Leaked UIUC education lectures fuel debate over race and class content in future teachers program

Leaked lesson materials from a first-year University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign education course indicate a left-leaning framing of race, class and belonging within the training of future teachers. Fox News Digital obtained slides from weeks six and nine of EDUC 201, Identity and Difference in Education, circulated by a student in the course within the university’s education department. The material portrays belonging and culturally relevant teaching as central to how teachers are prepared to work with diverse classrooms, a characterization that has ignited discussion about political orientation in educator preparation. UIUC did not respond to requests for comment.

Week nine’s lecture, titled Cultivating Belonging, frames belonging as something that must be analyzed through race, sexuality, ability and other identities. A slide quotes a finding that “Recent data indicate that close to 40% of US high school students do not feel connected to school,” attributing that observation to a paper from the Aspen Institute. The module asks whether belonging means asking students to assimilate to a dominant norm or whether it should reflect students’ bodies of knowledge and cultures, using language that emphasizes culturally relevant and intersectional belonging. Another slide labeled Erasure of Racially Minoritized Students presents a quotation attributed to Xóchitl, described as a ninth grader at Shields High School, describing experiences of being treated differently when in mixed settings. Fox News Digital sought comment from the course’s instructor, Gabriel Rodriguez; he did not return a request for comment.

A separate slide features a three-minute video from Beverly Daniel Tatum, Ph.D., published by The Root, a news outlet focused on Black perspectives. Tatum, author of Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?, discusses how race and racism shape young people’s sense of self. The video is presented as part of a broader argument about how to teach students from marginalized backgrounds. Toward the end of the week’s material, a slide instructs future educators on how to cultivate belonging, including items such as affirming and accepting students for all their complexities and embracing culturally relevant teaching practices that reflect students’ identities. The materials show an emphasis on encouraging educators to acknowledge racial and cultural dynamics within classrooms as a central component of preparation.

The materials echo broader themes in the course that week, linking belonging to the concept of intersectionality and to the need for teachers to reflect students’ identities in their pedagogy. The slide set invites future teachers to consider whether they are asking students to conform to norms that erase experiences and knowledge outside the dominant culture, or whether belonging can be achieved through a broader, more inclusive approach. The instructor’s slides also point to the role of race and racism in shaping school experiences as a factor in student engagement, an assertion supported by the included Tatum video and by the quotation from Xóchitl. The university’s lack of comment left readers with few institutional responses to these specific materials, though UIUC has in the past described its curriculum as evolving with research and practice in education.

Week six’s lecture, Understanding the Role of Class in Educational Inequality, begins with an inventory of Illinois high schools and moves into a discussion of stereotypes about rural, suburban and urban schools. Rural schools are framed as poor and white, suburban schools as resource-rich and white, and urban schools as dysfunctional and predominantly composed of students of color. The slides argue that class inequality is increasing and woven into everyday life across contexts. A cited book, Radical Possibilities: Public Policy, Urban Education, and a New Social Movement, is used to suggest that the federal government plays a proactive role in maintaining poverty in communities where schools are underfunded, under-resourced and under-staffed. A major concept in this portion of the lesson is Opportunity Hoarding, defined as the process by which dominant groups who control access to education regulate its circulation to in-groups and out-groups. The slides attribute this dynamic to Amanda Lewis and John Diamond’s 2015 work Despite the Best Intentions: How Racial Inequality Thrives in Good Schools, noting that fundraising efforts by middle- and upper-middle-class parents can widen resource gaps and limit access to advanced coursework for low-income students. The material frames opportunity hoarding as a mechanism that perpetuates unequal educational opportunity, and it highlights tensions around tracking and open access to honors and AP courses. As with the prior week, UIUC did not provide comment in response to requests for clarification.

The lecture materials describe the teaching of race, white supremacy and belonging for students deemed minoritized as a central aim of the course. A portion of the reporting notes that, in addition to the classroom content, a video component featuring Tatum is used to illustrate lived experiences of racial dynamics in education. The slides also call for educators to affirm students’ identities and implement practices that reflect students’ backgrounds, arguing that this approach can foster a sense of belonging and improve engagement in high-need settings. Critics have argued that such materials reflect a particular political orientation within teacher preparation; supporters say they reflect an evidence-based approach to addressing inequities in schooling.

Images from the campus and the course materials accompany these topics to illustrate the context. [Image: University of Illinois campus] The materials reviewed here focus on the intersection of race, class and belonging in education, and they have been presented as part of a broader conversation about how teacher preparation programs address diversity, equity and inclusion. The university did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the leaked slides or the course content. In a landscape where DEI coursework in higher education has become a frequent flashpoint, UIUC’s EDUC 201 is one of many programs exploring how to prepare teachers for increasingly diverse classrooms, while some observers contend that curricula push a particular ideological stance. The implications for teacher education, campus culture and public perception of universities’ role in shaping future educators remain a topic of heated debate across parts of the education community.

The university’s response to the material is not on the record for this article, and Fox News Digital has not published a formal editorial assessment of the course content. The notes accompanying the Fox News Digital report emphasize the author’s intent to document what is described as left-leaning content in a course that trains future teachers. The reporting also notes that the course materials discuss race, class and belonging in ways that go beyond traditional pedagogy, a development that aligns with broader conversations about how to prepare teachers for classrooms with diverse student populations. Further responses from UIUC or its education department could provide additional context about how these materials fit within the department’s curriculum and instructional goals.

[Image: Cultivating Belonging slide 1]

The presentation of these materials has resonated differently across audiences. Some readers view the slides as a candid snapshot of a university course delving into complex social issues with a particular theoretical lens, while others see it as evidence of ideological bias shaping the preparation of future teachers. The extent to which such approaches influence classroom practice and student outcomes remains a subject of ongoing discussion among educators, policymakers and critics. UIUC’s public stance on DEI initiatives and on teacher preparation standards continues to evolve as universities balance academic inquiry with concerns from various stakeholders. The university’s campus sign stands as a symbol of the institution’s broader presence in the educational landscape.

As debates over DEI curricula persist in higher education, educators, administrators and students alike look to institutions to provide clarity on how race, class and belonging are taught in classrooms. The UIUC episode highlights how leaked course materials can become focal points for broader conversations about the role of race, identity, and power in education, and about what constitutes rigorous teacher preparation in a diverse society. Further reporting and official responses from UIUC may shed light on the institution’s intent and methods for integrating these concepts into the curriculum, as well as on how students and faculty at the university perceive the balance between critical inquiry and institutional norms in the classroom.