FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 28, 2022
CONTACT: Patricia Lamiell, lamiell@tc.columbia.edu, 973-449-7086

New York, NY—Amid the country's debate on whether students should learn about race and systemic racism in public schools, a new survey of Black voters in New York City finds overwhelming support for a Black Studies curriculum in the city’s public schools.

The study, The Black Studies Curriculum: An Educational Necessity for New York City Public Schools, released by the Black Education Research Collective (BERC) at Teachers College, Columbia University, found that 92 percent of Black voters support having the Pre-K-12 Black Studies Curriculum in city schools. A solid majority of respondents, 72 percent, indicated that having a Black studies curriculum is a top priority for improving New York City’s public schools.

“Black voters’ voices are often underrepresented when it comes to discussing ways to improve our education curriculum and system,” said BERC Founding Director Dr. Sonya Douglass, Professor of Education Leadership and Co-Director of the Urban Education Leaders Program (UELP) at Teachers College. “There has been a lot of interest nationally in Black studies and ethnic studies, and in the midst of these conversations and debates around what should be taught in schools, I believe it is important that Black voices are a part of this conversation. The data shows that many people in our city feel strongly about incorporating Black studies into Pre-K-12 school curriculum and policy makers are eager to support this effort.”

The study was conducted with funding from a $3.25 million, one-year grant from the New York City Council to support BERC’s creation of an interdisciplinary Black studies curriculum and professional development program for teachers in New York City’s public schools. The New York City Council recently allocated $3.4 million in the City’s Fiscal 2023 Budget to continue this groundbreaking work as part of the landmark Education Equity Action Plan (EEAP) initiative. BERC is a founding member of EEAP, a coalition of United Way of New York City (UWNYC), Eagle Academy Foundation (EAF), Black Edfluencers United (BE-U), the Association of Black Educators of New York (ABENY), the Black Education Research Collective (BERC) at Teachers College, and the New York City Council’s Black, Latino and Asian Caucus (BLAC), working together to develop an interdisciplinary, Pre-K-12 Black Studies Curriculum that acknowledges the history and contributions of Black people, beginning before slavery and continuing through the present.

In partnership with the New York City Department of Education, the curriculum is scheduled to begin a pilot project in public schools beginning this fall.

Key findings of the study also include:

• Both racism and white supremacy were seen as important subjects for public school students to learn. Survey data shows that nearly all voters (97 percent) felt strongly about racism being taught in schools, while a strong 87 percent felt it was important for students to learn about white supremacy.
• Support among respondents for including critical race theory (CRT) in the curriculum was at 48 percent. Among this group, 33 percent expressed strong support, and 15 percent were somewhat supportive. Forty-three percent of those surveyed were undecided.
• Notably, the Civil Rights era was seen as more important to teach than any other historical period.

The phone survey of 705 Black New York City voters was conducted by brilliant corners Research & Strategies, and led by national pollster Cornell Belcher. The findings support an earlier study released by BERC in July 2021 which found that the COVID-19 pandemic has been a further setback to education in Black communities, which have already been suffering from decades of systemic racism. Taken together, the two studies outline what Black New York City education stakeholders and voters believe New York City public schools need to do to meet the physical, mental and social needs of Black students, families, and communities and to redress decades of racist policies in schools.

For more information on this groundbreaking study, please visit: https://www.blackedresearch.org/opinionpoll