U.S. School Districts Currently Advocating for Anti-Racist Curriculum

John Hobson of Albemarle County, Virginia is leading Reframing the Narrative, a project focused on bringing anti-racist education into middle- and high-school classrooms (Wyant, 2020). Similar to Carroll ISD, Albemarle County School District’s student population is primarily white (Young & McMahon, 2020). The students of Albemarle County have been largely supportive of the curriculum changes. In an interview with WBUR, Hobson stated that he has been receiving powerful feedback from students who had previously felt that something had been left out of their curriculum (Young & McMahon, 2020). Virginia educators started Reframing the Narrative in 2018 and are currently working to complete the curriculum and publish it for other districts to use.

Albemarle County school district collaborated with the nonprofit organization Facing History and Ourselves for professional development for teachers and resources in planning the program (Young & McMahon, 2020). Hobson also highlights the significant role students have had in the project in both advocating for the curriculum and helping to design it. “Children are citizens and it’s not just about preparing them for citizenship, that’s not what education is about is, it’s about being citizens right now,” Hobson stated in an interview with NBC (Wyant, 2020). Hobson advises teachers who are new to anti-racist teaching to first reflect on their own biases and think about their students’ experiences and possible reactions before implementing anti-racist lessons (Young & McMahon, 2020). Secondly, he suggests that anti-racist lessons should give students “an outlet to do something with the information they’re learning” and “construct their own knowledge and understanding” (Young & McMahon, 2020).