Illinois high school's 'problematic' segregated math, English classes slammed by parent group

EVANSTON, Ill. (CITC) — A parents' rights group is chastising an Illinois high school for offering segregated classes, claiming the approach is disadvantaging the students it is designed to protect.

Evanston Township High School offers math and English courses specifically for students who "identify" as Black or "Latinx." The courses are described as emphasizing elements which Black and "Latinx" students "identify as shared experiences" on the school's website.

However, each class is "composed exclusively of students and a teacher who identifies as" the same race or ethnicity, according to the school's student newspaper.

"A lot of kids of color talk about feeling very isolated,"Evanston Township High School District 202 Superintendent Marcus Cambell told the school newspaper in August. "And so we think, ‘How can we provide an opportunity to reduce performance anxiety and follow the research on stereotype threat and provide a different, more familiar setting to kids who feel really anxious about being in an AP class?’"

Black students make up nearly 25% of Evanston Township High School, according to state data, with Hispanic students accounting for just over 20%. In comparison, 45% of the school's students are White.

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Marcus feels the segregated courses give students a better chance at success, offering them a stronger pathway to AP-level courses. However, one parental rights advocate believes Evanston Township High School is accomplishing the exact opposite.

"Students perform best when they're with all types of students," Caroline Moore, the vice president of Parents Defending Education (PDE), told Crisis in the Classroom (CITC). "It's problematic because they're getting a different class experience than everyone else."

Moore noted that Evanston Township may be opening itself up to legal challenges over the "unconstitutional" approach. In recent years, schools nationwide have been sued over the use of race-based student "affinity groups," which are traditionally described as linking individuals with common interests or ideologies.

Many of those lawsuits have been spearheaded by PDE. Last year, a Boston-area school district settled a legal battle with PDE over its own "affinity groups," which the parents' rights organization called "egregious civil liberties violations."

READ MORE | Massachusetts school districts promote 'anti-racist' affinity groups for White teachers

"School is supposed to be a diversity of ideas," Moore said. "I would assume that districts are doing this as a way of being inclusive or promoting equity ... but every kid needs to be treated equally."

"I think that a White student could learn a lot from sitting in on [the groups] and learning about someone's background or experience," Moore added.

CITC reached out to Evanston Township for comment, but did not receive a response prior to publication. This story will be updated if a response is received.

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