CALIFORNIA EDUCATORS — you are protected! You now have the legal right, as well as the responsibility, to use a wide range of diverse children’s books in your classroom — and for those of you who aren’t comfortable doing so, help has arrived.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed protections into law on Sept. 25, effective immediately. AB 1078 states that all students — including those from diverse backgrounds and gender identities — deserve an education “that reflects the lived reality of those pupils.”
California educators are now afforded legal protections against the fear and bullying teachers in other states are enduring for simply teaching accurate history and using books that reflect their students. While large numbers of books are being banned from school libraries across the country due to a small number of divisive voices, California teachers do not have to cave to these outliers. We can stand strong. The law is behind us.
California’s schools are extremely diverse, with 80 percent of students reported as students of color and 19 percent as English learners. However, our teaching force is over 61 percent white. We educators have the right and the responsibility to give our students a picture of the amazingly rich culture in our state.
The new law states that, “efforts to categorically exclude topics related to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or other protected characteristics, or of present or historical discrimination based on protected characteristics, from school library collections, curricula, or classroom discussions constitute censorship that violates California law and policy.” LGBTQ+ authors and people are identified specifically as a protected subgroup.
Fear stands in the way of diversity
Gov. Gavin Newsom convened the CEOs of all the state’s curriculum companies to convey that changes to curricula made for states like Texas and Florida that distort history will not be acceptable in California. For example, if the period of enslavement in the United States is portrayed as anything other than what it was, those books will be considered ahistorical and unacceptable in California.
Yet, I have found that teachers are hesitant to use diverse books. They may feel that their own schooling didn’t prepare them with the historical knowledge they should have, or they are fearful about saying something wrong, not using the current jargon, or making a mistake that inadvertently hurts someone’s feelings.
While these concerns are understandable, we must work to overcome them by doing some additional learning, co-teaching and collaborating with families or community organizations. We can’t let our fears stand in the way of using diverse texts to create an inclusive curriculum.
Teachers are hesitant to use diverse books because they may feel their own lack the historical knowledge or they are fearful about saying something wrong that inadvertently hurts someone’s feelings.
California educators are also protected through the state’s Recommended Literature List. Published by the California Department of Education (CDE), the list includes a wide range of diverse texts from transitional kindergarten through 12th grade. All the books on the list are state-approved curricula. As a member of the committee that compiles this list, I work to ensure it represents the diversity of our state and is useful for finding culturally responsive texts for instruction. Not sure if a book is on the list? You can search for it, and if not, you can recommend the title.
Having access to diverse books is critically important for all kids. Scholar Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop told us almost 35 years ago that diverse books provide mirrors and inclusion for students from underrepresented communities, and they are equally important for students from the dominant culture. She stated, “books may be one of the few places where children who are socially isolated and insulated from the larger world may meet people unlike themselves. If they see only reflections of themselves, they will grow up with an exaggerated sense of their own importance and value in the world — a dangerous ethnocentrism.”
A gateway to new points of view
California’s English Language Arts standards can all be met using diverse texts. They provide an opportunity to sustain a wide range of cultures, while providing access to new and different points of view. Diverse books are inclusive and support student motivation and engagement.
To be sure, parents should be deeply involved in their children’s education and already have the constitutional right. However, there’s no need to censor particular books. By doing so, they interfere with other parents’ rights to determine their children’s education. Instead, parents can talk with their children about topics they find to be controversial so the children have the opportunity to gain your understanding.
AB 1078 gives teachers and students the freedom to value our students and their home cultures through the use of diverse texts. Take advantage of this freedom. We can do better for California’s students.
Allison Briceño, Ed.D., is an associate professor and Public Voices Fellow with the OpEd Project at San José State University, and co-author of Conscious Classrooms: Using Diverse Texts for Inclusion, Equity, and Justice.