SERIES | After Decades of Advocacy and Minimal Action, It’s Time for Washington State to Invest in Ethnic Studies and End ‘Curriculum Violence’

by Dr. Tracy Castro-Gill and Oliver Miska

Students have been fighting for ethnic studies since the 1960s. Yet it’s still only “encouraged” in Washington State, despite study after study showing its benefit for all students.

Black student unions and the Third World Liberation Front forged an intersectional solidarity movement in the 1960s at university campuses nationwide. Their multiracial, grassroots movement was institutionalized (read: colonized) into the ivory towers of higher education ethnic studies departments, such as African American studies, Asian American studies, Chicano studies, etc., but the fight for ethnic studies in K–12 is relatively new and is still being fought state by state.

In 2019 and 2020, the first legislation “encouraging” ethnic studies brought another institutionalized version of it into our K–12 schools. These bills triggered the creation of the Ethnic Studies Advisory Committee (ESAC) within the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), which would be tasked with developing an ethnic studies framework. The framework was published by OSPI in the fall of 2021. The mishandling of ESAC, which exploited Femmes of Color who wrote the framework, also soured relationships between ethnic studies experts and the state. OSPI needs to engage in reconciliation with these community organizations and ethnic studies experts.

Fortunately, we have a chance to combat neocolonialism and performative unfunded mandates, and Washington Ethnic Studies Now (WAESN) is convening a statewide coalition of educators, parents, youth, and community members advocating for a liberated, pan-ethnic model of ethnic studies rooted in intersectional solidarity.

WAESN is cited as one of the contributors to the 34-page framework, and WAESN’s former board president, Amanda Hubbard, was an official member of the ESAC. Since then, however, no movement has been made at the state level to support the implementation of ethnic studies in our state. In fact, OSPI decided to remove a list of professional development (PD) providers from the framework in a move that appeared to be retaliatory against WAESN for our political advocacy.

What’s at Stake

According to a study recently conducted by WAESN, curriculum violence is an unaddressed epidemic that marginalized students face across the U.S. Dr. Stephanie Jones of Grinnell College has been documenting evidence of curriculum violence for a decade on her X account, “Mapping Racial Trauma in Schools” (@TraumaMapping). Jones defines curriculum violence as any curriculum that harms students intellectually or psychologically.

One of us, Dr. Tracy Castro-Gill, expanded on Jones’ definition of curriculum violence to include “learning materials, activities, assessments, educator values, practices, school and district policies, and disciplinary measures that are explicitly or implicitly biased and result in identity trauma for students and their families,” with identity trauma meaning “the traumatic experiences of … marginalized identities, such as gender, sexuality, ability, and economic status.”

In spite of Washington’s reputation as a “liberal bubble,” our state has had ample instances of curriculum violence.

In 2023, the WAESN Youth Advisory Board created an essay contest, awarding scholarships to four winners from different age ranges. The prompt was: “Tell us about a time you broke the rules and why.” Two of the four contest winners addressed curriculum violence perpetrated by educators in the Seattle school district. Anya Souza-Ponce wrote about her experience with an educator at Ballard High School who refused to say the non-English names of individuals correctly, specifically Kamala Harris. Max Ratza wrote about their experiences with transphobia at McClure Middle School during a school-sponsored theater production. Additionally, students of Castro-Gill’s American ethnic studies course at the University of Washington have been sharing their experiences with curriculum violence on WAESN’s blog. The most recent example comes from Lauryn Daniels, a Black femme student who shared the traumatic pressure to conform to white standards of existence during her K–12 experience. Stories have also emerged from the east side of the state.

Earlier this year, a Spokane educator came under fire for racist and classist content titled “Slaves and Hobos” he taught in an elementary classroom. These examples of curriculum violence are just scratching the surface when it comes to the violence, alienation, and exclusion students feel in our schools.

Curriculum violence is the direct result of teacher preparation programs that poorly prepare prospective educators to teach about race, racism, and other systems of oppression. It’s also indicative of the lack of legislation to protect marginalized students from psychological trauma in the classroom.

Examples of curriculum violence create an unavoidable argument for urgent change at the state level.

Here’s What Implementation Looks Like

Sustainable implementation of any initiative must start with building workforce capacity among state education agencies, university teacher preparation programs, schools, districts, and educators.

State Education Agencies

Currently, the State’s lead education agency, OSPI, lacks staff with expertise in ethnic studies. To fill this gap, implementation at the State level must include community-based organizations (CBOs) and individuals who have been doing the work outside of the system. Creating a position in OSPI for an ethnic studies program director will support efforts to bring CBOs, schools, districts, and State agencies together. Additionally, since ethnic studies is an interdisciplinary field of study, this new role will help facilitate the inclusion of its values and practices into every subject area.

WAESN met with Superintendent Chris Reykdal in August, and he voiced both his understanding of the importance of ethnic studies and his support for working on it at OSPI, to act as a statewide support for growing local programs.

University Teacher Preparation Programs

WAESN completed a study reporting on workforce capacity and teacher preparation for K–12 ethnic studies.

We found that teachers are unprepared to teach ethnic studies after graduating from their teacher preparation programs and need ongoing support.

After years of advocacy, WAESN is working with Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos (a Democrat who represents the 37th Legislative District) on action steps for this upcoming legislative session to invest in integrating ethnic studies for all teacher preparation programs and creating a certification process for teachers who want to teach ethnic studies courses. Improving teacher preparation is an important step in making systemic change to eliminate curriculum violence. 

We do not want to create more hurdles for educators, which is why we are demanding that Washington fund local districts to incentivize and invest in their educators’ professional development.

Schools and Districts

In addition to educator preparation and creating an ethnic studies program at OSPI, barriers need to be removed and protections need to be put in place.

Educators are currently afraid to teach about race and racism because of a political climate that villainizes critical race theory (CRT). Contrary to popular rhetoric claiming CRT is anti-white and divisive, CRT is a framework used to teach about systemic racial oppression that centers the agency of racially oppressed groups. We need to make policy changes that are proactive and not reactive to address this and protect educators from disciplinary actions for teaching about race and racism.

In Castro-Gill’s study on educators of color teaching ethnic studies, participants identified school administrators as their primary barrier to teaching the subject. They cited administrators’ emphasis on testing outcomes over student experiences as the main issue. This tendency among administrators derives from the fact that their job performance is measured, in part, by student test scores. WAESN proposes aligning administrator evaluations, instead, with the State Board of Education’s “Profile of a Graduate” and the Professional Educator Standards Board’s “Cultural Competence, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Standards.”

Lastly, we need to learn from the challenges and successes other states have faced.

California, for example, took the traditional ethnic studies approach and has faced backlash for “leaving out” various ethnic groups, most notably Jewish people, from the model curriculum. The California model also works as a standalone course, meaning it’s not integrated into existing coursework, like history, math, art, etc. This perpetuates a divide-and-conquer mentality instead of fostering open dialogue.

Oregon is using a model that integrates ethnic studies into social studies courses instead of a standalone model. It is transitioning from the institutionalized model to a more inclusive approach known as pan-ethnic studies. This model examines how systemic racism impacts all marginalized groups collectively, instead of focusing on the histories of individual groups separately, using an intersectional approach focused on the experiences of People of Color. WAESN has taken this approach and created ethnic studies curriculum frameworks for 14 different subjects.

We believe ethnic studies can and should be incorporated into every K–12 subject, and since 2020, we have been providing training to thousands of educators using this model.

How You Can Help

Ethnic studies legislation and policies have been facing ongoing attacks since they were introduced.

Special-interest groups, like Conservative Ladies of Washington, Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR), and Stand With Us have notoriously sought to demonize and discredit WAESN’s work. Unfortunately, conservatives aren’t the only source of resistance. Sen. Lisa Wellman (a Democrat who represents the 41st District), who chairs the Senate Education Committee, has expressed resistance to ethnic studies, making uninformed statements about it not being inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community in the legislature’s Educational Opportunity Gaps Oversight and Accountability Committee (EOGOAC) meetings. We also expect pushback from some who will claim our legislative priorities place too much of a burden on educators. That’s why we are doubling down that any mandate must include clear funding and guidance for educators.

To demand systematic change, we are creating an intersectional coalition of community organizations, education leaders, and youth advocates statewide.

We don’t want a seat at the table. We want to create a new system designed by those who are currently left out.

Below are some ways you can help us win this fight.

• Send an email to your legislators telling them to support ethnic studies. It takes 30 seconds.

• Read over our legislative priorities and endorse our coalition. 

• Email us to learn how to endorse: LegislativeCommittee@WAEthnicStudies.com. 

• Donate to WAESN to support our advocacy (we don’t get paid for our advocacy work and rely solely on member donations).

• Keep an eye on WAESN’s Instagram account for important updates and action alerts, including upcoming webinars, workshops, and a WAESN lobby day in Olympia in February.

The South Seattle Emerald is committed to holding space for a variety of viewpoints within our community, with the understanding that differing perspectives do not negate mutual respect amongst community members.

The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the contributors on this website do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the Emerald or official policies of the Emerald.

Dr. Tracy Castro-Gill (they/them) is a fierce advocate for racial justice in education. Armed with a Doctor of Philosophy in Education, they’re dedicated to dismantling systemic racism in K–12 schools. As a former middle school teacher and current executive director of WAESN, they focus on creating culturally responsive, inclusive spaces where students of all backgrounds can thrive. Their work centers on holding systems accountable and empowering educators to challenge the status quo. Castro-Gill is committed to pushing for real, lasting change in the fight for racial justice in education.

Oliver Treanor Miska, 33, is a queer Seattleite, educator, community organizer, and lobbyist for educational justice policy in Washington State. Moving out of full-time classroom teaching after six years, they substitute teach in SPS and are founding director of Solidarity Policy and Public Affairs, a political consulting firm. As a community organizer, Oliver has held leadership roles within Seattle Democratic Socialist of America and Washington Ethnic Studies Now, where they co-lead a statewide legislative coalition. Oliver is also a member of SCORE, the Seattle Caucus of Rank and File Educators of Seattle Education Association (SEA), our educators union. They work to organize youth, families, educators, and community organizations to pass progressive revenue to fully fund our schools statewide. To contact them, email: solidaritypolicywa@gmail.com