The schedule of the nation’s second-largest teachers' union's conference reveals a program that is heavy on pushing a woke social justice agenda to students.
The American Federation for Teachers (AFT) began its AFT TEACH ("Together Educating America’s Children") conference in Washington D.C. on Friday. The three-day conference will feature dozens of sessions for attendees including several on hot-button issues like LGBTQ ideology, disinformation, racism and climate change.
One of the first sessions Friday morning was called "Affirming LGBTQIA+ Identities in and out of the Classroom." It was run by Mari Garvonado, whose bio says she works "toward dismantling White supremacy," and Omar Salem, "an educator committed to anti-racist, anti-biased, and pro-Black practices in and out of the classroom."
The summary for the session, which was marked for grades PreK-12, knocked "local and state policies" that "prevent the wider acceptance and celebration" of the LGBTQ community.
During this session, participants were prompted to "reflect on personal prejudice" among other actions to work toward "transforming school culture" and "model an identity-affirming space."
A separate session, "Using Teachable Moments to Create Welcoming Classrooms," was marked for Pre-K to 5th grade and discussed how to address LGBTQ issues with young students, including "age-appropriate responses to common questions about LGBTQIA+, gender and family topics."
The session was led by two LGBTQ activists associated with the Human Rights Campaign, including one "Queer Identified Trans Guy," according to the biography.
"The TGNCNB Inclusive School and Classroom," marked for grades 3 and up, provided even further instruction on LGBTQ issues. According to the summary, "Cisnormativity can be limiting for TGNCNB (transgender, gender nonconforming, nonbinary) and cisgender folks alike" and the workshop seeks to "explore the social and emotional" needs of that community.
Other topics to be discussed at the conference include lessons on diversity, cultural appropriation, anti-racism, unconscious racial bias, equity and how to integrate climate change "into any subject area."
The schedule further reveals, "AFT is sponsoring the development of a disinformation curriculum toolkit."
AFT President Randi Weingarten will host a program on Saturday to address the "state of civics education" in U.S. schools and how to teach "honest history." Participants will also have the opportunity to place "Democracy Bingo" with the union head.
Weingarten recently launched a hotline called "Freedom to Teach and Learn" to report instances of book banning and challenges against curricula.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona is also speaking to attendees.
While the AFT tackles culture war issues, there was not any indication that the recent nations' report card will be discussed.
National test scores showed sharp declines in math and reading due to COVID lock-downs.
Math scores saw their largest declines ever, while reading scores dropped to levels not seen since 1992 for fourth and eighth graders across the country, according to the Nation’s Report Card. The average mathematics score for fourth-grade students fell five points from 2019 to 2022. The score for eight-graders dropped eight points. Reading for both grades fell three points since 2019."
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Not a single state saw improvement in their average test scores, with some recording no change at all. Schools in large urban districts also reflected the national average.
Reacting to the national test scores, Cardona said at the time the statistics are a sign that schools need to redouble their efforts, using billions of dollars that Congress gave schools in response to the pandemic to help students recover.
"Let me be very clear: these results are not acceptable," Cardona said.
Fox News' Stephan Sorace contributed to this report.
