Beaverton, OR . – There has been much controversy in the area of public education since 2020. The Beaverton School District has found itself in the headlines at several points around questions of a political approach to education. In 2022 when schools were looking at reopening following orders from Governor Kate Brown an equity and inclusion administrator expressed concern about reopening schools because they could “”miss an opportunity” to implement an equity agenda” as reported by Fox News.
An elementary school in the district came to national attention when a group of teachers sent school administrators an email detailing “micro and macro aggressions” which were “rooted in White supremacy” they believed they observed from staff in response to the principal, particularly her equity work.
The approach of Oregon schools and state policy has come into sharper focus following covid-era policies as student outcomes have declined and stagnated despite substantial funding increases, particularly between 2020 and 2024. The most recent data from Oregon Department of Education shows that statewide less than 50% of students are proficient in English language arts, just over 25% are proficient in science, and less than 30% are proficient in math. The trends for the Beaverton district are better than the statewide averages but still show a majority of students are not performing at grade-level proficiency across all domains.
The questions of politicization of the school system coupled with the declining and stagnating trends in performance raise questions about what approaches are being taken to education and policy and what is needed to improve outcomes for students. An examination of the Beaverton district’s curriculum reveals how heavily the district has leaned into building on concepts like DEI and ‘anti-racism’, along with drawing on Critical Theory.
Documents showing the social science curriculum for the district obtained by Save Oregon Schools were shared with Right Now Oregon. These documents show the Beaverton District’s approach to instruction for grades Kindergarten through 5th. Reviewing these documents reveals a political slant to what material is presented and how it is taught. The files show it is a recently developed curriculum with more recent updates “[o]riginal curriculum created by Past Present Future Consulting & Media ©2022 (last modified by BSD staff April 2023)”.
The curriculum raised concerns among the community at the time of and following adoption. One member of the community, a parent and educator, provided comment to Right Now Oregon on the basis of anonymity.
I would just like to say that as an educator, a parent, and a grandmother, I was disgusted by the Beaverton School District curriculum review event that they provided to parents in spring of 2023, more so as an afterthought because they were already using the social studies adoption and seemingly making it up as they went. They set up grade level materials at different tables spread out at the cafeteria at Springville Elementary in BSD.
At one table with materials on display (about 1st grade level) there were books that were clearly racist against white people. When I asked the district administrator, Kayla Bell, why the word Black, denoting a black person’s skin color was capitalized, but the word white denoting a white person’s skin color was lower cased, I was told that was just the way it was and that it was correct and not a typo. I was also told that it didn’t matter if I didn’t like the lessons in the curriculum because even though it was already spring, they had been using the materials since the fall of that year and they weren’t going to discontinue the curriculum(2022-2023 school year). They were clearly pleased in their demeanor that this curriculum was cemented with the district and there was nothing we could do to stop it.
Parents were visibly upset about the material. One father of a 4th grade daughter had her recent assignment in his hand and explained why it made her very sad, depressed, and concerned for her white friends. Their family was from India, but the daughter didn’t like the division and hurt that the lessons were fomenting in class.
The tone of the entire event was one of discontent. I don’t think any of the parents were happy about the curriculum adoption.
Also, in my November staff meeting in 2020, we were told not to teach about Thanksgiving or any early American history at all. We were told to focus on the character traits of gratitude and thankfulness. We were told that we were not to teach about White Supremacist (Colonists) and that we needed to focus on other read aloud books for that month like one called, Fry Bread, A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard and Juana Martinez-Neal. I was immediately concerned about being told to not teach about American history, traditions, and values.
One component of the curriculum is vocabulary. There are three units of vocabulary for each grade K – 5. The words that are listed show a clear ideological approach to social science that aligns with a recognizable political perspective, as shown in the examples below. You can review the curriculum documents through the links which include links to the vocabulary words (Kindergarten, First Grade, Second Grade, Third Grade, Fourth Grade, Fifth Grade).
Kindergarten
Example Vocabulary Unit 1
- Diversity: Ways that people are different from each other
- Inclusion: Making sure everyone can participate
- Equity: Everyone getting different resources to meet their different needs in order to participate
- Equality: Everyone getting the same resources in order to participate
- Pronoun: A word we use to refer to someone without using their name
- Growth Mindset: The belief that learning from mistakes help us grow
- Abelism: Treating people whose bodies appear to work a typical way better than people whose bodies work in other ways
- Accessibility: Making sure everybody can use a space, event, or tool no matter how their bodies work or appear
- Disability Justice: Making sure our communities are inclusive, accessible, and healthy for all people
- Sizeism: Treating people who are typical size or height better than people who are relatively large or small
Example Vocabulary Unit 2
- Identity: The characteristics and communities we belong to that make us who we are
- Personal Identity: Our personality traits, likes and dislikes
- Social Identity: The communities and groups we belong to
- Census: An official count of people in a group who share an identity
- Ability:
- Gender: How we identify as a girl, boy, non-binary, Two Spirit person, etc.
- Gender Expression: How we look, speak, or act in more masculine or feminine ways
- Race: A way of grouping people based on their skin color and other body parts (Black, Brown, White, Multiracial, Biracial)
Example Vocabulary Unit 3
- Food Insecurity: Not having reliable access to the food someone needs to survive
- Food Sovereignty: The right of people to eat healthy food that is important to their culture and to grow it in ways that are good for the Earth
- Changemaker: Someone who takes creative action to solve a problem in the community
Third Grade
Example Vocabulary Unit 2
- Climate Anxiety: Feeling overwhelmed and worried about environmental change and problems
- Climate Change: Long-term shifts in temperature and weather patterns made more intense by how people use natural resources
- Mindfulness: Being present in the moment and noticing how we feel
- Podcast: An audio program that people listen to and that anyone can record
- Fossil Fuels: Decomposing plants and animals found in the Earth’s crust that produce heat, power, and pollution when burned (coal, oil, natural gas)
- Systemic Action: What we do with others to change laws or community practices for long-term change
- Climate Activists: People working together to draw attention to climate change problems and solutions
- Climate Scientists: People studying changes in the environment and how human actions can hurt and help
- Climate Lawmakers: Elected officials supporting laws that address climate change
- Climate Entrepreneurs: Inventors creating products or ideas for how to address climate change
Example Vocabulary Unit 3
- Invisible Labor: Labor someone does that goes unnoticed by others
- Cooperation: Pooling labor and other resources to meet a community’s wants and needs, also known as Mutual Aid
- Collective: A community that is committed to helping each other meet their wants and needs
- Solidarity: People working together across differences to care for each other and accomplish a goal
- Self Interest: Putting yourself first, not the community
- Economic Justice: The goal of making sure resources are distributed fairly and sustainably and that people’s labor is valued
Fifth Grade
The fifth grade curriculum provides three lists of vocabulary words, each list for a separate unit and a document “Resources for teaching vocabulary”. The vocabulary words in unit 1 are standard words relating to society and government with fairly typical definitions like “Responsibility: Something for which others can and should count on you.” The vocabulary and definitions in unit 2 move into a politically slanted approach. A few examples demonstrate a recognizable political angle.
- Founding Fathers: The men often credited with founding the USA because they signed the U.S. Constitution in 1787.
- Dominant Narrative: A story about what happened and why told from the point of the view of the most powerful people that erases, minimizes, or lies about the less powerful people.
- Counter Narrative: An accurate description of what happened and why that includes and centers the less powerful people who were involved.
- Racism: A system that advantages white people and hurts People of Color by excluding and discriminating against anyone who is not considered a white person.
- Sexism: A system that hurts women and non-binary people by advantaging men and excluding and discriminating against anyone who is not considered a man.
The unit 3 vocabulary continues the politically angled presentation. One example is one of omission where the word fascism is given as a vocabulary word along other vocabulary related to types and parts of government but communism is not included. Some other examples of politically tilted vocabulary include:
- Activism: The act of working together with others to try to bring about social change that repairs harm
- Colony: A place that a nation seeks to control in order to extract its resources and settle its people
Across All Grades
In the “Resources for teaching vocabulary” document, which is linked in the curriculum for all grades K-5 one of the slide presents a strategy for the teacher to write what “we already know” and students putting up post-it notes of “what we want to know more about”. As pictured the example provided is discussing race and racism. The post-its in the picture appear to be from actual students based on the handwriting and language suggesting this was from an actual classroom activity. The question of the developmental appropriateness of focusing on race and racism in this way has been raised by community members . The example pictured reaches beyond a basic discussion of race and racism as concepts and specifically references a politically hot-button event, George Floyd’s death, stating “George Floyd didn’t deserve to die”.
The curriculum provides a section titled “Connections to Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s Framework” which lists several questions that appear designed for teachers to consider in an overarching way. The five areas are identity, skills, intellect, critically, and joy. The critically section asks “Criticality: How will you engage your students in thinking about power, equity, and anti-oppression in the text, in society and in the world?” This language of focus on power, equity, and anti-oppression shows that critically is not a reference to the skill of critical thinking but rather to the idea of critical consciousness which comes out of Critical Theory.
Dr. Muhammad clarifies what she means by “Criticality” in an interview in EdWeek:
“Criticality is the capacity and ability to read, write, think, and speak in ways to understand power and equity in order to understand and promote anti-oppression. I define oppression simply as any wrongdoing, hurt, or harm. This can be racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, or any other oppression. In my work, I discuss the difference between lower case “c” critical, which is just deep and analytical thinking. But Critical with a capital “c” is related to power, equity, and anti-oppression. It is helping youths to be “woke” socio-politically. Criticality calls for teachers to connect their teaching to the human condition and to frame their teaching practices in response to the social and uneven times in which we live.”
This is analogous to the idea of raising critical consciousness or conscientization developed by the Theorist and activist Paulo Freire. A 2023 policy brief “CULTURALLY AND HISTORICALLY RESPONSIVE EDUCATION” which Dr. Muhammad co-authored makes the claim that curricula “have taught literacy as decontextualized skills, disconnected from students’ lives, their consciousness, and their joy.” One of the stated problems with this ‘decontextualized’ approach is a “lack of intellectual advancement, identity development, and developing social and critical consciousness among youth.” The authors then use the New England Primer a textbook for teaching reading that was used in the 17th and 18th centuries as an example to “justify the need for culturally and historically responsive education.”
The authors later state that “[a]lthough this book was published in the 17th century, we still have the same curricular problems observed in schools today.” The authors provide no further justification for their policy recommendations to shift education to an approach of culturally and historically responsive education (CHRE), no statistics on literacy or related research is cited. The authors describe CHRE as “a pedagogical model and ideological framework to respond to the curricular problems held in education for decades” and subsequently list five goals of the model: Identities, Skills, Intellect, Criticality, and Joy. Dr. Muhammad’s featured concept of criticality is defined as:
The ability to understand power, oppression, antiracism, and other anti-oppressions. Criticality calls for teachers and students to understand the ideologies and perspectives of marginalized communities and their ways of knowing and experiencing the world. This involves teaching topics related to equity, power, control, justice, freedom, (mis)representation, oppression, exploitation, marginalization, empowerment, harm, hurt, or pain associated with self, others, living organisms, or humanity.
Further examples of the influence of Critical Theory are seen in the Standards and Learning Targets. Throughout the grade levels there is a heavy focus on group characteristics, particularly race and ethnicity, coupled with a focus on power, oppression, and marginalization.
- First grade standards and targets:
- 1.12 Describe how individual and group characteristics are used to divide, unite, and categorize racial, ethnic, and social groups.
- 1.14 Identify and explain the perspectives of racial, ethnic, and social groups in our community on local issues including individuals who are American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian or Americans of African, Asian, Pacific Island, Chicano/a, Latino/a, or Middle Eastern descent; individuals from all religious backgrounds; and individuals from traditionally marginalized groups.
- Second grade standards and targets:
- 2.4 Give examples of and identify appropriate and inappropriate use of power and its effect in creating outcomes for diverse groups.
- 2.10 Explain how inherited wealth and scarcity affect individual and group power and the ability to make decisions about personal savings and spending.
- Third grade standards and targets:
- 3.4 Describe the use of stereotypes and targeted marketing in creating demand for consumer products.
- 3.7 Analyze the impact of personal financial decisions on personal, community, regional, and world resources. (i.e. how individual financial actions have an impact on myself/others/resources.)
- 3.11 Describe how the inclusion or exclusion of individuals, social and ethnic groups, including individuals who are American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian or Americans of African, Asian, Pacific Island, Chicano, Latino, or Middle Eastern descent, religious groups, and other traditionally marginalized groups has shaped events and development of the local community and region.
- 3.18 Identify how systems of power, including white supremacy, institutional racism, racial hierarchy, and oppression affect the perspectives of different individuals and groups when examining an event, issue, or problem with an emphasis on multiple perspectives.
- Fourth grade standards and targets:
- 4.1. * Investigate how the establishment, organization, and function of the Oregon government, its Constitution and its laws enforced and/or violated democratic conceptions of equity and justice for individuals and groups including Native Americans, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and other immigrant groups.
- 4.15 Give examples of how changes in Oregon’s agricultural, industrial, political, and business development over time, impacts people of the state including traditionally underrepresented groups.
- Fifth grade standards and targets:
- 5.22 Examine how the decisions of those in power affected those with less political/economic power in past and current movements for equality, freedom, and justice with connections to the present-day reality.
This focus on identity and power and oppression comes out of Critical Pedagogy, the approach developed by Paulo Freire, which is connected to Critical Theory. UNC Charlotte provides a guide to Critical Theory pedagogies where the connection is clearly drawn between Critical Theory and Critical pedagogy. It is also clearly articulated that Critical pedagogy is an inherently political approach.
Critical pedagogy is based in critical theory. Critical pedagogy connects the concepts of critical theory with education.
“Many “critical theories”…have emerged in connection with the many social movements that identify varied dimensions of the domination of human beings in modern societies. In both the broad and the narrow senses, however, a critical theory provides the descriptive and normative bases for social inquiry aimed at decreasing domination and increasing freedom in all their forms” (Bohman, J., Flynn, J., & Celikates, R., 2019).
Critical Pedagogy Influences
Critical pedagogy originates especially from the work of Paulo Freire, an educator and philosopher whose work Pedagogy of the Oppressed formed the basis for critical pedagogy. Critical pedagogy overlaps with pedagogies such as feminist pedagogy, anti-racist pedagogy, and inclusive pedagogy. These three pedagogies strongly pull from key theories introduced by critical pedagogues.
Education as Political
Critical pedagogy identifies education as being inherently political, and therefore, not neutral (Kincheloe, 2004, p.2). Critical pedagogy encourages students and instructors to challenge commonly accepted assumptions that reveal hidden power structures, inequities, and injustice in society.
Critical pedagogy acknowledges education is political; education has a history of inequalities, oppression, and domination that need to be recognized (Kincheloe, 2004). Likewise, education can become a way in which students are equipped to engage against systems of oppression when existing structures in education are challenged.
NOTE: Beaverton School District did not respond to request for comment.
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