Education Week - October 23, 2019 - 1

To inspire and empower.

Vol. 39 * Issue 10 * October 23, 2019 |

edweek.org

Seattle Effort
Merges Math,
Ethnic Studies
Classes would explore
power and oppression

Florida Governor
Puts K-12 Agenda
On Fast Forward
By Andrew Ujifusa
When he was elected Florida's governor
last year, Ron DeSantis was famous for telling his daughter to "build the wall" out of toy
blocks in a TV campaign ad, not for his track
record on education issues. But to this point,
the Republican former congressman has
eagerly embraced policies that have helped
make Florida a high-profile and controversial
state for K-12 policy.
So far this year, DeSantis publicly and successfully pushed state lawmakers to create a
new voucher program designed for middleincome families, telling them at one point to
"send me a bill" to that effect. It's intended
to augment Florida's landmark tax-creditscholarship program. The new state-funded
vouchers, called Family Empowerment
Scholarships, are expected to be the subject
of a lawsuit.
He signed off on the expansion of other
avenues of school choice, including new
PAGE 16 >

Student Logan Patterson, 18, center, gives Kristen Powell, left, a high-five after using a virtual reality headset at the Technical College High School
Pennock's Bridge Campus in West Grove, Pa. The manufacturer of the device aims to help people with autism prepare for real-life encounters.

Autism Program Uses VR to Simulate Police
Tech allows
students
with autism
to practice
interactions
with law
enforcement

By Sarah Schwartz
Being approached by a police officer can be a stressful situation for any teenager. But for students with autism, encounters with law enforcement can be especially dangerous.
Children with autism spectrum disorder may not be able to
respond to directions or questions from the police. They may
avoid eye contact, or be hyperfocused on something else. Police can interpret these behaviors as defiance or aggression.
In attempts to keep kids safe, some autism advocates have
created guides for children and their families that encourage
building relationships with local law enforcement, or practicing specific ways to act and speak in front of the police.
One company is taking this training a step further, placing
students in a virtual interaction with an officer.

Floreo, an educational virtual reality program for students
with autism, offers seven different lessons that students can
experience through a VR headset. Some focus on foundational social skills, like nonverbal communication. Others,
like the police interaction simulation, give students an opportunity to practice and problem-solve in situations that
they may encounter in the real world. One of these modules
has students practice crossing the street; another that's currently in development walks students through an airport
TSA checkpoint.
Prepping students for police interactions is controversial:
Some critics say that it's the police who need to be trained
to better serve the community, and it's not fair to place this
burden on children. And strategies that work for white chilPAGE 14 >

The Challenging, Often Isolating Work of
School District Chief Equity Officers
By Christina A. Samuels
For months, the Orange County, N.C.,
school board wrestled with pressure to ban
students from wearing the Confederate flag
symbol on school grounds. Then came the
deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017.
Within days, the board banned Confederate flag clothing and formed a task force
that would labor for two years to write a new
racial equity policy.
"The Orange County schools acknowl-

edge persistent racial intolerance, inequities, and academic disparities in our district," the task force wrote, before laying out
its prescription for "disrupt[ing] all forms of
discrimination in our school community."
After an emotional public hearing, the
board adopted the policy unanimously.
"I'm proud to say, 'Hey, I'm turning
around,' " said board member Stephen
Halkiotis, whose public remarks about his
change of heart were captured in a local TV
news story. "I'm letting it go, because it's the
PAGE 18 >

Rachel Jessen for Education Week

The Seattle school district is planning to
infuse all K-12 math classes with ethnicstudies questions that encourage students to
explore how math has been "appropriated"
by Western culture and used in systems of
power and oppression, a controversial move
that puts the district at the forefront of a
movement to "rehumanize" math.
The district's proposed framework outlines strands of discussion that teachers
should incorporate into their classes. One
leads students into exploring math's roots
"in the ancient histories of people and empires of color." Another asks how math
and science have been used to oppress and
marginalize people of color, and who holds
power in a math classroom.
Another theme focuses on resistance and
liberation, encouraging students to recognize the mathematical practices and contributions of their own communities, and
looking at how math has been used to free
people from oppression.
Seattle's proposals land as schools all over
the country are discussing the role ethnic
PAGE 17 >

Hannah Yoon for Education Week

By Catherine Gewertz

Dena Keeling is the chief equity officer for North
Carolina's Orange County school district, where she
will lead efforts to dismantle inequities.

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Education Week - October 23, 2019

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