Ethnic Studies courses emerged from protests in higher education calling for courses that center the histories and experiences of communities of color and work to dismantle racial injustice. Efforts to extend similar opportunities to secondary students have recently proliferated, particularly in California where Ethnic Studies will be a high school graduation requirement for the class of 2029-30. The San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) was among the first districts to develop a high school Ethnic Studies course. Quasi-experimental evaluations of the course pilot indicate positive, lasting impacts on students’ academic outcomes. SFUSD subsequently approved the expansion of the course to all district high schools and made Ethnic Studies a graduation requirement. Despite evidence of the efficacy of Ethnic Studies in SFUSD and elsewhere, we lack evidence about such scale-up efforts. This presentation will discuss existing research about the efficacy of Ethnic Studies, its growth across California, and ongoing research from a Research Practice Partnership with SFUSD to examine their efforts to sustain the program as it expands.

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