'Building an Antiracist America': Top Pennsylvania School District Pushes Teachers To Infuse Critical Race Theory Into Their Lessons

A top Pennsylvania school district is pushing its teachers to infuse critical race theory into classrooms through "racial equity learning resources" that argue America is systemically racist and condemn merit-based policies as "rooted in whiteness."

Pittsburgh Public Schools, the state's second-largest district, hosts on its website an array of "racial equity learning resources" that train educators on topics such as "whiteness" and how to be "culturally responsive as a white teacher." One resource includes curriculum materials developed from critical race theorist Ibram X. Kendi's Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, which argues that "racist ideas have been stamped" into the nation's "Constitution, laws, policies, practices, and beliefs of segregationists and assimilationists." Lessons inspired by the book ask students to explain how America's government is "emblematic" of the statement, "Racism is the bedrock of the USA." They also state that "meritocracy and the American dream narrative are rooted in whiteness."

The district's push to provide teachers with training centered on critical race theory comes as Pennsylvania Democrats make sweeping changes to state standards for teachers. Democratic governor Josh Shapiro's administration last year released "Culturally-Relevant and Sustaining Education" guidelines, which require educators to recognize schools' "inequities and institutional biases" before they can become licensed to teach in the state. For Pennsylvania lawmaker Barbara Gleim (R.), those guidelines are part of a years-long push to support "race theory teaching" through "multi-level educational training webinars and embedded class indoctrination."