“Grassroots Curriculum seeks to build a movement towards liberatory education in all schools and communities whereby parents, students, and educators co-shape empowering, inspirational, meaningful, accurate, and challenging curriculum so students can better analyze, prepare for, and resolve great challenges in Chicago's communities and around the world.”
Chicago Grassroots Curriculum is a relatively small database with several social justice-linked curricula. Each curriculum suggests related readings, podcasts, or videos, while highlighting successful methods for disseminating content. The site also provides learning tips and best practices for building one’s own curricula, and the tools needed to do so.
- De-culturalization
Individual Contributions
- Higher Learning Movie Excerpts
- Civil Rights (Grades 4-8) by Karen Baicker
- The Narratives of Fredrick Douglas by Fredrick Douglas
- My World History published by Pearson
- Young People's History of the US by Howard Zinn
- From Slavery to Freedom
- Urban Renewal/Urban Removal
Presence Evaluation: Full Presence
Evaluation Notes: There is a full development of what inequity is and how to identify it in real life. They have critical thinking organizer pages for the curriculum. There is facilitated reflection on how certain issues impact students’ lives and community.
Presence Evaluation: Full Presence
Evaluation Notes: The curriculum offers participatory action research and discusses local issues through questions like “What actions can students take to identify problems in their educational system and become active participants in creating social justice for themselves?”
Presence Evaluation: Full Presence
Evaluation Notes: It is built by local educational stakeholders for local students.
Presence Evaluation: Full Presence
Evaluation Notes: The resources focus on students, parents, community, and greater Chicago area.
Presence Evaluation: Full Presence
Evaluation Notes: The resources teach students key terms and phrases while providing real-life examples.
Presence Evaluation: Full Presence
Evaluation Notes: There is an emphasis on self-reflection as a lens for understanding the various acts of injustice.
Presence Evaluation: Not Present
Evaluation Notes: To date, there has been no empirical study of the various resources to evaluate its effectiveness.
Presence Evaluation: Full Presence
Evaluation Notes: There is an emphasis on inclusion and equity by examining how acts of racism, classism, homophobia, and sexism affect an individual’s experiences.
Presence Evaluation: N/A
Evaluation Notes: We are unable to evaluate this domain since it is best measured through observation.
Presence Evaluation: Full Presence
Evaluation Notes: There is explicit instruction on addressing inequality predicated on issues of race, class, and gender.