Alabama Governor Kay Ivey announced on April 21, 2023, that she had replaced her director of early childhood education due to the use of a teacher training book. The book was written by a nationally recognized education group and contained language about inclusion and structural racism, which the Republican governor denounces as teaching “woke concepts.”
In a statement, Ivey said, “The education of Alabama’s children is my top priority as governor, and there is absolutely no room to distract or take away from this mission. Let me be crystal clear: Woke concepts that have zero to do with a proper education and that are divisive at the core have no place in Alabama classrooms at any age level, let alone with our youngest learners.”
The governor’s office cited two examples from the book in a press release. One example discussed white privilege and that “the United States is built on systemic and structural racism,” while the other claimed to teach LGBTQ+ inclusion to four-year-olds. However, an analysis of the book’s contents by the Alabama Reflector revealed that it only instructs teachers to be aware of these issues when teaching but does not instruct them to teach the concepts directly.
Ivey’s criticism of the book is part of a growing trend in which politicians influence curriculums, claiming that some teaching concepts are “woke.” Alabama currently ranks 39th in reading and 40th in math in the nation among fourth-grade students, according to a report from the National Assessment of Education Progress, as reported by WHNT
