You may have been hearing a lot about a concept called critical race theory, even though Washington schools haven’t adopted it as a curriculum or framework for teaching.
Critical race theory — which is rooted in legal scholarship but is also taught in higher education and medicine — is sparking broader conversations about how history and race are taught in public schools. Some national lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Sunnyside), are sponsoring legislation to ban the framework from school classrooms. And lawmakers in several states, such as South Carolina, have introduced bills that would curb classroom lessons that rely on tenets of the theory.
Confusion, and misrepresentation of the theory, has led to fierce debates from the boardrooms of school and community officials all the way up to the halls of Congress.
The Seattle Times wants to know what Washingtonians are hearing about critical race theory and what questions you have about it.
Fill in the form below or contact reporter Hannah Furfaro at hfurfaro@seattletimes.com.
We’ll use your responses to help develop and inform an upcoming story.