Gov. Walz-appointed board wants teachers to demonstrate divisive concepts to obtain license

As first reported by American Experiment in May, the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB) appointed by Gov. Tim Walz is proposing changes to teacher licensure programs that would require aspiring educators to “demonstrate” ideologically driven content in their coursework to obtain their teaching license.

PELSB’s proposed amendments to the state’s licensure rule (R-4615) for teachers — even if they will teach at a private school — include adding a “Racial Consciousness and Reflection” standard to what Minnesota educators “must embody in order to effectively teach all of Minnesota’s students” (referred to as Standards of Effective Practice).

The sub-standards within “Racial Consciousness and Reflection” and other proposed rule changes within RD4615 are dripping with Critical Race Theory, gender ideology, and identity politics. Proposed language includes:

  • “The teacher understands multiple theories of race and ethnicity, including but not limited to racial formation, processes of racialization, and intersectionality.”
  • “The teacher understands how ethno-centrism, eurocentrism, deficit-based teaching, and white supremacy undermine pedagogical equity.”
  • “The teacher understands that knowledge of creation, ways of knowing, and teaching are social and cultural practices shaped by race and ethnicity, often resulting in racially disparate advantages and disadvantages.”
  • “The teacher understands the impact of the intersection of race and ethnicity with other forms of difference, including class, gender, sexuality, religion, national origin, immigration status, language, ability, and age.”
  • “The teacher creates opportunities for students to learn about power, privilege, intersectionality, and systemic oppression in the context of various communities and empowers learners to be agents of social change to promote equity.”
  • “The teacher understands how prejudice, discrimination, and racism operates at the interpersonal, intergroup, and institutional levels.”
  • “The teacher assesses how their biases, perceptions, and academic training may affect their teaching practice and perpetuate oppressive systems and utilizes tools to mitigate their own behavior to disrupt oppressive systems.”

“The proper focus for the Standards of Effective Practice is to identify what competencies best meet the priority of student learning, not affirmation of student identity or the furthering of activism,” wrote the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR) in submitted comment to PELSB.

Teachers should and do celebrate our state’s increasingly diverse student body, but these proposed changes would require teachers to view students as group identities and group cultures, undermining who they are as unique individuals.

These proposed amendments are clearly ideological in content, not academic, and require a rewrite.

Take action

A virtual rules hearing to consider these and other proposed amendments will be held on Wednesday, August 24 beginning at 9:00 a.m.

You may request to speak by emailing [email protected] or you can sign-up to speak during the hearing by using the “chat feature” to notify the meeting host.

To join by computer or tablet

https://tinyurl.com/4615hearing 

or

https://minnesota.webex.com

Meeting number:  2487 718 8093

Password: PELSB

To join by phone

1-855-282-6330

Access code: 24877188093#73572#