All Indiana high schools will offer an ethnic studies elective course starting this fall, after lawmakers approved a bill last year requiring the change.
The Indiana Department of Education recently released standardsfor the new ethnic studies course. Director of School Improvement Robin LeClaire says one key part centers around student identity.
“Because cultural self-awareness is important for students to have an awareness of themselves, and high self-esteem is important so we want to make sure we have that cultural self-awareness piece,” she says.
Ethnic studies standards also include the exploration of different ethnic and racial groups’ history within the U.S. and abroad. It will also allow students to examine different challenges, champions, and traditions for various groups, and different policies and factors that impact them.
LeClaire says the curriculum is designed to prepare students for an increasingly diverse world, and that the department reached out to various groups to create the standards.
“We also had a lot of community members who were very interested in the course so the NAACP participated as well as the Great Lakes Equity Center and the Great Lakes Comprehensive Center,” she says.
High schools have to offer the elective class every year at least once. Schools also have to offer another new course this year, called Indiana Studies.
