Leaked UIUC education course materials reveal race, class and belonging emphasis in future-teacher training

A leaked set of lesson materials from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s education department shows a pronounced emphasis on race, class and belonging in a course designed for future teachers. Fox News Digital obtained slides from Weeks six and nine of EDUC 201, "Identity and Difference in Education," which is taught in UIUC’s education department and taken by students preparing to enter K-12 classrooms.

Week nine, titled "Cultivating Belonging," frames belonging through intersectionality and asks whether curricular choices require students to conform to norms or reflect their diverse bodies of knowledge. A slide cites data indicating that close to 40% of US high school students do not feel connected to school, a finding attributed to the Aspen Institute that highlights how curricular and school structures can disengage students who face racism, LGBTQ+ identities or disabilities. Also presented is a slide labeled "Erasure of Racially Minoritized Students" that quotes a ninth-grader named Xóchitl describing how white students’ behaviors change in different settings. Fox News Digital asked the course instructor, Gabriel Rodriguez, for comment on the quotes but did not receive a reply. A three-minute Beverly Daniel Tatum video is shown during the session, drawn from The Root, which publishes material related to her work on race and identity. The university did not respond to requests for comment.

Week six's lecture, "Understanding the role of class in educational inequality," begins with a look at the top high schools in Illinois and then describes stereotypes of rural, suburban and urban schools, noting rural schools are often portrayed as poor and white, suburban schools as resource-rich and white, and urban schools as dysfunctional and dominated by students of color. The slides emphasize that class inequality is increasing and is part of everyday life in these contexts, and cite a passage from Amanda Lewis and John Diamond’s 2015 book to describe a system in which the federal government plays a "proactive" role in maintaining the poverty of families and neighborhoods where schools are poorly funded. A major focus is the concept of "opportunity hoarding": the process by which dominant groups who control education regulate its circulation to prevent out-groups from full access to it. The slides also discuss how fundraising by middle- and upper-middle-class parents to support programming can widen gaps between schools. UIUC did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The materials deepen the emphasis on race, white supremacy and the cultivation of belonging for students deemed minoritized. The Week nine sequence includes a Beverly Daniel Tatum video and reiterates that race and racism shape experiences in school and society. Tatum, author of Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?, argues that growing up as a person of color involves receiving messages about race from the wider world and that segregation—both residential and in schooling—constrains social networks and access to opportunities. In the slides, Tatum’s discussion of segregation is connected to broader calls to address racial hierarchies that persist in schools and communities. Toward the end of the Week nine module, the materials outline approaches for future teachers to cultivate belonging: affirming and accepting students for all their complexities—particularly for those with minoritized identities—and adopting culturally relevant teaching practices that reflect students’ identities.

The materials and associated videos are presented as part of a broader discussion about racism, white supremacy and the need for inclusive pedagogy in K-12 settings. While Fox News Digital has not independently verified every excerpt from the slides, the materials portray belonging as a central objective for teachers-in-training. UIUC officials have not provided comment on the materials or their sourcing. The episode feeds into a wider national conversation about how race, class and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts are integrated into teacher preparation and campus life.