State's Department of Education changes teaching framework, now with less focus on racial bias

The state of Pennsylvania’s updated guidelines for teacher preparation and professional development has toned down its focus on racial biases that were implemented in 2022. New teachers in the state will receive the principles in education preparation programs.

The state’s Department of Education announced the changes last week, introducing the Common Ground Framework, which replaces the Culturally-Relevant and Sustaining Education Framework. The new framework is less emphatic when it comes to racial bias and no longer mentions microaggressions.

The Common Ground framework includes three categories of competencies for teachers: cultural awareness, trauma-aware mental health and wellness and, finally, technological and virtual engagement.

Education Secretary Khalid N. Mumin said in an email announcing the changes that the framework adopted in 2022 had been replaced. The email also explained the function of the guidelines for current and future teachers.

“Common Ground principles are not directly applicable to student conduct or locally adopted curriculum,” Mumin said. “Rather, Common Ground principles are intended to inform current and future teachers in their knowledge and ability to serve all students, including learners from varying socio-economic backgrounds and those with different abilities, in an effort to create an inclusive learning environment for all students.”

The principles are intended to “create an inclusive learning environment for all students” according to a webpage on the Common Ground Framework program guidelines.

“Common Ground is designed to help educators to better understand and relate to students experiencing homelessness and food insecurity, military-connected students and their families, students who have experienced trauma, students with disabilities or special needs, children of migratory seasonal farm workers, and more,” the webpage reads.

The webpage says the iteration provides “updated guidance.” The previous version of the program included a stronger focus on racial biases, including starting with the premise that educational institutions are biased.

The 2022 list of competencies says professional educators “know and acknowledge that biases exist in the educational system” and “identify literature and professional learning opportunities for themselves to understand more about the manifestations of racism and other biases at institutional and structural levels that can result in disadvantaging some groups of learners, educators, educational leaders, and families while privileging others.”

In the updated competencies, the state says educators should “identify possible cultural biases in the educational system” and “identify literature and professional learning opportunities to understand the biases that can result in disadvantaging learners, educators, educational leaders, and families.”

The webpage for Common Ground says it “provides guidance to help educators handle issues related to mental wellness, trauma informed approaches to instruction, engagement with technological and virtual strategies, and myriad other factors that can inhibit student success in the classroom if unaddressed.”

The new technology focused competencies say teachers will “plan for and implement digital devices and resources in the teaching process to enhance the effectiveness of teaching, learning, and interventions” and “experiment with and develop new formats and pedagogical methods for instruction.”

Teaching programs must show the state they have implemented the Common Ground principles teacher preparation programs by Aug. 31 2025, for the Cultural Awareness competencies and Aug. 31 2026, for the technology and mental health competencies.

This story initially published at Chalkboard News, a K-12 news site that, like The Center Square, is also published by Franklin News Foundation.