{"id":1114632,"date":"2021-12-13T13:29:01","date_gmt":"2021-12-13T18:29:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1114632"},"modified":"2021-12-13T13:29:03","modified_gmt":"2021-12-13T18:29:03","slug":"what-have-you-done-to-be-more-anti-racist-school-districts-screen-potential-teachers-for-cultural-competency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/what-have-you-done-to-be-more-anti-racist-school-districts-screen-potential-teachers-for-cultural-competency\/","title":{"rendered":"&#039;What Have You Done to Be More Anti-Racist?&#039;: School Districts Screen Potential Teachers for &#039;Cultural Competency&#039;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhat-have-you-done-to-be-more-anti-racist-school-districts-screen-potential-teachers-for-cultural-competency%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1114632&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/classroom-techer-640x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">Schools across the country are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.edweek.org\/leadership\/districts-are-trying-to-screen-out-racial-biases-during-teacher-job-interviews-heres-how\/2021\/12\">screening<\/a> potential teachers for their \u201ccultural competency\u201d asking candidates \u201cwhat they\u2019ve done personally or professionally to be more anti-racist,\u201d according to Education Week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUltimately, when we\u2019re looking for people to serve our students, my key questions are: Can you teach these students, even if they don\u2019t look like you?\u201d Karen Rice-Harris, chair of the American Association of School Personnel Administrators\u2019 diversity, equity, and inclusion committee, said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Education Week reported that \u201cschool districts are increasingly asking teacher-candidates questions about cultural competency, race, and equity during the application and interview process.\u201d Although it is \u201cslow work,\u201d Rice-Harris says teacher prospects should be able to adequately answer \u201chow they honor the diversity of their students in their instruction and curriculum.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As Breitbart News has&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/12\/02\/exclusive-ricketts-university-of-nebraska-denies-crt-use-while-own-records-reveal-consultant-behind-efforts-is-critical-race-theorist\/\">reported<\/a>, given the emergence of critical race theory as a major political issue, institutions that wish to implement it may surreptitiously refer to it by other means, or camouflage it behind phrases like \u201cculturally responsive teaching\u201d \u2014 which uses the same CRT acronym \u2014 \u201cculturally competent,\u201d \u201csocial emotional learning,\u201d \u201canti-racist,\u201d and \u201cequity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lauren Dachille, founder and CEO of teacher hiring software company Nimble, said school systems have been asking \u201ccultural competency\u201d questions for \u201cat least the last five to 10 years,\u201d says Education Week.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cBut after the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests that swept the nation last year,\u201d writes Education Week of Dachille, \u201cdistricts seem to be putting even more of a focus on how applicants think and talk about race in the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"8.4615384615385\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Democrats and teachers\u2019 unions have demanded $305 billion in coronavirus aid, claiming the taxpayer funds are necessary to reopen public schools \u201csafely.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/PBky84VlNn\">https:\/\/t.co\/PBky84VlNn<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartNews\/status\/1281737537820778496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 10, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Now that Americans have become \u201ca little more aware of the concept of anti-racism and maybe a little more woke as a culture,\u201d Dachille says, racial questions \u201cmight be more explicit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Dachille contends that \u201cmany districts will also dig into whether candidates believe that all students have the capacity to learn and thrive academically,\u201d as Breitbart News has reported, one <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/04\/15\/california-weighs-equitable-math-goal-obtaining-correct-answer-racist\/?utm_source=facebook&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;fbclid=IwAR1jksvbwA0Ga8LrwvvENBN7HUU0CWNtMBYQu1tJQoJgiGqN0Nv7_DHcnJ8\">core<\/a> belief of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/05\/05\/californias-equity-math-rejects-existence-of-naturally-gifted-students-all-children-capable-at-highest-levels\/\">critical<\/a> race <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/education\/2021\/12\/07\/california-academics-warn-woke-math-curriculum-will-do-lasting-damage\/\">theorists<\/a> is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/education\/2021\/12\/06\/top-american-scientists-voice-alarm-at-woke-california-math-curriculum\/\">that<\/a> certain races are incapable of competing in advanced academic courses, leading to the discontinuation of such courses in areas controlled by adherents to the ideology.<\/p>\n<p>Dachille\u2019s Nimble is working on \u201cleverag[ing] artificial intelligence to help districts gauge candidates\u2019 cultural competence by their answers during the interview process and on their application,\u201d according to Education Week.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cDistricts often want their teachers to believe that all students, regardless of their background, can learn at high levels,\u201d Dachille said, but implied one predictive factor was the level to which a teacher believes learning is achieved in school versus at home.<\/p>\n<p>Principal of Boston\u2019s Shaw Elementary School Ashley Davis says \u201cwe can tell\u201d when candidates are simply able to talk about anti-racism, and when they are actual practitioners of the ideology. \u201cAre you just talking language or are you able to connect your language with what you actually do?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"7.3636363636364\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A chemistry teacher in the Arlington Public School district was suspended after she referenced George Floyd in a question on a chemistry test. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Ff4MDa14Ct\">https:\/\/t.co\/Ff4MDa14Ct<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartNews\/status\/1330733299296251906?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 23, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Indianapolis\u2019s school district director of talent acquisition Alex Moseman said of their hiring practices that \u201cWe want hiring managers to have a baseline about where a candidate is starting from in terms of [their] mindset about race \u2026 and we want to be clear from the front end about our values as an organization.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes, candidates will talk about equity and justice but not talk about race,\u201d Moseman continued. \u201cSometimes, they\u2019re not comfortable yet having a specific conversation about race in the classroom. That\u2019s fine\u2014that\u2019s where [they] can grow as an employee.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>As Breitbart News <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/11\/27\/critical-race-theory-whistleblower-curriculum-pits-our-students-against-each-other-based-on-color\/\">reported<\/a>, Tony Kinnett, an Indianapolis, Indiana, school administrator who in early November blew the whistle on critical race theory being taught in his district said&nbsp;the curriculum \u201csuggests to all of our students who aren\u2019t black or brown that they are responsible for centuries of horrible oppression that the United States has built.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery single class at Indianapolis Public Schools is founded on two strategic priorities,\u201d he explained. \u201cOne is the official academic priority that we\u2019re all supposed to encourage, and the second is the racial equity priority, which sounds really great, but it actually pits our students against each other based on color.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Education Week reports districts that employ these interview tactics believe they contribute to teacher retention rates, though \u201ccan\u2019t explicitly connect that progress with the district\u2019s interview process,\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"9.0653266331658\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A P.E. teacher in Loudoun County, Virginia, has been put on leave after refusing to use preferred pronouns for trans students. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3Qc2KO3aJp\">https:\/\/t.co\/3Qc2KO3aJp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartNews\/status\/1398670414038159362?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 29, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Surveys of teachers of color who left the teaching profession <a href=\"https:\/\/www.edweek.org\/teaching-learning\/black-teachers-feel-pigeonholed-hindered-as-professionals-report-says\/2016\/11\">show<\/a> they \u201cdo so in part&nbsp;because they\u2019ve experienced microaggressions and racist stereotypes from their colleagues.\u201d According to Sharif El-Mekki, the founder and CEO of&nbsp;Center for Black Educator Development, \u201d&nbsp;teachers of color want to work in a school system where inequities in education are openly addressed and educators are asked to examine their own biases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>El-Mekki, who was also a principal at a Philadelphia charter school, said during his interview process, he would ask candidates if they had ever worked for a black administrator before. He also sought personnel \u201cwho had both the courage to hold themselves and their colleagues accountable for the success of students of color and the humility to interrogate their own mindsets about race,\u201d according to Education Week.<\/p>\n<p>A teacher candidate once pushed back on El-Mekki\u2019s questioning, he told Education Week, saying she did not think it appropriate to talk about race. \u201cNo,\u201d El-Mekki apparently responded, \u201cthis is natural conversation for us\u2014talking about race, class, and privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Addressing the current teacher shortage affecting schools across the country, El-Mekki said it is sometimes hard to weigh the importance of a given candidate\u2019s view on the prominence of race in their everyday life and filling a vacancy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re struggling, people are resigning\u2014I don\u2019t know if I want to ask about [applicants\u2019] anti-racist approach, we\u2019ve got a vacancy [to fill],\u201d he said, continuing, \u201cAnd that, to me, is scary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Breccan F. Thies<\/em>&nbsp;<em>is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter&nbsp;<a title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreccanFThies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@BreccanFThies<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Schools across the country are screening potential teachers for their \u201ccultural competency\u201d asking candidates \u201cwhat they\u2019ve done personally or professionally to be more anti-racist,\u201d according to Education Week. \u201cUltimately, when &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1114632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1114632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1114632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1114632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1114632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1114632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1114632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}