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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | 2025 -- H 5836 |
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| 6 | 6 | | ======== |
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| 7 | 7 | | LC002004 |
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| 8 | 8 | | ======== |
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| 9 | 9 | | S T A T E O F R H O D E I S L A N D |
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| 10 | 10 | | IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 11 | 11 | | JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2025 |
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| 12 | 12 | | ____________ |
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| 13 | 13 | | |
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| 14 | 14 | | A N A C T |
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| 15 | 15 | | RELATING TO EDUCATION -- CURRICULUM |
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| 16 | 16 | | Introduced By: Representatives Morales, Biah, Furtado, Stewart, Handy, Potter, |
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| 17 | 17 | | Caldwell, Batista, DeSimone, and McGaw |
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| 18 | 18 | | Date Introduced: February 28, 2025 |
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| 19 | 19 | | Referred To: House Education |
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| 20 | 20 | | |
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| 21 | 21 | | |
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| 22 | 22 | | It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: |
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| 23 | 23 | | SECTION 1. Chapter 16-22 of the General Laws entitled "Curriculum [See Title 16 1 |
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| 24 | 24 | | Chapter 97 — the Rhode Island Board of Education Act]" is hereby amended by adding thereto the 2 |
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| 25 | 25 | | following section: 3 |
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| 26 | 26 | | 16-22-39. Ethnic studies course. 4 |
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| 27 | 27 | | (a) Beginning with the 2026-27 school year, every high school shall be required to offer a 5 |
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| 28 | 28 | | yearlong “ethnic studies” course studying American history and the experiences of racialized 6 |
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| 29 | 29 | | communities in Rhode Island and the United States. This course’s coverage shall specifically 7 |
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| 30 | 30 | | include: 8 |
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| 31 | 31 | | (1) Native American and Indigenous history, Black and African American history, Asian 9 |
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| 32 | 32 | | American and Pacific Islander history, the Armenian Genocide, Arab American history, and Latin 10 |
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| 33 | 33 | | American history; 11 |
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| 34 | 34 | | (2) Fostering critical thinking skills, and a deeper analysis of structures of power and race; 12 |
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| 35 | 35 | | and 13 |
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| 36 | 36 | | (3) Improved educational outcomes. 14 |
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| 37 | 37 | | (b) The ethnic studies course shall be a social studies ‘core credit’ and a high school 15 |
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| 38 | 38 | | graduation requirement starting with graduating classes of 2030. 16 |
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| 39 | 39 | | (c) The commissioner of elementary and secondary education shall make available to all 17 |
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| 40 | 40 | | school districts instructional materials that may be used as guidelines for development of a unit of 18 |
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| 41 | 41 | | instruction under this section. 19 |
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| 42 | 42 | | |
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| 43 | 43 | | |
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| 44 | 44 | | LC002004 - Page 2 of 3 |
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| 45 | 45 | | (d) Each ethnic studies course shall require a student-led project; provided, however, that 1 |
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| 46 | 46 | | each such project shall be consistent with the history and social studies standards and frameworks 2 |
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| 47 | 47 | | promulgated by the Rhode Island board of education. Civics projects may be individual, small 3 |
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| 48 | 48 | | group or class wide, and designed to promote a student's ability to: reason, make logical arguments 4 |
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| 49 | 49 | | and support claims using valid evidence. 5 |
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| 50 | 50 | | (e) Each school district shall be encouraged to work with grassroots organizations and local 6 |
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| 51 | 51 | | institutions in developing community-based ethnic studies teacher training and curriculum. 7 |
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| 52 | 52 | | (f) The department of elementary and secondary education (the “department”) shall 8 |
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| 53 | 53 | | coordinate with school districts to build and expand diverse educator pipelines to support with the 9 |
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| 54 | 54 | | delivery of ethnic studies 10 |
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| 55 | 55 | | (g)(1) Curriculum development. Beginning with the 2025-26 school year, there shall be a 11 |
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| 56 | 56 | | student-led ethnic studies leadership council to oversee the implementation of the requirements of 12 |
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| 57 | 57 | | this section and supporting the development and instruction of curriculum, along with methods for 13 |
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| 58 | 58 | | course evaluation. 14 |
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| 59 | 59 | | (2) The council shall be comprised of one student representative and teacher liaison from 15 |
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| 60 | 60 | | each school district selected by the district superintendent and a representative from five (5) 16 |
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| 61 | 61 | | different community organizations that identify as being “youth-led” per the department. The 17 |
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| 62 | 62 | | department shall be responsible for convening the leadership council with the first meeting to take 18 |
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| 63 | 63 | | place by October 2025. 19 |
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| 64 | 64 | | (3) After implementation, the leadership council shall continue as a permanent body to 20 |
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| 65 | 65 | | evaluate and update ethnic studies. 21 |
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| 66 | 66 | | SECTION 2. This act shall take effect on July 1, 2025. 22 |
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| 67 | 67 | | ======== |
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| 68 | 68 | | LC002004 |
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| 69 | 69 | | ======== |
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| 70 | 70 | | |
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| 71 | 71 | | |
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| 72 | 72 | | LC002004 - Page 3 of 3 |
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| 73 | 73 | | EXPLANATION |
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| 74 | 74 | | BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL |
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| 75 | 75 | | OF |
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| 76 | 76 | | A N A C T |
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| 77 | 77 | | RELATING TO EDUCATION -- CURRICULUM |
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| 78 | 78 | | *** |
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| 79 | 79 | | This act would require every high school to offer a yearlong “ethnic studies” course 1 |
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| 80 | 80 | | studying Rhode Island and American history and the experiences of racialized communities in 2 |
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| 81 | 81 | | Rhode Island and the United States. This act would also direct the establishment of an ethnic studies 3 |
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| 82 | 82 | | leadership council to oversee implementation of the requirements of this section. 4 |
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| 83 | 83 | | This act would take effect on July 1, 2025. 5 |
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| 84 | 84 | | ======== |
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| 85 | 85 | | LC002004 |
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| 86 | 86 | | ======== |
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