                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

CULTURALLY RELEVANT AND INCLUSIVE EDUCATION PRACTICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE (§
22.1-208.02)

A. The Department of Education, in consultation with the Commonwealth&#8217;s
Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, shall establish and appoint such
members as deemed appropriate to the Culturally Relevant and Inclusive Education
Practices Advisory Committee (the Advisory Committee) for the purpose of
strengthening culturally relevant education practices and supporting anti-bias
education and response in the Commonwealth. The Advisory Committee shall include
but not be limited to a geographically, ethnically, and religiously diverse
representation of teachers, curriculum specialists, principals, superintendents,
advocates, higher education institutions, parents, legislators, and
community-based organizations. The Advisory Committee shall report its
recommendations to the Board of Education, the Governor, and the Chairpersons of
the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and
Health no later than July 1, 2021. The Committee shall issue interim reports as
it deems necessary.

B. The Advisory Committee shall provide standards recommendations to the
Virginia Department of Education, and they shall be considered by the Board of
Education, during the 2021-2022 review of the history and social science
Standards of Learning. Such recommendations shall include:

   1. The historical underpinnings of the Holocaust and other historical
   genocides in the context of how increased lower levels of hate, ridicule, and
   dehumanization led to larger acts of violence and state-sponsored
   discrimination and violence;

   2. Slavery, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of historical
   dehumanizing injustice and discrimination;

   3. The ignored and untold history of the indigenous people of Virginia and
   North America; and

   4. The untold histories of other groups historically underrepresented in
   American and world history.

C. The Advisory Committee shall provide recommendations for the issuance of
Board of Education guidelines for local school division staff, including
teachers and school counselors, to offer age-appropriate anti-bias education to
students. The recommendations for such guidelines shall include:

   1. Recognition that anti-bias and anti-discrimination education is the work
   and responsibility of all staff within the local school division;

   2. An emphasis on diversity and building a community of empathy, respect,
   understanding, and connection;

   3. Examination of how lower levels of hate, ridicule, and dehumanization lead
   to larger acts of violence, discrimination and violence;

   4. Acknowledgment of inequity on the individual level, such as biased speech
   and harassment, and injustice at the institutional or systemic level, such as
   discrimination, and the harmful impact of inequity and injustice on the
   community, historically and today;

   5. School-based and classroom-based responses, which are student centered and
   proven effective, to various forms of racism, bigotry, and discrimination
   through empathy, respect, understanding, and connection; and

   6. Updates to the Department of Education&#8217;s teacher&#8217;s manual, as
   required by action taken by the 2009 Session of the General Assembly, that
   emphasizes the causes and ramifications of the Holocaust and genocide.

D. The Advisory Committee shall provide recommendations on meaningful
professional development with school personnel related to culturally relevant
and inclusive education practices. In addition to the Board of Education, the
Governor, and the Chairpersons of the House Committee on Education and the
Senate Committee on Education and Health, these recommendations shall also be
provided to the Advisory Board on Teacher Education and Licensure and the State
Council for Higher Education in Virginia. This shall include but not be limited
to considerations for:

   1. The policies and regulations governing teacher preparation programs; and

   2. The policies and regulations governing teacher licensure and professional
   development requirements for licensure renewal.

HISTORY: 2020, cc. 572, 573.