. The allocation of societal success based on educational attainment-the dream of widespread public education-is another example of meritocracy.

Proponents of critical pedagogy-and CRT more generally-tend to argue that meritocracy is a myth, an ideological justification of the status quo that covers for the fact that goods are allocated in alignment with the principles of white supremacy.[ 68]

Because racism is considered by CRT proponents to be always and everywhere operative in contemporary American society, a truly meritocratic system is thought to be impossible-some have even argued that simply believing in meritocracy can lead to worse outcomes for black people.[ 69] Rather, the "myth of meritocracy" dismisses racial achievement gaps as a product of endemic racism.[ 70]

These critiques extend to the educational system. Standardized testing, for example, is compromised by differences in practical knowledge across cultures, or by "stereotype threat," described as "a psychological phenomenon that depresses the performance of negatively stereotyped groups when performing stereotype-relevant tasks" (i.e., tasks that are in some way linked to or implicate stereotypes).[ 71] Such criticisms have been leveled against institutions like specialized high schools.[ 72]

Instead, proponents of critical pedagogy are prone to criticize meritocracy, including in their classrooms. Doing so, three scholars write in the college education context, is essential for helping students overcome their belief in the myth of meritocracy and showing them "why an adherence to meritocracy is, we believe, an anathema to teaching for social justice."[ 73]

- Microaggression -

Some critics of the spread of critical pedagogy observe that overt racism-bigoted language or discriminatory policy-is increasingly rare. Arguing against this, advocates of critical pedagogy sometimes point to "microaggresions"-statements or behaviors that ostensibly perpetuate injustice through tiny (thus "micro") actions rather than big gestures.

More precisely, and as defined by a scholarly article that is key to popularizing the concept, microaggressions "are brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color. Perpetrators of microaggressions are often unaware that they engage in such communications when they interact with racial/ethnic minorities."[ 74] The concept has been extended from the domain of race to other "oppressed" groups, e.g., women or LGBT-identified people. Phrases identified as microaggressions often appear innocuous to the average American. Thus, "America is a melting pot" reinforces colorblindness. "I believe the most qualified person should get the job" engages the myth of meritocracy. Another example: asking a Latino/Asian person where he or she is from.[ 75]

Columbia University sociologist Musa al-Gharbi notes that "there is virtually no systematic research detailing if and how microaggressions are harmful, for whom, and under what circumstances (indeed, there is not even robust conceptual clarity in the literature as to what constitutes a microaggression)."[ 79] Scott Lilienfeld, a professor of psychology at Emory University, argued that the constitutive premises behind microaggressions lack a basis in the research literature, as well as a connection to other research, and are not even systematically well defined enough to bear serious scientific investigation.[ 80]

- Restorative Justice -

One proposed solution to this supposed problem is the application of "restorative justice" principles to the school discipline context. In a criminal-justice context, "restorative justice" refers to alternative-to-incarceration approaches that strive to repair the harm of a crime through mediated interactions between victim and victimizer.[ 84]

In the schooling context, "there is confusion about what [restorative justice] is and no consensus about the best way to implement it."[ 85] However, proposed approaches include individual or community "conferences" in which the injured party can address the harms done; peer mediation or "peer juries" by which students resolve disputes themselves; and the use of "socio-emotional learning" techniques to encourage the healthy management of emotion.[ 86]

"Abolitionist education" commentator Bettina Love has called for "an end to the school-to-prison pipeline through the decriminalization of schools by removing security guards, metal detectors, and police and with deliberate speed, inserting restorative justice and mindful practices in schools and communities alike. Every child needs a counselor or therapist."[ 87]

The restorative justice approach is not without drawbacks. Firmer discipline can deter students from committing infractions, as well as indirectly benefit students by removing disruptive peers from the classroom.[ 88] A randomized controlled trial conducted by the nonpartisan RAND Corporation in Pittsburgh public schools found that restorative practices reduced student suspensions but also caused peers to report that fellow students were less respectful and supportive, and reduced math achievement for middle school students, black students, and students in schools that are predominantly black. It also found that there was no effect on student arrests, disputing the claimed effect on the "school-to-prison pipeline."[ 89]

That confirms earlier research by University of Georgia economist Josh Kinsler, who found that the net effect of discipline on student performance was positive after the effects of disruptive students were taken into account.[ 90] Similarly, researchers from the University of Arkansas found a "null to positive effect" of out-of-school suspension on student test scores, indicating, as they put it, "while policymakers may have other reasons to limit exclusionary discipline, we should not expect academic gains to follow."[ 91]

- White Fragility -

One of the newer additions to the critical glossary, "white fragility," is a term popularized by professor of education and diversity consultant Robin DiAngelo in her 2018 book of the same title.[ 92] As summarized in an earlier paper from which her book draws, white fragility names an alleged tendency among white people to respond defensively or aggressively when challenged on their views on race:

White people in North America live in a social environment that protects and insulates them from race-based stress. This insulated environment of racial protection builds white expectations for racial comfort while at the same time lowering the ability to tolerate racial stress, leading to what I refer to as White Fragility. White Fragility is a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves. These moves include the outward display of emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and behaviors such as argumentation, silence, and leaving the stress-inducing situation. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium.[ 93]

According to DiAngelo, white fragility can play a role in education, helping reinforce white supremacy (see the following entry) by giving white educators and principals an excuse to avoid difficult racial conversations.[ 94] Other critical pedagogy advocates have identified white fragility with the promotion of a "core" or "traditional foundation" in the curriculum and "resistance to multicultural efforts in schools."[ 95]

The term has been embraced by leading teachers' unions, including the National Educators Association, which required the teaching of white fragility in its training and staff development in 2019.[ 96]

Some commentators, however, have been critical of the notion of white fragility. John McWhorter, a linguist, Columbia University professor, and liberal public commentator who is black, has pointed out that when white participants in DiAngelo's diversity seminars react poorly to being called a racist, it is taken as more confirmation of DiAngelo's thesis. This is an example of the general phenomenon of what technologist Eric S. Raymond calls a "Kafka trap," an argument of the form "Your refusal to acknowledge that you are guilty of {sin, racism, sexism, homophobia, oppression...} confirms that you are guilty of {sin, racism, sexism, homophobia, oppression...}." McWhorter also calls DiAngelo's treatment of black people "condescending," assuming, as it does, that they require others to be "exquisitely sensitive to [their] feelings" to achieve racial harmony and equality.[ 97]

- White Supremacy -

When most readers hear the term "white supremacy," they likely think of the most extreme examples: Jim Crow, the Confederacy, the Ku Klux Klan. But the term is applied with a far greater frequency by advocates of critical pedagogy, who see white supremacy as "the water we are swimming in," as one middle school principal put it in the pages of Education Week.[ 98]

That, they claim, is because white supremacy-the belief that white people are systematically superior to nonwhite people-still pervades our culture, including our schools. As Bettina Love puts it, antiracist education must "help educators understand and recognize America and its schools as spaces of Whiteness, White rage, and White supremacy, all of which function to terrorize students of color,"[ 99] adding that "education from the outset was built on White supremacy, anti-Blackness, and sexism."[ 100]

That "white supremacist culture" is reflected in a series of ideas that, critical theorists argue, hide white supremacy behind seemingly neutral concepts. One widely cited source on the topic, Tema Okun and Kenneth Jones's essay "White Supremacy Culture," identifies perfectionism, "a sense of urgency," "worship of the written word," "fear of open conflict," individualism, and "objectivity" as among the characteristics of "white supremacy culture."[ 101] Similarly, in summer 2020, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, a Smithsonian Institution museum, published an information sheet identifying "whiteness" and "white culture" with ideas like "objective, rational, linear thinking," "hard work is the key to success," and "plan[ning] for [the] future" (the sheet was subsequently taken down amid public backlash).[ 102]

Asked to describe how white supremacy appears in schools, prominent antiracist education experts stated: "Tone policing, tokenization and objectification, over-managing, expectation of being super-people" and white supremacy's appearance "in tests, in the emphasis on skills, in zero-tolerance policies."[ 103] White supremacy is thought to be the core system perpetuating disparities in outcomes between white and nonwhite children-the achievement gap-meaning that adopting critical pedagogy is considered essential for ensuring equity.

What Can Parents Do?

If you're reading this guide, you might be facing the emergence of critical pedagogy in your child's or children's school. The glossary may give you a better understanding of what advocates of critical pedagogy are about, by defining some of their most used terms. If you've come this far and decided that you'd like to take action, the remainder of this toolkit is focused on helping you think through how to do so.

The following advice is based on conversations with a number of activists, journalists, and others who have spent the past several years pushing back on critical pedagogy in their children's and others' schools. It is not meant to be comprehensive but rather a starting point-a way for you to begin thinking about how you can take an active hand in making your child's school a better place for him or her to learn.
First Steps
What follows are a few principles to keep in mind before taking action.
Proportionality
We are all probably aware of the most controversial instances of critical pedagogy in classrooms: the Buffalo, New York, school district that told students that they must become "activists for antiracism" instead of focusing on their failing test scores,[ 104] or the California model "ethnic studies" curriculum that speaks approvingly of Aztec human sacrifice,[ 105] to name just two cases. That these incidents made it into the national news means that they are rarefied examples of critical pedagogy at its most expansive.

By contrast, maybe the problem you are dealing with is a single assignment that your child's teacher has handed out-something that might have been hastily scraped from a seemingly reliable website. You could respond by calling down the school board or launching a boycott-but doing so may induce the board to circle the wagons and force a conflict where a few simple words would have made the problem evaporate.

But at times, you do need to prepare for an extended fight. When resolving any problem-including the problem of dangerous falsehoods in your child's classroom-it's important to make your response proportional to the scale of the issue. Throughout the rest of this section of the guide, we'll cover solutions ranging from a polite conversation to total parent boycott. Remember: start small and think about the scale of the problem before you go nuclear.
The Minority Rule
There is rarely such a thing as a truly popular movement, and the spread of critical pedagogy is no exception. Most diversity initiatives at major schools are spearheaded by administrators, often in a specifically designated department of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); social media protests are often instigated by a small group of students or alumni, not a spontaneous and uncoordinated mass action.

The point is not about the legitimacy of these movements but about how they operate. A small group of people who demand something will generally get the compliance of the majority who are indifferent. This is what mathematician, investor, and social critic Nassim Taleb calls the "minority rule": the insight that majorities will follow minorities' preferences if the latter are intransigent and the former are "flexible."[ 106]

This is a useful principle to understand not only because it allows you to focus on the minority of actors who are driving the change to which you object; it also makes you aware that you and other parents like you can together become an intransigent minority. If you're more stubborn than the most stubborn proponent of critical pedagogy in your school, you may win through intransigence alone.
Effective Persuasion
In every step of the process, it's important to keep in mind how you're communicating, which means keeping in mind with whom you're communicating. Your fundamental goal is a change at some level, whether it be in your child's classroom or across the whole school. To attain that change, you need to convince someone-a teacher, a principal, a school board-and therefore you need to think about effective persuasion.

In general, being polite and conciliatory is the correct first move-you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. No one thinks of himself as a bad guy, including a teacher teaching your child something you don't want your child to learn. If you go in guns blazing, you are more likely to elicit a defensive response, which will move you further away from your goal. Do not allow politeness to make you a pushover-your goal should be calm and reasonable but firm.

That said, do not discount the effectiveness of getting angry, particularly if you find that you need to escalate past a one-on-one conversation. Advocates of critical pedagogy have wrung huge changes out of administrations through pressure campaigns built on assertions of "righteous rage" and "justified anger." The squeaky wheel, as it were, gets the grease, and you should not be afraid to match your opponents' level of being demanding-after all, it has been successful for them.

Another insight that can be gleaned from paying attention to critical pedagogy advocates: a story is worth a thousand arguments. The persuasiveness of so-called critical race stories comes from their pathos-anecdotes are a powerful tool for swaying public emotion, and you should actively strive to use them. You can outline why you think critical pedagogy is bad; but actual stories of how these practices are hurting kids are far more effective in changing the minds of administrators-never mind the community at large.
Solving the Problem Yourself
As mentioned, it's important to adapt your response to the scale of the problem. Before you do anything, assess the level at which the problem is happening. Although curricular guidelines may be set at the school district or even the state level, day-to-day decisions about what your children are reading and learning are still mostly in the hands of teachers. So start by consulting with their teachers: Is their use of a critical pedagogy resource a one-off, or is it part of a deliberate learning plan? Are they incorporating a variety of perspectives, or only offering one view? You may find that a simple conversation can get you further than you would have thought.

If the original teacher is recalcitrant, it's time to move up the administrative ladder. In a public school, that might mean the head of the division, the principal, and then the district superintendent's office. Be calm and polite but persistent-administrators should see you as someone who demands to be taken seriously. In a private school, that might mean going to the head of the division, followed by the head of the school.

While you're still prosecuting your issue on an individual level, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

Document everything. Make sure to save e-mails and take notes after meetings. Consider recording conversations-but be aware that this may be interpreted as hostile before you need to become hostile. If you do record conversations, be aware of the laws surrounding recording in your state.[107]

Consider whether you want to press for your child to be able to opt out of the objectionable lesson/content. Such opt-outs have long existed-for example, for parents concerned about the content of sex education classes. Rather than asking your teacher/administrator to change the curriculum for everyone else, consider the pros and cons of keeping it away from your own child.

Don't let yourself be bullied. A major feature of critical pedagogy is the way that it dispatches critics through personal invective and guilt by association-dissenters are tarred as "racists," "white supremacists," and the like. You should recognize that these assertions are nothing more than an attempt to intimidate you; do not let these words have power over you. If you hold firm, the most ardent critical pedagogy advocates will quickly discover that they've run out of ammo.

Getting Organized
Maybe your efforts to address the problem one-on-one have gone nowhere, or maybe the problem was too big for a one-on-one solution. Some schools have implemented large-scale critical pedagogy programs, with the full endorsement of the administration and associated staff. In situations like that, your complaint about one teacher isn't going to cut it. What you need, then, is to move from solving the problem yourself to working in concert with other parents.

In fact, operating as a lone wolf may make it easier for the administration to dismiss your concerns. Be wary of techniques designed to mollify you without addressing the problem: for example, offering you a teacher's aide position, or a favored teacher for your child next year, or bringing in the PTA to outnumber you.

Your first step is to identify other parents who are sympathetic to your concerns and skeptical of the school's new direction. This is easier said than done-in a school that has fully leaned in to critical pedagogy, those who speak out critically may find themselves ostracized. You may need to be the first person to step forward by speaking out publicly, such as at a PTA meeting or over a parent e-mail list. Alternately, if you observe others expressing discontent or being reticent, approach them.

Another approach is to give parents an anonymous forum to vent, and then form connections. At Los Angeles's Harvard-Westlake school, an Instagram page called "Woke at Harvard-Westlake" has documented critical pedagogy excesses over the past year. It includes a public-facing e-mail address and form so that parents and students can contact its anonymous administrator(s).[ 108] Such an anonymous venue could highlight absurdities in your school as well as help build connections.

A key reality of establishing a group of parents is that the bigger the group becomes, the easier it gets. That's because another parent you bring in might know two more sympathetic parents. But it's also because the bigger the group becomes, the easier it is to be comfortable affiliating with it-knowing that five other people are on your side is exponentially more comforting than knowing that only one person is.

After you have more than two or three parents on your side, it may make sense to create a central venue for coordination. An e-mail list works well, as does a group chat application like WhatsApp or Discord. For those who are particularly concerned about privacy, encrypted apps like Signal or Keybase may be a better option.

Being aware of other parents' privacy concerns is paramount to organizing a successful group. Particularly in private schools, where enrollment is at the discretion of the administration, parents might fear that dissenting from pedagogical practices will hurt their kids' educational future. Giving parents a variety of options to disclose information about themselves to you might be a useful way to build their confidence and trust-ultimately producing a more cohesive group. Encourage parents to engage anonymously in a text chat, and then encourage an in-person meeting when they seem comfortable doing so.
Responding as a Group
Once you've organized even a small group of parents, you want to think about how to make your voice heard at school. Consider a similar escalation strategy to the one outlined above in "Solving the Problem Yourself"-approach a problematic teacher, and if that proves futile, work your way up. In general, at this stage, you have two goals: the ultimate goal of correcting the problematic behavior; and the instrumental goal of attracting more parents to your cause.

You should consider the medium by which you and your group of parents communicate your displeasure. Parents at the Dalton School in New York, for example, penned an anonymous letter to the administration condemning the school's turn toward critical pedagogy; parents in the Southlake, Texas, public school district pushed through an entirely new school board.[ 109] But you could also consider asking for a sit-down meeting before moving to that step. Remember the principle of proportionality: only escalate if your less aggressive response is not getting the desired results.

You should consider the trade-offs of anonymity. As mentioned, some parents will be uncomfortable attaching their names to any opposition to the school's "diversity" agenda, particularly if you are in a private school where your child has no formal right to attend. At the same time, anonymity is inherently delegitimizing: the Dalton letter gives no sense of how many or which parents are opposed to your school's critical pedagogy agenda. This gives opponents an opportunity to dismiss you as a small, irrelevant group-or as not confident enough of, or committed enough to, your views to defend them publicly. Be aware that at a certain point, anonymity will no longer be tenable.

Once you have tried direct conversation and accepted the need to go public, many responses become available. You could consider organizing your group to write letters to the editor of your local newspaper (more on this in the next section), attend your local PTA or school board meeting en masse, and even organize a real-life protest, as parents did after D.C.-area magnet high school Thomas Jefferson dumped its race-blind admissions test.[ 110]

If you are a private school parent, now may also be a time to consider talking about annual contributions to the school, one of the few points of leverage that such parents have over their schools' administrations that advocates of critical pedagogy usually do not. A group of parents can inform their school that they will not be giving annual contributions if divisive material remains in the curriculum. Doing so connects the issue to the school's bottom line and may instigate change.

To the extent possible, it pays to be aware of the diversity of the people presenting criticism of an ideology that has framed itself, however dishonestly, as promoting diversity and inclusion. To the extent that parents from different racial/socioeconomic backgrounds are genuinely represented in your group, their public expression of criticism helps make the case that the group's concerns are not rooted in racism but in a genuine concern that "antiracism" may make discrimination worse, not better.

You also should consider offering a range of ways for parents to get involved, so that even those who don't want to do too much can do something. Make it easy to write a letter to your school board or principal by offering a form outlining the specific problem, alluding to more general objections to critical pedagogy (consult the glossary for detail), and emphasizing your investment as a parent in your child's right to an education that is free from racial and ethnic discrimination. Similarly, if you write a letter to the editor of your local paper (see the next section on working with the media), you can then ask fellow parents to sign it, which is relatively easy for them but helps make their support for your project public.
Offering a Positive Vision
Pushing back against critical pedagogy is a worthwhile and noble project, but it is also important and helpful to be positive. Some people who support (or believe they support) critical pedagogy in schools have strange beliefs about critics, thinking, for example, that skeptical parents do not want their children to ever face hard historical truths, or that they support a whitewashing of American history. That's not the case: critics of critical pedagogy are concerned that it defines America in an exclusively and simplistically negative light, not that it offers any criticisms of America at all.

One solution to emphasize-particularly in history and social studies curricula at the middle-and high-school level-is the importance of presenting a variety of perspectives on an issue and trusting students to sort out right from wrong. Parents and administrators are likely to be far more open to adding thinkers to the curriculum than subtracting them-consider floating the works of moderate (and even left-leaning) academic critics of critical pedagogy like John McWhorter, Glenn Loury, Carol Swain, Erec Smith, Stephanie Deutsch, Peter Boghossian, and others.

A related strategy is to try to offset critical pedagogy's relentlessly negative account of ethnic relations with a more positive, affirmative story. Your student's school can use black history month to learn only about the "white supremacy" allegedly inherent in standardized tests or negative reactions to being called racist, or they can use it to celebrate great black Americans and try to respectfully build a better understanding of the many contributions of black people and black culture to America. Critical pedagogy's fixation on the negative can turn minority students into tokens of oppression-a more positive approach can help them celebrate who they are in school without dividing students into friend and foe.

Lastly, it is important to take seriously individual acts of bias and intolerance in schools. Regardless of critical pedagogy's claims, it's still the case that kids can be and often are cruel to each other-and parents should want an environment that minimizes and condemns bigoted bullying. Adopting critical pedagogy training and "antiracist statements" actually lets school administrators avoid the much harder work of treating acts of bigotry as a disciplinary problem. If you want to push back on these practices, make clear that you agree that racism should not be tolerated in your school-but critical pedagogy is the wrong way to go about reducing it.
Working with the Media
If your parent-group actions aren't working, or even if they are, you might consider bringing public attention to the problem. Even if your child's school is united behind the idea of critical pedagogy, much of the nation is not. Bringing your story into the spotlight can apply much needed pressure, highlighting unreasonable behavior in a way that can fix it.

If you've been carefully documenting your activities until this point, those details will be invaluable. Other parents should have been doing so, as well. You may want to organize those details in a common Google Doc or other online file-sharing service.

If your child is enrolled in a public school, you might want to familiarize yourself with your state's freedom of information laws. As government entities, public schools are generally subject to such laws, and administrators can be compelled to release everything from internal documents to the texts of their e-mails. For a guide to your state's public records law, consult a group such as the National Freedom of Information Coalition.[ 111]

Note that compelling the release of, say, a principal's e-mails is a very aggressive action-so do so only if you're prepared to burn bridges. But if your child is a public school student, freedom of information laws exist to help hold public employees accountable, so don't be afraid to use them. For example, investigative journalist Asra Nomani (whose son attends Virginia's public Thomas Jefferson High School) used her state's freedom of information law to reveal a $20,000 contract (for a one-hour video presentation) between Virginia's Fairfax County Public School district and critical race theorist Ibram Kendi.[ 112]

Whether you want to publish your personal story, the details of other parents' struggles against the administration, or something that you've uncovered through a public records request, you need to think about the platform on which you do it. Self-publishing allows you to spread your message quickly without relying on others, but it also limits your reach (unless you already have a large social media following). By contrast, working with local-or national-outlets gives you a bigger platform but also reduces your control over the story.

If you'd like to self-publish, a wide variety of platforms are now available that are easy to set up and use. Blogging services like Medium or WordPress allow you to set up a public-facing blog in minutes, while newsletter services like Substack enable you to produce similar output for a select list of subscribers. You might also consider using social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to get the message out.

You can do only so much with such platforms, however, so you might want to approach the media. A good place to start is local media-your local paper or TV station-which are eager for local stories and, in general, less likely to be ideologically sympathetic to critical pedagogy than many large national outlets.

Before choosing to approach local media, consider whom you want to approach-a local television station, a local paper, etc. Take partisan slant into account-a right-leaning outlet will likely be more sympathetic but may give your opponents the opportunity to tar you as partisan yourself.

If you're not having success with the local media, or if you think that your message needs a broader audience, you might consider a news source with wider reach. A particularly clear-cut story of critical pedagogy-motivated wrongdoing may get traction at a national, left-leaning paper like the New York Times or Washington Post, but such outlets have evinced sympathy toward the goals of "antiracism," and thus might be less interested than you would hope.

Explicitly right-leaning outlets have the challenge of partisan tilt but are likely to be more sympathetic: consider sites like the Manhattan Institute's City Journal, National Review, the Washington Free Beacon, or the Daily Signal. Working with such sites will be more likely to connect you to a journalist interested in your story but may also make it harder for your story to have an impact with other parents skeptical of these outlets. Last, consider particular angles of your story: if, for example, you are dealing with critical pedagogy-inspired antisemitism, a site like Tablet, which focuses on Jewish issues, may be interested.

Before you approach anyone in the media, organize the information you want to present-a PDF of the most salacious documents you can share, a list of other parents with whom they can talk, for example. Giving a journalist something to work with makes him or her much more likely to take your story.

When talking to a reporter, be aware of journalistic norms around quoting and attribution.[ 113] Unless you have explicitly stipulated that the conversation is "off the record," and your interlocutor has agreed, assume that everything that you are saying can and will appear on the front page of your local newspaper tomorrow, and conduct yourself accordingly. Be courteous and avoid personal criticisms of your opponents-your problem is with a failure of teaching, not with the people you may be butting heads with.

The trade-off of going to the media is that while your story will get a wider audience, it also becomes no longer your story to control. The journalist with whom you are working is free to quote you however he or she sees fit and is indeed professionally obligated to get the opinion of the "other side." This doesn't mean that you shouldn't approach the media, but you should be aware that your interlocutor's work product may not perfectly line up with how you imagined it.

While this guide advises speaking to the media only after you've tried internal recourse and sought to build connections to other parents, it's worth noting that a public story may have the effect of jump-starting those connections. Schools trying to push critical pedagogy over and above parents' objections have every reason to keep them in the dark and separated from each other, as many parents have experienced. A story about something crazy happening at your school can change the conversation, giving parents a concrete concern to discuss and coalesce around, and making the airing of thoughts socially permissible in a way that it previously was not.
Taking Legal Action
Critical pedagogy is not merely counterproductive and divisive, critics increasingly argue-it may also be illegal. The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the 1964 Civil Rights Act spell out certain rights to not be discriminated against on the basis of race, as well as certain guarantees of the right to free speech, even (in some cases) by students in public schools.[ 114] Training and activities in public schools (and, potentially, private schools that have accepted federal funding) that divide students by race demean certain students as "oppressors" or inherently evil, or they compel students to profess certain beliefs that may run afoul of their state and federal rights.

These are the grounds for a number of lawsuits designed to fight back against critical pedagogy across the country. Although they are still in the early stages at the time of this guide's publication, they offer a promising approach for protecting students from discrimination, as well as a tool for you to consider when no other option is available.

Interested groups have, for example, sued the Santa Barbara Unified School District, the Democracy Prep Public Schools of Las Vegas, and Virginia's Thomas Jefferson High School.[ 115] In these cases, plaintiffs have alleged that implicit bias training violates nondiscrimination rules, that compelled "antiracist" speech in the classroom is constitutionally impermissible, and that moves to end merit-based admissions to selective public high schools unconstitutionally discriminate against Asian-Americans.

Whether these arguments will be palatable to the courts remains to be seen. But parents should keep abreast of developments and consider whether their own situation could serve as a test case.

Whom Can I Ask for Help?

This guide is meant to be a starting point for parents looking to fight back against critical pedagogy in their school, but it's far from the only resource. Many national organizations-many brand-new-are interested in fighting various manifestations of critical pedagogy at every level of education, from kindergarten through college. They can help you connect to other parents, give you advice on organizing in your school, offer tips on talking to the media, and even help with lawsuits. Here are a few organizations:

Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (fairforall.org): a nonpartisan, centrist organization focused on responding to radicalism with a "compassionate anti-racism" dedicated to equal dignity and equality under the law. FAIR runs a membership organization, including local chapters, to help connect people from all parts of society skeptical of "woke" approaches that they term "neo-racism." It can also help connect parents like you to other parents and to professional and legal aid.

Parents Defending Education (defendinged.org): a "national grassroots organization working to reclaim our schools from activists promoting harmful agendas," PDE is a school-focused group working to connect parents and provide resources to respond to critical pedagogy. It can help you find other parents in your local area and offer resources on how to respond effectively to your administration's agenda.

Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (thefire.org): Although this organization has historically focused on repressive speech policing at the college level, FIRE has been expanding its work to K-12 education. Its high school network offers a free-speech curriculum, as well as resources for parents and students concerned about their voices being silenced.

Pacific Legal Foundation (pacificlegal.org): a national nonprofit public-interest law firm focusing on civil rights issues. It has recently taken an interest in critical pedagogy discrimination in public schools, organizing the lawsuit against Thomas Jefferson High School.[116] If you are considering legal action, or if you believe that you have a test case, this organization may be a useful resource.

Endnotes
See endnotes in PDF

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Woke Schooling: A Toolkit for Concerned Parents | Manhattan Institute

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If you're reading this guide, perhaps something similar is happening in your child's school. Perhaps the school has issued an "antiracism statement" denouncing itself as racist or white supremacist. Perhaps it has required parents and students to attend training on "diversity, equity, and inclusion."

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Asking detailed, pointed questions of school officials is an important and effective way of getting at the truth. Do these officials really understand the implications of what they're endorsing and promoting? Are they prepared to speak candidly about their intentions? Below are some questions we've written that we'd like to see woke school officials have to answer - in a public meeting if possible, with cameras rolling (cell phone or otherwise).

If you have a question you think should be added to this list, please email it to us. And if you've asked tough questions of school officials and have video of the encounter, please contact us.

1. Do you believe that people should be treated differently in our school based on the color of their skin? If an official answers in the affirmative, please contact us immediately.

2. "Antiracism," which you are promoting as official school policy, holds that all white people are racist and all institutions of society are racist. Do you consider yourself a racist? If so, what specific acts of racism have you committed? If you do not consider yourself a racist or cannot confess to specific acts of racism, can you explain why you are innocent of something everyone else is guilty of?

3. You have announced that our school will now be an "antiracist" organization. Antiracism explicitly calls for discrimination on the basis of race. The leader of the antiracism movement, Ibram X. Kendi, writes that "the only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination." What specific racial discrimination policies are you adopting in order to become an "antiracist" school?

4. You have grouped a number of new school policies under the concept of advancing "social justice." Can you define, using specifics, what "social justice" means? Do you believe that people who disagree with the "social justice" policies you support are advocates of injustice?

5. Since you have introduced a new curriculum that sees education through the lens of race, it would be helpful to understand how you define race. How exactly do you define someone as black, white, Latino, or Asian? Is someone with one black or Hispanic grandparent a "person of color"? What about one great-grandparent? What metrics do you use?

6. Are all white people inherently more privileged than all black people regardless of individual circumstances? Is a white child who drops out of school and lives in poverty more privileged than a black child who attends an elite private school and has wealthy, successful parents?

7. What do you think the eventual impact will be on children who will have spent years involved in activities teaching them that they are inherently bad - or disadvantaged - because of the color of their skin?

8. You put out a statement on our [district/school]'s website [or social media account] stating that our school [or district] is systemically racist. What specific incidents led you to make this statement, and what actions were taken to remedy those incidents?

9. Will you disclose publicly how much money our district and school are spending on new race, gender, and "social justice" initiatives? How much is being spent on teacher training programs, DEI consultants, and "audits" of the school? If you have hired someone to carry out an audit, will you release it to the public so parents and students can see it? If not, why not?

10. How will these antiracist policies positively impact student achievement and test scores?

11. How will these policies prepare younger students for rigorous academics in high school and high school student for rigorous studies in college?

12. What evidence do you have to show that implementing these policies will increase our test scores across all grade levels? (For this one, it's important to do some research on your school district's current test scores as compared to other schools in the area.)

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Questions to Ask School Officials - Parents Defending Education

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Asking detailed, pointed questions of school officials is an important and effective way of getting at the truth. Do these officials really understand the implications of what they're endorsing and promoting? Are they prepared to speak candidly about their intentions?

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A St. Mary’s Episcopal School education is an investment in your daughters’ future. Learn more about our Christian school for girls in Memphis, TN today!

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Today, many parents of Black children in particular are paying close attention to how and where their children are learning. They are demanding changes beyond changing school names-changes such as higher expectations, culturally affirming curriculum, teacher diversity, high-quality school choice options, alternative disciplinary practices, and more social emotional education.

Schools nationwide receive, on average, $15,000 per student per year. The claim that money will fix our broken K-12 public education system is no longer accepted as the only solution to the problem. We must do more.

Today, only 15 out of 100 Black students nationwide are reading proficiently, and only 13 out of 100 are doing math on grade level. Black students are over identified as having special needs, but under identified as gifted and talented. In Baltimore, 41% of students graduated with below a 1.0 GPA. Parents should hold their children's schools accountable, but don't always know where to start.

It starts with parental awareness. The more parents know about their child's learning environment, the more powerful they become. Finding the right school for your child can be hard, especially when your child is Black. Black students deserve to learn in safe, high-quality school environments. It is time we equip parents with the tools they need to demand for a more just school system.

As a prominent advocate for high-quality school choice options for parents, I want to help parents with Black children navigate the school system so that they can find a school or learning environment that meets their child's needs, interests, and abilities. I hope this list of suggested timely questions will spark much needed conversations and empower parents to be the best advocates for their children.

1. What are your school's Covid safety protocols?

2. Do you offer a hybrid/ virtual option?

3. What is your average class size?

4. What culturally affirming activities/lessons happen outside of Black History Month?

5. What are your hair policies?

6. Do you require uniforms? If so, do you regulate the brands students can wear (i.e. no name brand symbols on clothing)?

7. What are your disciplinary policies?

8. What are your suspension/expulsion rates? How many Black students were suspended or expelled from your school last year? And, what are common offenses?

9. How many students were identified as special needs last year?

10. How many Black students were identified as gifted and talented?

11. How many Black students in my child's grade passed the reading and math assessment?

12. When do teachers typically start preparing students for the state assessment?

13. What kind of tutoring/ support do you have for students who need extra help in their subjects?

14. How many Black students graduated from high school? How many drop out of school?

15. Do you have any teachers with past disciplinary problems? Have any of your teachers had to go before the school board to defend their jobs? Has the teachers' union helped any of your teachers keep their job?

16. How often do students go on field trips?

17. What extracurricular activities do you offer?

18. Do you have a school social worker on staff? What mental health support services are available for students?

19. What support groups and services are available for parents?

20. Are students given free time and space to be creative?

21. If I am having a problem with how my child is being educated or treated, who should I submit my grievance to?

These questions should serve as an empowerment tool for parents, regardless of what type of school their child attends. Of course, one of the most empowering realities is to give parents school choices so that they can be both empowered and informed.

All children should have the opportunity to attend schools that are filled with hope and high academic outcomes. Nourishing Black minds with a rich education is the first step to breaking generational poverty and societal inequities. True equity in education and education freedom can no longer linger behind a facade of morality.

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21 Questions Every Parent of a Black Child Should Ask Before Sending Them Back to School

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Today, many parents of Black children in particular are paying close attention to how and where their children are learning. They are demanding changes beyond changing school names-changes such as higher expectations, culturally affirming curriculum, teacher diversity, high-quality school choice options, alternative disciplinary practices, and more social emotional education.

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Calling all teachers, parents, and students. We must all come together and get tough and loud in the fight against racism. We can start with our schools, a place where children and teenagers gather every day to learn. Learning about race starts in the home and grows in the school. Our schools need to be beacons of light and hope that one day we can end racism. But in order to do that, we must not shy away from hard conversations and we must not remain silent on something that matters so much. We must demand answers from our schools and pressure them to change. Here are 10 questions we can ask our schools and school districts.

1. How many black administration, teachers and coaches are employed at the school?

Our black students need to see black figures of authority. Our white students need to learn from them. No student should graduate high school without ever having a black principal, teacher, or coach.

2. What are you actively doing to recruit and hire highly effective teachers of color?

Just like the army and other professions get out there to recruit for positions, schools and districts alike need to get out there and find teachers of color.

3. How do you teach the subject of racism?

Is racism just addressed in history class when teachers lecture on slavery and the Civil Rights Movement? If so, racism needs to be addressed in all classes throughout the year. Pressure schools to invite black leaders and speakers to come to talk to students. Encourage schools to have seminars that address racism.

4. Do you read and discuss black literature throughout the school year or only during Black History Month?

Black history is human history. It isn't just reserved for one month. Confining black authors, filmmakers, poets, artists to just one month sends the message that black history isn't as important. Black history is human history.

5. How do you handle discipline? Are black students suspended more than white students? If so, why?

Ask schools to show you the numbers. Have discussions. Refuse to believe that black students have worse behavior than white students.

6. How do you train your teachers on racism? Are your white teachers equipped to teach black children?

Teachers should be required to read literature, go to trainings, and attend seminars every year throughout the year.

7. What procedures are in place for when a student or teacher of color is faced with racism from a white teacher or student?

These need to be clear and enforced.

8. Do you support and encourage people of color to have their own space without white people?

Are there clubs? Time at lunch for them to gather? People of color need these spaces. Give it to them.

"It wasn't until I was in PoC-only spaces that I realized how much of myself I had cut off to fit into white culture, so being in PoC spaces allows me to reclaim those forgotten parts of myself." one person of color in Shambhala told Kelsey Blackwell, author ofWhy People of Color Need Spaces Without White People

9. Are you focused on equity or equality?

There's a difference. It's not everyone gets the same access. It's how are you ensuring that people of color get what they need to be on the same playing field as everyone else. Sometimes, that means giving people of color more.

10. What is your standardized testing like?

Standardized testing has long been rooted in racism. It isn't equitable. How can we get rid of it or fix it, so it is?

I am sure there are more questions to ask. This is just an abbreviated list. Start here and ask your school today. Be part of the solution, not the problem.

Also Read:

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10 Questions to Ask Your School or School District About Race

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Calling all teachers, parents, and students. We must all come together and get tough and loud in the fight against racism. We can start with our schools, a place where children and teenagers gather every day to learn. Learning about race starts in the home and grows in the school.

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Directory of Schools — Memphis Association of independent schools

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Tuition and Financial Assistance / Tuition & Fees 2022-23

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Use the left navigation to view tuition for each grade level as well as what is included in the Woodland School Fee.
All families should register with Blackbaud Tuition Management (Smart Tuition) by going to www.enrollwithsmart.com by May 15th or upon enrollment or additional handling fees will appl…

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Memphis University School Tuition and Financial Aid

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FINANCIAL AID INFORMATION

Applying for admission and for the Financial Aid Program are completely separate.

Admission to Briarcrest Christian School is based solely upon a student's qualifications. The amount of financial aid awarded is based on a family's financial need and available funding.

We recommend completing an admissions application and a financial aid application at the same time. The process for each must be completed and an enrollment contract must be offered to student(s) before aid can be awarded.

If you have not already contacted the Admissions Department at Briarcrest Christian School, please contact to Robin Loeffel at 901-765-4654 or rrloeffel@briarcrest.com or Claire Foster at 901-765-4605 or cofoster@briarcrest.com for the enrollment process.

For more information about applying for financial aid click here.

If the cost of a Briarcrest Christian School education is beyond a family's financial means, they should apply for financial aid. Income may not preclude the possibility of assistance since other factors such as dependents, other tuition costs, considerable debt (excluding consumer debt), unusual medical expenses, or some other extraordinary financial burden are considerations. The entire process is confidential. Within the limits of available funds, Briarcrest Christian School seeks to provide financial aid to all qualified students.

Briarcrest Christian School accepts financial aid applications from returning families who have not received financial aid in the past on the same basis as any other family requesting financial aid. The same rules of eligibility apply to returning students.

A family must apply for aid each year and complete a new Parents' Financial Statement. Any student currently receiving need-based aid may reapply as long as all current financial obligations to the school have been met. While a family must reapply for financial aid each year, they may reasonably expect to receive some assistance if aid was given the prior year and if the family's financial circumstances are relatively similar to those of the prior year.

All families who wish to apply for financial aid for the 2022-2023 school year are required to complete the NAIS School and Student Services Parent Financial Statement (PFS). The PFS is a comprehensive application that will take some time to complete. You'll need all the required documents ready to upload (in a PDF format) once you have submitted the PFS. Briarcrest Christian School does not award aid without verifying information. For more information about applying for Financial Aid, please click here.

Briarcrest Christian School offers financial aid to enrolled competitive students who could not otherwise afford to attend.

All aid is awarded on the basis of financial need as demonstrated through the School and Student Services by NAIS for Financial Aid. There are no athletic or merit based scholarships.

Financial aid is funded through a number of sources: Annual Fund, the Annual Operating Budget and other gifts and endowments.

All financial aid award decisions are made by the financial aid committee. The committee consists of the President, Vice President of Business Affairs, Director of Business Affairs, Admissions and the Financial Aid Coordinator.

The School is committed to protecting the privacy of its families; therefore, all information received by the Financial Aid Coordinator is held in the strictest confidence. Financial information is never shared with the Board of Trustees (other than Financial Aid Committee members), donors, faculty/staff members, or anyone else outside the Business Office. The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association will receive a copy of the summary of the Report of Family Contribution from School and Student Services (SSS).

FINANCIAL AID

We believe that qualified students who desire an education at Briarcrest Christian School should not be turned away because they cannot pay full tuition. Therefore, we have established a Financial Aid Program to help families in need. Financial Aid is awarded strictly on the basis of need as determined through a completely confidential process. Briarcrest does not award any athletic or academic merit scholarships.
Financial aid is not offered to Little Saints. (Two-year-old preschool program) FINANCIAL AID INFO FINANCIAL AID (SSS)

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Tuition & Financial Aid - Briarcrest Christian School

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FINANCIAL AID INFORMATION Applying for admission and for the Financial Aid Program are completely separate. Admission to Briarcrest Christian School is based solely upon a student's qualifications. The amount of financial aid awarded is based on a family's financial need and available funding.

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Making St. George's Affordable

There is no investment more critical to a child's development than his or her education. Parents who invest in a St. George's education know their children will be challenged, enlightened and cared for as they grow to become fulfilled, well-rounded adults. With exceptional educational opportunities, individualized instruction by top-notch faculty, and unparalleled support as students navigate the complex social and emotional challenges of growing up, St. George's is an investment well worth making.

We believe every child deserves an education of the highest caliber. We also believe all students benefit from a diverse student body that brings together students from nearly 50 zip codes-because our classrooms should reflect the tapestry of our city.

If tuition is beyond what your family can reasonably afford, we offer impactful need-based financial awards for talented students, allowing them the opportunity to experience and enrich our school. Please contact our Admission Office at 901.261.2342 for more information or follow the steps outlined below.

2022-2023 Tuition and Fees Tuition Refund Insurance

How to Apply for Financial Aid

STEP 1:

Parents/guardians can visit FACTS Grant & Aid Assessment by clicking the FACTS link on the Veracross Parent Portal or by clicking the link below for the campus you will be attending. New families will need to register for a FACTS account in order to apply for financial aid.

STEP 2:

Parent/guardian(s) should submit an online financial aid application to FACTS and a copy of the most recent 1040 tax return as soon as possible in order to be included in the distribution of financial assistance funds.

Collierville Campus Germantown Campus Memphis Campus

FACTS Online Billing Solution

St. George's uses FACTS Management Company to provide a paperless billing solution to manage our tuition payment program. The FACTS system offers a number of advantages, including online payment plan sign-up and account management, email or text payment reminders before payments are due, secure payment processing, and acceptance of ACH or credit card payments.

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There is no investment more critical to a child's development than his or her education. Parents who invest in a St. George's education know their children will be challenged, enlightened and cared for as they grow to become fulfilled, well-rounded adults.

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As a PreK through 12th Grade International Baccalaureate World School, Lausanne is a global-minded community committed to empowering individuals.

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2022-23 TUITION AND FEES

$225

Enrollment Fee

$225

Graduation Fee (Seniors Only)

$15,250

Tuition

$1,250

Dining Services

$625

Technology Fee

$200

Student Activity Fee

$85

Drug Testing Fee

$17,635 Full Year's Balance

$17,860

Full Year's Balance (Seniors)

In accordance with the Brothers' mission, Christian Brothers High School awards need-based tuition assistance.

Merit-Based Academic Scholarships

Eighth-grade students who have taken the Placement Test at CBHS in December or January will be eligible to earn merit-based, academic scholarships for their ninth-grade year.

Need-Based Financial Assistance

Families interested in receiving need-based financial aid must apply for aid each year. This application may be started as early as November for the following academic year. Applications are done on-line with a third-party, company - FACTS Grant & Aid Assessment.

The deadline for entering freshman to complete the application is January 6, 2023. Please use your most up-to-date financial information when filling out the FACTS. For entering freshman supporting tax documents (W-2s and federal returns) can be those filed from the previous calendar year.*

For questions regarding financial aid for incoming freshmen, contact Lauren Volpe, Director of Admissions, at (901) 261-4918 or by email. For questions regarding financial aid for all other grades, please contact Dana Alford in the school business office.

*any information that is inaccurate on the FACTS application can result in altered financial assistance.

Discover all the Brotherhood has to offer!

From rigorous academics and competitive athletics, to student leadership and extracurriculars, to community service and spiritual growth, opportunities abound here. Discover why the student experience at Christian Brothers High School is unlike any other.
Learn More

Tuition Payment Plan

CBHS has contracted with FACTS Management Company to manage our tuition payment program. All families are required to enroll with FACTS Tuition Management to make tuition payments.

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Tuition & Finance - Christian Brothers High School

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225 Enrollment Fee $225 Graduation Fee (Seniors Only) $15,250 Tuition $1,250 Dining Services $625 Technology Fee $200 Student Activity Fee $85 Drug Testing Fee $17,635 Full Year's Balance $17,860 Full Year's Balance (Seniors) In accordance with the Brothers' mission, Christian Brothers High School awards need-based tuition assistance.

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A podcast about thriving despite being marginalized.

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Episode 15: Mockingbird in the Classroom: The Student Experience - Teaching While White

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As a follow-up from To Teach or To Kill a Mockingbird, in this episode we hear from a group of multiracial students about their experiences reading this iconic novel in school.

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Tuition & Financial Aid | Hutchison School in Memphis, TN

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Hutchison is committed to enrolling a talented and diverse student body and believes that financial need should never discourage a student from applying.

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There are several factors which drive tuition costs. Location and facilities and type of school are three of the most important factors. Some schools cost more than others simply because of where they are located. Real estate prices vary widely throughout the United States as you well know. For example, it costs considerably less to rent space in Butte, Montana than in Los Angeles, California.

Insurance costs vary from locality to locality as well. Schools need comprehensive liability and property insurance. That's not an expense a prudent private school business manager will stint on.

The school facilities vary widely as well. A 12 classroom K-6 school located in the 10 year old education wing of a church or temple will cost less to run than a similar school housed in a 1930s mansion set on 30 private acres in the countryside.

Boarding schools generally cost more to operate than day schools. That's because they offer 24/7 supervision of your child as opposed to the 8 or 9 hours daily supervision a day school will offer.

Schools specializing in remediating learning differences and disabilities cost even more because they employ experienced, highly skilled and trained para-professionals and professionals who work with students closely, often on an individual or 1 to 1 basis. That drives the labor cost associated with this kind of teaching much higher than when a teacher has a class of 12-15 students.
DONT Delay Finding Out About Financial Aid
Financial aid can be very confusing for many parents. Think of financial aid as you would any credit application and you will quickly understand that applying for financial aid from a private school is really no different from applying for a loan. The school needs your whole financial picture in order to determine whether you are eligible for an award and if so, how much they will award you.

You wonder whether you make too much and have too many assets to be eligible. Private school financial aid committees look at all your assets and liabilities in order to make their decision. This short video explains what's involved.

Applying for financial aid at most private schools is a separate process from applying for admission to the school. You also need to make sure that you apply as early in the cycle as you can. Each school allocates a finite amount of money to the financial aid bucket. With tuition and fees at many day schools hovering in the $30,000 range and those at boarding schools topping $50,000, you can see how quickly a couple of full tuition awards will eat up a schools' financial aid budget. So, don't delay. Find out the answers to your questions. Submit the application. Know where you stand.

Several schools now offer a virtually free education if your family income is below a certain number. Exeter, Andover, Groton, St. Paul's and Deerfield all have financial aid programs which offer a tuition free education to admitted students whose income is below a certain threshold. The threshold varies but is in the $60-75k range.

Most schools have some form of a sliding scale of aid. You may think that you are ineligible for financial aid because your family income is more than $200,000. The truth is that you may indeed be eligible for some aid. It will depend on factors such as how many children you have at the school or in college as well as your life-style and many other factors. For example, if you have two children in boarding school and another at a private college, those kind of tuition expenses will be a major drag on most upper middle class incomes. Discuss your requirements with the school. It never hurts to ask.

Private schools recognize that they need to offer more aid to more families in these very tough financial times. Many more families who normally might be able to afford private school are asking for help. Schools have reallocated resources to make sure that they can meet the increased demand. Donors are helping with major gifts to their alma mater specifically earmarked for financial aid programs.

Financial aid can be a complicated proposition. You may even find it intrusive and embarrassing. The truth is that there is much more at stake, namely, your child's future. So, get your affairs in order. Gather all the required paperwork and forms. Submit everything as early as you possibly can.
DO Take Advantage of All the Options Available to You and Your Family
Some people can write a check for a year's tuition and never miss it. But with private school tuitions running into the $30's for day school and topping $50,000 for boarding school, the rest of us have to be creative. This video explains how to pay for private school tuition.

Here are some options for paying for a private school education.

Pay the fees in two installments.

Private schools generally render their bills in early summer and late fall for payment within 30 days. These invoices will include one half of the academic year's tuition charge as well as incidentals. Incidentals include fees for items such as technology, sports, activities, laundry, and so on. Be sure to ask whether the school offers a cash discount.

Sign up for a tuition payment service and pay monthly installments.

The way these plans work is that you in effect are borrowing from them. You borrow one year's tuition fees and incidentals. Then you repay in equal installments, generally 10 installments. The plan, in turn, pays the school on the tuition due dates. This is a good payment option if you need to spread the payments over several months.

Note: not all schools accept all these plans. Each school makes its own arrangements with a specific tuition payment service. These firms offer private school tuition payment plans:

Borrow the funds you need.

Depending on your financial circumstances an old-fashioned loan may be your best option. Consult your financial adviser.

Apply for financial aid.

Just about every school offers some kind of financial aid. The important thing is to ask about financial aid. Don't assume that you are not eligible just because you are at a certain income level. Many factors are considered when awarding financial aid. Schools with more than 70% of their students on financial aid can be found here.

Phillips Exeter, Groton and St. Paul's are some of the top prep schools in the vanguard of offering a 'free' education to qualified applicants from families with less than $75,000 income. You will find more schools offering this kind of need-blind assistance although its availability depends on the financial resources of each individual school.

In addition, there are several schools around the country which are tuition-free or virtually so by design:

Investigate other funding sources.

Many states and communities offer scholarships. Some employers offer assistance with tuition. Unions, brotherhoods, and societies are also additional sources of education funding.
DONT Omit Any Information on Your Parents Financial Statement
Many private schools use the National Association of Independent Schools' Parents Financial Statement to help assess a family's financial needs. The Parents Financial Statement (or PFS) instructions and application can be found on the School and Student Services website. School and Student Services is a subsidiary of the National Association of Independent Schools. It gives you access to over 2,000 schools which use this service to help them assess the financial needs of parents applying for financial aid.

What is really helpful about SSS is that you only have to complete the application once. There is a one time fee of $35. And if you cannot afford the application fee, the fee can be waived by using the special fee waiver code which the school will give you.

The Parents Financial Statement Instruction Booklet walks you through each step of the process. Remember that you only complete the PFS if the school asks you to. After completing the application, you pay for it - currently a $35 fee - and submit your application. This will do two things: it sends your application to the schools which you have selected and it gives you an estimate of the kind of aid which you can expect to be offered. Now, you must realize that the SSS estimate is only that. Each individual school will determine the amount of financial aid you will receive based on the available pool of funds which each school has available. Actually, the schools look at financial aid from the point of view of how much you can contribute towards the cost of your child's education. That is really what the PFS helps the schools determine in an objective manner.
DO Remember That Financial Aid Programs Vary from School to School
Each private school is unique. It sets its own academic agenda and manages its own finances. This is important for parents to understand because that same unique approach applies to financial aid. In other words, what one school tells you it will award in financial aid will not be what another will offer. Their financial aid budgets are not identical. The demands on those financial aid budgets will be different. That's why it is so very important to ask each school how its financial aid program works. Assume nothing.

Questions? Contact us on Twitter. @privateschoolreview

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5 Financial Aid DOs and DONTs | PrivateSchoolReview.com

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There are several factors which drive tuition costs. Location and facilities and type of school are three of the most important factors. Some schools cost more than others simply because of where they are located. Real estate prices vary widely throughout the United States as you well know.

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Let's face it, private school is expensive, and tuition can be a major barrier for many families. But financial assistance is available, if parents are willing to do some research.

Nationwide, private school costs an average of $12,350 a year for K-12 and more than $16,000 for high school, according to the Education Data Initiative. But costs can be dramatically higher in many parts of the country. At New York City's elite Dalton School, for instance, tuition for the 2021-22 school year was $55,210.

For families who cannot afford to pay big tuition bills out of pocket, funding private school often means assembling different types of assistance such as loans, vouchers, private scholarships and -- perhaps most important -- financial aid from the school itself.

"Financial aid from the school is far and away how most families fund private education if they cannot afford it," says Myra McGovern, vice president of media for the National Association of Independent Schools, known as NAIS.

Turn to the School First

An estimated 28% of private school students nationwide receive some form of financial aid, according to the Education Data Initiative, and that number is even higher at some schools. At Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, for example, 46% of students receive financial aid and 12% receive full scholarships, according to the school's website.

At NAIS, which represents more than 1,600 independent K-12 schools in the U.S., almost 27% of all students receive need-based financial aid, McGovern says. The median grant per student was more than $19,000 in the 2020-21 school year.

Most NAIS schools offer financial aid, and families fill out financial forms that are similar to what's required for college financial aid programs, McGovern says. Some schools provide a certain number of full-tuition grants and others may offer partial scholarships.

Mark Kantrowitz, a financial aid expert and former publisher of Savingforcollege.com, agreed that the most accessible financial aid for private K-12 students is provided by schools. But he also notes that there are other forms of help available.

Understanding 529 Plans

For parents of younger children, saving to pay for tuition is often an option and there are several government programs designed to help.

A 529 Plan is a tax-advantaged savings plan designed to help pay for tuition. Though it is a federal program, the plans are administered by each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. They were originally limited to post-high school education costs, but were expanded to include K-12 education in 2017.

Contributions are not tax-deductible for federal income tax purposes, but more than 30 states offer tax deductions or credits of varying amounts for contributions. The federal government does not tax earnings in these accounts, and you will not pay taxes when you withdraw money for qualified education expenses. Other things to know about the program include:

Maximum contribution limits vary by state, but many parents cap contributions at $15,000 per year to avoid federal gift tax reporting requirements.

There are no restrictions on the income level of contributors.

Withdrawals for K-12 schooling are limited to $10,000 annually and can only be used to pay tuition.

When it comes to being able to afford private school, a 529 plan can be a great place to start, especially if parents start early, says Melanie Hanson, senior editor of EducationData.org.
"Most people think of a 529 in terms of college tuition, but the money can be used for many kinds of education expenses, including private school," she says. "It's not unreasonable to start a plan for your child at birth, especially if you intend to start them in private school at a young age."

Understanding Coverdell ESAs

Coverdell Education Savings Accounts, or ESAs, are tax-deferred trust accounts created by the federal government to help families pay for education expenses. The accounts offer tax-free earnings growth and tax-free withdrawals, and can be spent on educational expenses beyond tuition. Other things to know about the program include:

The maximum contribution is $2,000 per beneficiary every year.

Eligibility is limited to families falling under modified gross income of $220,000 for joint filers and $110,000 for single filers in 2021, according to the IRS.

Funds must be used by students before the age of 30 or taxes, fees and penalties will accompany withdrawals. The age restrictions may be waived for special-needs beneficiaries.

School Vouchers and Tax Relief

School vouchers are state-funded programs that allow families to use public funds to attend private schools. There are currently 27 voucher programs operating in 16 states and the District of Columbia, according to the Education Commission of the States.

While programs operate differently in each state, voucher programs essentially use state funds to pay part of the cost of private school. Most programs target low-income families in an effort to provide parents with additional educational choices.

For example, Florida offers the Family Empowerment Scholarship, which provides vouchers to students who qualify for food-assistance programs, whose household income meets certain requirements, who currently live in foster care, or who meet other criteria. The program serves more than 30,000 students each year and the average scholarship was $5,955 in the 2019-20 school year, according to EdChoice, an advocacy organization.

In addition, some states offer families various types of limited tax relief for K-12 private school expenses. Nine states (Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Ohio, South Carolina and Wisconsin) provide tax credits and deductions for education expenses including private school tuition, according to EdChoice.

Louisiana, for instance, offers deductions to families who pay for private school tuition, uniforms and other expenses. More than 70,000 taxpayers took advantage of the program with an average tax deduction of nearly $5,500, according to EdChoice.

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Let's face it, private school is expensive, and tuition can be a major barrier for many families. But financial assistance is available, if parents are willing to do some research. Nationwide, private school costs an average of $12,350 a year for K-12 and more than $16,000 for high school, according to the Education Data Initiative.

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Resources | United States | Private School Village

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PSV provides resources related to the private school experience. Private School Village (PSV) cultivates and harnesses the power of community to positively transform the private school experience for Black and brown families so that students fully thrive.