Area A-G/H Ethnic Studies:
The UC Ethnic Studies Admissions Requirement
California’s AB 101 that mandates one ethnic studies course for the graduating high school class of 2030 has already been approved. By 2025-26 high school ES courses must be on the books.
UC BOARS (Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools) has already overwhelmingly voted to approve Area H (the general education requirement for Ethnic Studies) on two separate occasions.
As California’s leading educational institution, UC needs to support high school teachers to implement this curriculum in our schools.
Generation Up Student Letter of Support
I am emailing you on behalf of Generation Up (GENup), California’s largest youth-led advocacy organization with 4000+ members, 100+ chapters, and a 200-organization education coalition: The GENup Collective for Student Voice, about Area H. As one of the organizations that was directly involved with the passing of AB 101 and the creation of the Area H criteria, we would love for you to join us in advocacy and support.
Area H is a new proposed non-additive requirement in ethnic studies that the UC voted to approve back in fall of 2020 when it anticipated the passage of AB 101, the CA state law mandating ethnic studies. By non-additive, I mean that courses fulfilling this ethnic studies requirement will also be required to fulfill subject area criteria in an existing A-G area. Essentially, as with most A-G requirements, it’s a college prep course–in this case of high school ethnic studies. This new requirement leaves the required credits unchanged.
Because California law requires that all public high schools implement Ethnic Studies as a graduation requirement for the class of 2030, adopting Area H will allow UC to provide leadership and guidance for high school ethnic studies courses. This is the UC’s responsibility in service of California high schools.
Currently, Area H is out for a 90-day review at your campus. As there has been much debate and conversation on the implementation and the criteria, we wanted to provide you with some clarifying answers about Area H and the proposed “issue” of “access”.
We at GENup encourage you to read our short Q&A and to think about what Area H could do for a future generation of students’ success. Area H is important to students, and we would greatly appreciate your support.
In solidarity,
Ashlyn Bautista
Executive Chief of GENup Communications
Ethnic Studies Benefits All Students
Read Sleeter's (2011) literature review "The Academic and Social Value of Ethnic Studies."
The Battle Over California’s Ethnic Studies Curriculum
Since 2016, the California Board of Education has been in the process of including Ethnic Studies in K-12 school curriculum and establishing the subject as a requirement for all California public high school students. What might surprise many, however, is that the backlash against the contents of California’s Ethnic Studies courses has primarily come from Pro-Israel Jewish organizations. Read Naomi Friedland’s New Voices (2022) article.
Sign the Petition Demanding Area H Implementation Now
The University of California is at a crossroads: will it honor its grassroots history as one of the birthplaces of ethnic studies, or will it follow Texas’s and Florida’s lead by banning antiracist education?
California’s AB 101 mandates that by 2030, high school seniors must take an ethnic studies course in order to graduate. By Fall of 2025, high school ethnic studies courses must be on the books. We are less than two years away from this deadline, yet the UC is squandering its opportunity to lead with vision.
READ MORE AND SIGN THE PETITION
What the Research Says about Ethnic Studies
Ethnic studies directly confronts the historical legacy and ongoing manifestations of racism in schools (Montaño & Gallagher-Geurtsen, 2022). Well-prepared teachers of ethnic studies represent an opportunity to reduce inequality in academic outcomes of high school students, particularly Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) students. Ethnic studies has been shown to have academic, cognitive, social, and emotional value for students (Sleeter, 2011; Sleeter & Zavala, 2020) and can improve their academic achievement, engagement, and sense of agency (Cabrera et al., 2012; Cammarota, 2017; Dee & Penner, 2016, 2017; Montiero, 2020; Sleeter, 2011; Sleeter & Zavala, 2020). Both BIPOC and white students have been found to benefit socially from ethnic studies with increased acceptance and understanding of one another (Sleeter, 2011). Dee and Penner (2016) found that ethnic studies participation increased high school student attendance by 21 percentage points, cumulative ninth-grade GPA by 1.4 grade points, and credits earned by 23 credits. In 2021, Bonilla, Dee, and Penner found high school ethnic students experienced an increase in longer-run academic engagement and attainment including probability of postsecondary matriculation.
The benefits of ethnic studies courses are documented in this brief review.