Frequently Asked Questions
To pursue the certificate in Ethnic Studies Teaching, please reach out to the program advisor, who will help you begin the official process for university recognition.
Students should contact the program advisor prior to completing six units of study they wish to count towards the certificate, so that adequate advising and preparation for electives and capstone course requirements are possible.
Ethnic Studies is an interdisciplinary field, and the Ethnic Studies teaching certificate is designed to be adaptable and flexible to the various majors and graduate degree programs that students might pursue on their way towards teaching in the K-12 classroom, or enhancing their development as professional educators. In many cases, electives and substitutions of courses that reasonably achieve the same learning outcomes and goals may be possible, with approval from the Program Director and faculty committee.
Students pursuing substitutions and electives should be sure to be sure to get approval from the Program advisor who will need to complete and sign a RAAR form to make sure credits are applied properly.
Yes! Students interested in pursuing the K-12 Ethnic Studies Teaching Certificate at either the undergraduate or graduate levels may count up to six units of coursework completed prior to application and declaration of the certificate towards their program of study.
These individual arrangements will need to be made in conversation and collaboration with the Program Director, who will approve applications and recognition of prior coursework and any proposed substitute electives.
Yes! At least “yes” to a certain extent.
University policies allow students to count up to six units from a major/minor program of study towards a certificate program, so a course in the K-12 Ethnic Studies Teaching certificate that meets a requirement for your major can also be fulfill that requirement towards the Certificate. Any overlap or “double counting” beyond that would require approval from your home department.
In the U.S. context, Ethnic Studies as a category, or Comparative Ethnic Studies as a field, refers not to the study of ANY ethnicity, but to an interdisciplinary field of study focused on critical examinations of racial identity, power, and the unique, marginalized cultural experiences of Black, Asian, Latinx, and Indigenous peoples in the United States. The field, like any, is dynamic, and since 1969, it has adapted and changed. Yet at its core, it remains effectively what the activists of the Third World Liberation Front were seeking—an examination of Black, Asian, Latinx, and Indigenous experiences in the U.S. as a meaningful part of school curriculum.
On one hand, lessons that Ethnic Studies teaches about the dynamics, processes, and functions of power, marginalization, and social resistance, transcend any group, and can help us understand dynamics in history and society broadly. On the other, it is critical to recognize that
the experiences of Black, Indigenous, Latina/o/x, and Asian peoples—peoples of different phenotypical, racial identity—have been uniquely distinct over the course of U.S. history.
Our school curricula well document the struggles and success of many immigrant groups as part of the American “melting pot”, yet they minimize and neglect the histories and experiences and contributions of Black, Indigenous, Chicana/o, and Asian peoples. Recognizing, and understanding how, and why, some peoples and their cultures/ways of being have ultimately been welcomed into and included in the American narrative/curriculum, and others—particularly racialized others—have not, is critical to any aspirational commitment to the future.
More significantly, we know, from countless, well documented studies, that racial identity—phenotype—shapes our experience in the world, that it is complicated, and that it is a function of social-construction, not biology. One of Ethnic Studies core elements is helping students understand these complexities; the ways racial, ethnic, and cultural identity comes into being, the way it is shaped by political and cultural forces, and the consequences for different peoples. Understanding these are an opportunity to understand how skin color, phenotype, has impacted our world in tremendous ways; it is an essential piece of making racial reconciliation possible.
In the K-12 setting, then, Ethnic Studies is an epistemic discipline, as much as it is a practical one. By decolonizing our pedagogies, and centering the perspectives of historically marginalized communities of color as it examines content, Ethnic Studies seeks to affirm the presence and significance of all peoples in the American and historical narrative, and thus promote a more liberatory, loving, and pluralistic future in which educational and racial justice might be achieved.
As a discipline, Ethnic Studies provides an approach to curricula that reflects the voices, narratives, stories, beliefs, memories, worldviews, and epistemologies of communities of color, grown and evolving over many generations. It invites reflection on the past, the present, the future, and the self, locating our own and others’ identities within the racialized plurality that exists in the United States. In short, Ethnic Studies is not just another set of content to be taught, but a unique discipline that requires more than generic pedagogical preparation, more than generalized best practices, and more than simply culturally competent self-reflection.
In contrast to discourses of multiculturalism, humanism, and inclusive-diversity in education, Ethnic Studies is unequivocal in grappling with questions of power and oppression: it is necessarily decolonial in its orientation, and anti-racist in its pursuit of equity. In short, cultural inclusion, competence, and appreciation are insufficient goals (Okihiro, 2016). The study of our current realities and our interconnected histories cannot be divorced from the examination of how our lives (and the lives of others) are shaped by persistent and lingering social and political systems and structures including, but not limited to: colonialism/coloniality, hegemony, White supremacy, racism, colorism, sexism, classism, homophobia and transphobia, patriarchy, Islamophobia, xenophobia, and neoliberalism. By naming and honestly engaging with these realities as they are present in the content we teach, Ethnic Studies invites hope and possibility; allowing us to consider how we might productively address the ways in which these malignancies continue to impact the social, cultural, economic, political, and affective experiences of historically marginalized communities.
In the K-12 setting, a large and growing body of quantitative and qualitative evidence (e.g Dee & Penner, …..) has shown that students’ engagement with Ethnic Studies improves their academic performance and schooling outcomes in all subjects—not just Ethnic Studies courses. Moreover, the positive impacts on academic performance and social/civic engagement extend to all students—not just students of color. Essentially, Ethnic Studies is a critical and important piece of a timely civic education in the 21st century, as we look to future generations to lead us into a more democratic, pluralistic future.
An incomplete list of local and California K-12 school districts with active or future Ethnic Studies course requirements includes:
- San Diego Unified School District
- Poway Unified School District
- Sweetwater School District
- Los Angeles Unified School District
- San Francisco Unified School District
This includes some of the largest employers of teachers in the state of California – making the certificate an excellent complement to licensure, and a way to make yourself stand out for hiring and advancement.
At present, there is not, which is why we offer this certificate!
Though an independent, transdisciplinary field at the university level, in K-12 schools, Ethnic Studies is typically included into district’s English Language Arts or Social Studies/Humanities curriculum, either as a required course, or an elective. This allows schools and districts to maintain the longstanding structure of the overall curriculum. While we are advocates for dedicated Ethnic Studies, we do not see this changing soon.
As a result, Ethnic Studies does not yet require teachers to have or seek dedicated licensure—but that doesn’t mean intentional preparation isn’t important! Districts and schools recognize the unique demands of teaching Ethnic Studies curriculum and are actively seeking educators with the knowledge and skillsets to teach these classes.
The SDSU certificate is one of very few opportunities nationally to earn an institutional acknowledgement of expertise in this exciting and expanding area of teaching and pedagogy!
