Integrating Black history throughout the curriculum

According to a state education official, a certain narrative has been left out of history class.

Michael Feldman, Delaware Department of Education social studies education associate, said it’s important for Americans to study where society has lived up to the ideals of this nation and where it has fallen short.

One step toward this goal is House Bill 198, spearheaded by Rep. Sherry Dorsey-Walker, D-Wilmington, and signed into law in 2021, which requires school districts and charter schools to provide instruction on Black history as part of all educational programming. It does not include measures for the state to assess school programming. Dorsey-Walker could not be reached for comment regarding whether an assessment was considered, and if so, why it was not included.

The law came into being, Feldman said, after a group of students in New Castle County approached Dorsey-Walker about the lack of Black history inclusion in school textbooks and curriculums.

“It was heartbreaking to hear from students who have never seen themselves in the curriculum in Delaware classrooms,” Feldman said.

The law lists eight minimum content expectations that must be included within the K-12 curriculum in multiple content areas and grade levels. After a year of planning and development, the law was implemented in the 2022-23 school year. 

Requirements include teaching about the history and culture of Black people prior to the African and Black Diaspora, including contributions to science, art and literature; Black figures in national and Delaware history; and how enslavement was perpetuated through segregation and federal, state and local laws.

Some topics have been taught in schools for many years, but not to the extent required by the minimum content expectations, Feldman said.

“For example, schools teach slavery, but do they teach it as a significant contributor to the development of the American economy?” he asked.

DOE is required to do three things as a result of the legislation, Feldman said. The first is to provide resources to help schools develop instructional materials and lessons. Delaware is a local-control state, he said, so all district and charter schools write and use their own curriculums. 

“Every day there is new legislation that asks teachers to do things that they haven't been trained to do, so we all have to support them in that work,” Feldman said. 

DOE worked with the Social Studies Coalition of Delaware, state schools and other educational organizations to create a list of resources, professional learning opportunities, and a framework for teaching history and current events.

The department contracted New York University Metro Center to train teachers in the culturally responsive approach to writing lesson plans, he said, and worked with consultants to develop model lessons.

DOE was also required to collaborate with organizations that provide education about the experiences of Black people, or that seek to promote racial empowerment and social justice, and to produce an annual report compiling the reports from districts and charter schools detailing their implementation of the law.

Before reports were due, Feldman said, DOE offered informational sessions to help school leaders address the Legislature and hold a panel discussions with districts that shared their approaches to the report. A future session is planned for schools to dissect the report and find opportunities to improve. 

Schools were required to submit their reports to DOE by Nov. 15, and DOE submitted its compiled report to the governor, General Assembly and the director of its research division Jan. 15. 

This year, Feldman said, since school reports were due not long after the academic year began, schools could include what has been implemented and what will be implemented during the course of the year. 

At Cape, Student Services & Equity Initiatives Supervisor Luis Cosme leads a team in the district initiative. Cape hired Equity & Beyond as a consultant to ground educators in cultural competence, which will result in culturally responsive teaching, Cosme said. 

Professional development is customized; all staff will attend three sessions a year, and the board will attend twice a year, he said. Components for self-reflection and understanding the whole child are included, he said; the instruction leads to action steps, such as how to organize the classroom and plan lessons with a pluralistic view.

“It’s good to have a third party bringing their expertise and insight into developing our initiatives,” Cosme said. “We’re not doing it for compliance. The spirit of the law is inclusiveness for all students, and we are an inclusive district.”

Teachers were identified and selected based on content, grade level and recommendations to reimagine existing lessons to meet requirements, he said. After lessons have been delivered, students and teachers will provide feedback so they can be revised if needed and then used as examples for other lessons district-wide. 

As a model, Cosme said, an eighth-grade science lesson asks students to investigate why cities are more affected by rising global temperatures compared to rural areas such as Sussex County, and how that adversely affects marginalized citizens in those cities.

In so doing, he said, students will learn that cities suffer from the “heat island effect,” caused by unnatural materials and dark surfaces that make up cities and absorb heat at a higher rate, causing residents to have increased incidents of heat-related health complications and death. Students will then be able to debate changes that can reverse the heat island effect. 

“Teachers say kids are eating up the knowledge,” Cosme said. “It’s just good instructional practice. The district is constantly looking at ways to better improve our implementation of all lessons, including lessons developed to recognize the HB 198 requirements.” 

All schools have a success plan, Cosme said, and building principals report every month on the progress of implementation throughout all grade levels. While the bill is fully integrated, Cosme said the final product will be in place within another year. 

“The spirit of the bill is to do it with fidelity,” Cosme said. “Our product at the end will be routine use, so HB 198 will be part of everyday instruction because Black history is U.S. history.”