Pennsylvania to rescind 'woke' teacher development standards, settles lawsuit
The Pennsylvania Department of Education has agreed not to require school districts to implement teacher professional development guidelines critics denounced as "woke" in response to a lawsuit challenging the framework.
The Thomas More Society, a religious liberty-focused legal organization, announced it settled with the Pennsylvania Department of Education last week. The agency agreed to rescind its "Culturally-Relevant and Sustaining Education Program Framework Guidelines," first implemented in November 2022. The standards in question became the subject of litigation in April 2023.
"We are incredibly pleased with this settlement agreement, which forces the Pennsylvania Department of Education to rescind the state's 'Culturally-Relevant and Sustaining Education' guidelines — securing an important victory for Pennsylvania parents, students, and teachers," said Thomas More Society Special Counsel Thomas Berth. "Our agreement is a triumph against the Department's blatantly ideological and illegal attempt to inject 'woke' activism into school curricula across Pennsylvania."
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Thomas More Society Executive Vice President and Head of Litigation Peter Breen said educational standards "should help students learn how to think, not what they must believe."
"This victory against Pennsylvania's 'woke' curriculum mandate restores that opportunity for Pennsylvania families and teachers," Breen said. "Pennsylvania's CR-SE curriculum guidelines commanded to students what they must believe and unconstitutionally compelled teachers to pledge loyalty to an ideological program."
The Thomas More Society shared screenshots of what it considers the most concerning aspects of the guidelines, which instructed educators to "Believe and acknowledge that microaggressions are real and take steps to educate themselves about the subtle and obvious ways in which they are used to harm and invalidate the existence of others."
The guidelines encouraged teachers to "disrupt harmful institutional practices, policies, and norms by advocating and engaging in efforts to rewrite policies, change practices, and raise awareness." The guidelines also urged teachers to "engage in critical and difficult conversations with others to deepen their awareness of their own conscious/unconscious biases, stereotypes, and prejudices."
Educators were advised to "[d]esign learning experiences and spaces for learners to identify and question economic, political, and social power structures in the school, community, nation, and world."
The Thomas More Society filed a lawsuit against the now-rescinded guidelines in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania on behalf of three school districts as well as a group of students and parents. The filing alleges that the guidelines violate the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the state's Regulatory Review Act and the Pennsylvania Constitution. The settlement comes 18 months after the litigation first commenced.
Under the settlement terms, the Pennsylvania Department of Education will email all schools and school districts in the state to inform them that the guidelines have been rescinded and stress that they have no legal obligation to comply with them.
The state agency will offer an alternative set of guidelines, known as the Common Ground Framework, that it encourages but does not require schools and school districts to adopt.
The Common Ground Framework contains a series of "Considerations for Professional Development" that educators should keep in mind when encountering students from different backgrounds. It asks teachers to keep in mind that students in poverty may not have the same access to school supplies and activities as others and features recommended best practices and considerations regarding students who hail from farming families, where children rise early to work on the farm and military families.
Additional "Considerations for Professional Development" in the revised guidelines include low socioeconomic status, homelessness, family communication and engagement, trauma, disabilities and lack of digital and broadband accessibility.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
