New Black Studies Curriculum Faces Implementation Challenges

Following an $8.35 million grant and a successful two-year pilot program, a new Black studies curriculum was introduced in all New York City public schools this September. However, many teachers remain unaware of it, and some are facing challenges in its implementation.

Developed by the Black Education Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University, in partnership with the New York City Department of Education (DOE), “Black Studies as the Study of the World” provides preschool and K-12 public school teachers with lesson plans that align with social studies and English Language Arts classes. The curriculum was created in response to a Black Education Research Center report that showed how schools were struggling to meet the academic needs of Black students during the pandemic and the broader national reckoning with systemic racism.

“It’s meant to supplement existing social studies curricula and also expand upon the things that are in social studies by providing content related to the Black experience,” said Deirdre Hollman, a senior curriculum specialist at the Black Education Research Center.

Some of the lesson plans include Haitian Art for 5th-graders, the displacement of Seneca Village for 7th-graders, and policing in Black communities for 11th-graders.

During the 2022-2023 school year, two school districts participated in the program’s initial phase, followed by 18 districts across the city during the most recent school year. Now, the curriculum is available to all schools, and the Black Education Research Center and the DOE are working together to raise awareness about it.

Despite that, few teachers know about the curriculum, and others have expressed concerns about how to integrate it with their existing curriculum requirements.

“I haven’t seen anything,” said a high-school history teacher with nine years of experience, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “I did check my DOE email, and it didn’t come up.”

“I’d like to see a grander rollout of this,” said Adrian Vaughan-Scott, a U.S. history teacher at Park East High School. “I would 100% incorporate portions of this, if not teach a stand-alone class with this.”

Of the 13 educators Columbia News Service spoke to, only five knew of the curriculum.

“I’m not surprised that not every teacher has heard about it, with it being just released two months ago,” Hollman said. “I think communication is always a challenge in a bureaucracy.”

Hollman said that the Black Education Research Center contacted all superintendents to announce the launch in July and promotes the curriculum on social media. She added that the DOE social-studies department is also putting out newsletters to notify teachers about the curriculum.

A DOE spokesperson told Columbia News Service that the department mentioned the curriculum in a press release in February, included it in a February press conference about another new curriculum, and shared the information with all principals in a newsletter.

‘A Juggling Act’

The Regents exams, a standardized testing system in New York State, pose a significant challenge for teachers trying to implement any changes to the traditional curriculum. Despite recent and upcoming changes, these exams are required for most high school students. A high-school history teacher, who requested anonymity, explained how the Regent tests heavily influence curriculum decisions.

“When push comes to shove, if it’s not on the Regents, they don’t care,” he said.

With eight years of teaching experience and this being his first year in a New York public school, he said he has always aimed to incorporate indigenous, Black, immigrant and global perspectives in his U.S. history lessons. But three weeks into the current school year, his assistant principal urged him to exclusively focus on Regents materials.

“It’s a juggling act,” said Vaughan-Scott, who with 24 years of experience already incorporates Black studies into his history curriculum and is excited about using the new materials. “The content that I teach the students isn’t purely just what’s in the Regents because that wouldn’t be quality U.S. history at that point,” he said.

Hollman acknowledged that testing is a common concern. “It’s aspirational for the state Regents to expand the content from which they draw the questions from for the Regents exam,” Hollman said.

Elementary-school teachers are facing their own barriers. Last school year, 5th-grade co-teachers Andrei Clark and Kazue Takenaga at P.S. 87 William Sherman were part of the pilot program. They believe the curriculum is “incredibly important to study” and are interested in continuing it this year, but they are struggling to find time for it.

“There’s a few other programs that are really kind of demanding our time,” said Takenaga. Namely, “Wit & Wisdom,” a K-8 English Language Arts program that integrates social studies materials. “Wit & Wisdom” is more time-consuming and has “less representation of people of color,” according to Takenaga.

Other teachers with a significant number of migrant students and English language learners in their classrooms also expressed concerns about curriculum modifications.

“Many of my students have been in the country for three years or less,” said a high-school history teacher with nine years of experience. These students, she said, would need to learn basic U.S. history before she would consider incorporating Black studies.

The Future of Black Studies

While the creation of a Black studies curriculum is seen as an important step, many teachers who spoke to Columbia News Service agreed that there’s still a long way to go.

“If there was a push from the top down in the city saying, we want this incorporated, and then also look to experts to develop those other curricula pertaining to cultural groups in the United States, now we’re talking about equity,” Vaughan-Scott said.

In the meantime, Hollman said, it’s everyone’s responsibility to make sure that the Black studies curriculum reaches its potential. For its part, the Black Education Research Center plans to hold a virtual learning series on the curriculum starting Oct. 21.

“I hope that students have access to a broader, more robust, more humane anti-racist history curriculum,” Hollman said.