Exclusive: Nine documents from new Fairfax County ‘Equity Dialogue’ teacher training
On Monday, October 10, Fairfax County Public Schools had staff go through 90 minutes of training for new “Teacher Evaluation Standard 6,” put in place by the Northam administration in March 2021, in the wake of a movement by “equity warriors” to “disrupt” education.
Independent Women’s Network obtained nine training documents that raise concerns among staff and parents about time and resources wasted on indoctrination while students are suffering serious learning losses.
We scoured these documents for you. Let us know any content that jumps out at you!
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- “Equity Dialogue Facilitator Guide” (Equity Dialogue Facilitator Guide.pdf)
An “Equity Dialogue Facilitator Guide” notes that the training is designed to make teaching practices “more responsive, inclusive and equitable.”
It says:
The resources provided serve as a means to get people thinking and talking about ways in which our practices can be more responsive, inclusive and equitable. Participants will gain understanding of how to align their daily practices to the evaluation standards.
“Equity Dialogue Facilitator Guide”
If teachers have questions, they are directed to their “designated Equity & Cultural Responsiveness specialist.”The training includes seven areas of “culturally responsive education” that include:
- “Assessment and Data through an Equity Lens”
- “Culturally Responsive Classroom Environments”
- “Meaningful Relationships”
- “Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Curriculum”
- “Inclusive and Culturally Responsive Instructional Materials”
- “Inclusive and Culturally Responsive Communication Critical Consciousness”
2. “Critical Consciousness” — “Equity Dialogue” (7 Critical Consciousness_Equity Dialogue.pdf)
A PowerPoint on “Critical Consciousness” guides teachers to support students “navigating the times we live in.” It also asks teachers: “How might you work to develop your own critical consciousness alongside that of your students?”
The “Critical Consciousness” module includes “Facilitating Student Learning: Controversial Issues” and “Culturally Responsive Teaching: Critical Lens Continuum.”
3. “Critical Consciousness ~ Text as Expert” (Critical Consciousness Quotes.pdf)
This exercise promotes quotes including one that says “our work” is to “create affirming classroom cultures,” not read, write and do arithmetic.
The quote:
“In the long run, our work is to create affirming classroom cultures that interrupt bias and prime students with positive associations about who they are and can be in the world.” (Safir, 2016)
4. “Culturally Responsive Curriculum: Critical Examination of Knowledge and Power” (Critical Lens Continuum Tool V1.pdf)
The “Culturally Responsive Curriculum: Critical Examination of Knowledge and Power” includes a continuum from “Level 0: Inculcation” to “Level 1: Activation,” “Level 2: Critical Examination” and “Level 3: Empowerment.”
“Level 3: Empowerment” argues students study how “learning and teaching are inherently ideological acts,” examining curriculum through the lens of “power, position, and bias.”
“Empowerment” includes an activist agenda with a goal to teach students how they can be involved in “taking action for more just systems.”
The curriculum notes:
“Students critically examine the ways in which human systems are the product of choices, and supports students in imagining and taking action for more just systems.”
“Culturally Responsive Curriculum: Critical Examination of Knowledge and Power”
5. “Inclusive and Culturally Responsive Instructionally Materials — Equity Dialogue” (Inclusive & Culturally Responsive Materials_Equity Dialogue.pdf)
In this document, Fairfax County Public Schools identifies that the goals is to develop instructional materials “free of bias,” but new changes to curriculum and classroom policies about “controversial issues” raise serious concerns that it’s in fact bias that activists teachers are bringing into classrooms.
6. “Facilitating Student Learning: Controversial Issues” (Facilitating Student Leadership_Equity.pdf)
Another document, “Facilitating Student Learning: Controversial Issues,” includes “Discussion Protocols and Guides” with partisan political material, including “Teaching Tolerance” from the Southern Poverty Law Center, which includes teachings that isolate students regarding issues of “privilege” and “oppression,” and “Courageous Conversations,” a program created by a controversial consultant Glenn Singleton that discusses problems with “whiteness.”
The resources include:
- SPLC’s “Teaching Tolerance: Civil Discourse in the Classroom: Chapters 2-4 offer guidance and structures for preparing students for civil discussions of controversial issues.”
- Consultant Singleton’s “Courageous Conversations Protocol (PDF): A “compass” to promote reflection on different ways of engaging difficult topics, and a reflection protocol.”
7. “Grade 4 Social Studies — Planning and Practice Guide: Teacher Notes — Quarter 3: New Nation” (G3 Q3 New Nation.pdf)
Teacher notes for grade 4 social studies curriculum on a “New Nation” asks students a false binary question: “Did our founders and founding documents protect liberty or slavery?”
8. “Student Slides — Grade 4 — New Nation” (Students Slides_G4 New Nation PBA.pdf)
9. Examples in Action — Grade 4 — “New Nation” (Examples in Action.pdf)
