rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/letter/flexibility-for-students-on-ethnic-studies?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-letter-area-flexibility-for-students-on-ethnic-studies' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> Westside Family Democratic Club https://actionnetwork.org/groups/westside-family-democratic-club https://actionnetwork.org//images/generic_facebook.jpg In 2021, the previous school board mandated that SFUSD high schoolers take two semesters of ethnic studies to graduate. The district implemented that requirement in the 2024-2025 school year, and also scheduled both semesters in ninth grade. After the district’s controversial homegrown curriculum sparked outrage, it was replaced last year by a pilot of a more established ethnic studies course, “Voices: An Ethnic Studies Survey.” According to its publisher, the Voices curriculum can be taught over one semester, or drawn out over two. The current approach helped address concerns with the content of the old curriculum, but it still creates several problems: The two-semester mandate limits students’ ability to take other classes. This hurts all students. Students who need help catching up are deprived of a chance to take more math or literacy courses. Students who excel are deprived of the chance to take prerequisites for advanced classes. And all students are deprived of the option to explore their own interests. Requiring the course freshman year compounds the problem. It isn’t necessary to require ES in a specific year, let alone the year in which students have the most required classes (and the fewest elective choices). On Tuesday, the Board of Education will vote on whether to end the pilot and purchase the Voices curriculum for long-term use. But the BOE shouldn’t just maintain the status quo, it should take steps to fix the ethnic studies program so it works better for kids: Extend the “Voices” pilot to test the curriculum as a one-semester course. Limit the ES mandate to one semester. Allow students to take ES any year before graduation. Under the new school board and the new superintendent, SFUSD has finally begun taking steps to fix its problems. In the past year it has brought back eighth-grade algebra, begun taking the first steps to tackle its structural deficit, and experimented with a new curriculum for ethnic studies. It needs to keep moving forward, and fixing the ES mandate is an important step. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/flexibility-for-students-on-ethnic-studies