The Santa Barbara Unified school board has approved a contract that will have the district join a collaborative project focused on researching and finding best practices for implementing ethnic studies classes across California.

The Project California Regional Ethnic Studies Collaborative (CRESC) has two main goals. The first is to develop and deliver professional learning opportunities to develop awareness and skills for educators as they expand and implement ethnic studies classes, according to the board memo.

The second goal is to develop ethnic studies resources shared on an online hub for educators in order to approve the ethnic studies experience for students in California. 

The Los Angeles County Office of Education received $400,000 to be dispersed over the next year in order to produce resources for the online ethnic studies hub. Several school districts, including SBUSD, that already have ethnic studies courses were invited to apply for funding to contribute resources to the online hub for other districts and teachers to use, according to the board memo.

SBUSD will get $25,800 to go toward compensating teachers and substitute teachers for completing and delivering those resources. 

In its proposal, SBUSD said it intends to create a detailed course overview from an English class that will include a sample calendar of the 18-week block course. It also will include two sample units with vocabulary, key texts, assignments and rubrics. 

The district plans to create a weeklong sequence of sample lessons, including a slide deck and activities. It also will include an outline of its collaboration model that has contributed to successful ethnic studies courses, according to the board memo.

Dr. Lynne Sheffield, assistant superintendent of educational services, told the board that the district has been at the forefront of ethnic studies education.

“We have an amazing department and an amazing group of teachers, and they have been asked to participate in this collaborative to work toward building lessons and putting it into an ethnic studies hub,” Sheffield told the board on Tuesday. “As schools jump on and start adding ethnic studies into their programs, we’re at the forefront. We’re going to be providing lessons for them to provide for other teachers.”

Superintendent Hilda Maldonado praised the district’s previous board and superintendent for adding ethnic studies as a district graduation requirement in 2018.

“As we continue to really emphasize the importance of the student experience, their sense of belonging, their sense of feeling seen and valued for who they are, I think that was the groundwork for some of the work we’re doing now,” Maldonado said. 

Wendy Sims-Moten, board president, recalled being on the board in 2018 when they made ethnic studies a graduation requirement and the community support and pushback at the time.

“It really has stood the test of time,” Sims-Moten said. “To now see it come full circle and to be able to share it out with other districts, that says a whole lot.”

Sims-Moten noted that she was glad to see a contract generating new revenue for the district that also allows it to share out best practices around ethnic studies curriculum. 

“As we continue to be an equity-minded, inclusive-minded district, these are one of the things that we need to have, and I’m proud to have been a part of that and now get to see it carrying on because we’re ahead of the curve and now others are trying to do that,” Sims-Moten said. “It’s good to have something in place to share because I think it’s really important to share good practices and best practices.”