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With the intent of providing a K–12 education that reflects and affirms students’ racial and ethnic identities and, in doing so, helps improve student academic outcomes, more than a dozen states have since introduced legislation in support of ethnic studies, multicultural education, or a similar form of coursework that incorporates the narratives, histories, and lived experiences of historically marginalized communities in the United States.

As part of its mission to support and enhance the capacity of state, local, and regional agencies to improve education outcomes for all students, the Region 15 Comprehensive Center produced this scan to generate understanding of relevant legislative efforts across the country and summarizes recent legislative initiatives—those between February 2019 and January 2021—that require ethnic studies to be incorporated in the K–12 standards or curricula in 19 states, including:

• California
• Connecticut
• District of Columbia
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Mississippi
• Nevada
• New Mexico
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Texas
• Vermont
• Virginia
• Washington
• Wisconsin