Plain English Breakdown
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Ethnic Studies Standards and Reporting Requirements
This law requires state agencies to create new content standards for high school ethnic studies courses by January 2028, while requiring schools to share their current or planned course materials with the state.
What This Bill Does
- Requires the State Board of Education to develop and adopt academically rigorous content standards for high school ethnic studies instruction on or before January 1, 2028.
- Directs the Instructional Quality Commission to review and recommend curriculum frameworks and instructional materials for these courses by January 1, 2028.
- Requires that all high school ethnic studies curricula foster multicultural respect and understanding and focus on the domestic experience and stories of historically marginalized peoples in American society.
- Requires schools to send copies of their current or planned ethnic studies course materials to the State Department of Education by June 30, 2026.
- Orders the state department to post information about these submitted courses on its website and monitor compliance with the new rules.
Who It Names or Affects
- The California State Board of Education
- The Instructional Quality Commission
- High school students in grades 9 through 12
- School districts, county offices of education, and charter schools
Terms To Know
- Content standards
- Official rules that describe what students should learn in a specific subject.
- Curriculum frameworks
- Guidelines and plans for how teachers organize lessons and teaching materials.
- Instructional Quality Commission
- A state group that reviews school courses and suggests improvements to the State Board of Education.
Limits and Unknowns
- The law states an intent to create a new advisory committee, but it does not establish this committee directly.
- Some parts of existing ethnic studies laws only take effect if the Legislature approves funding for them.
- Reimbursement for costs that schools must pay depends on whether the Commission on State Mandates determines those costs are required by the state.