December 14, 2021

Contact:
Michelle Renée Valladares: (720) 505-1958, michelle.valladares@colorado.edu
Kevin D. Brown: (812) 855-6145, brownkd@indiana.edu

False and Misleading Information About CRT Prevents Report From Being a Serious Guide to Lawmaking

An NEPC Review funded by the Great Lakes Center

Key Takeaway: Report's partisan misrepresentation of Critical Race Theory would, if heeded, prevent schools from teaching accurately about the history of slavery and racism.

EAST LANSING, MI (December 14, 2021) - The Manhattan Institute recently released a report that manufactures a case against Critical Race Theory (CRT), building on a foundation of right-wing talking points.

Professor Kevin D. Brown, the Richard S. Melvin Professor of Indiana University Maurer School of Law reviewed How to Regulate Critical Race Theory in Schools: A Primer and Model Legislation, examining several of the ways that the report mischaracterizes CRT.

The report offers model legislation as a tool for countering schools' purported CRT-inspired indoctrination. It contends that CRT is the foundation of a widespread effort by public schools to forcibly indoctrinate students and teaching staff to support an anti-conservative, anti-civil rights, anti-White, and anti-American agenda. However, as Professor Brown explains, the report's errant conclusions were derived from misleading anecdotal evidence and a misrepresentation of important literature.

He details how the report is less about sound policy than it is about creating partisan talking points and unproductive controversy. He also cautions that the model legislation might, if adopted, lead to contentious anti-discrimination litigation. For these reasons, Professor Brown concludes, the Manhattan report does not provide serious guidance to lawmakers interested in understanding or legislating about issues related to race in schools.

Find the review, by Kevin D. Brown, at:
https://www.greatlakescenter.org

Find How to Regulate Critical Race Theory in Schools: A Primer and Model Legislation, written by James Copland and published by the Manhattan Institute, at:
https://media4.manhattan-institute.org/sites/default/files/copland-crt-legislation.pdf

NEPC Reviews (http://thinktankreview.org) provide the public, policymakers, and the press with timely, academically sound reviews of selected publications. NEPC Reviews are made possible in part by support provided by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice: https://www.greatlakescenter.org

The National Education Policy Center (NEPC), a university research center housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education, produces and disseminates high-quality, peer-reviewed research to inform education policy discussions. Visit us at: http://nepc.colorado.edu/

About The Great Lakes Center
The mission of the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice is to support and disseminate high quality research and reviews of research for the purpose of informing education policy and to develop research-based resources for use by those who advocate for education reform. Visit the Great Lakes Center Web Site at: https://www.greatlakescenter.org. Follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/greatlakescent. Find us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/GreatLakesCenter.

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The mission of the Great Lakes Center for Education Research & Practice is to support and disseminate high quality research and reviews of research for the purpose of informing education policy and to develop research-based resources for use by those who advocate for education reform.

Visit the Great Lakes Center website at https://www.greatlakescenter.org/