Due East Educational Equity Collaborative (“Due East”) provides professional development services to schools and educators to help them apply a critical race theory-inspired “equity lens” to all school practices. ^[1]

The collaborative opposes the celebration of Christmas and Thanksgiving; ^[2] has defined equity as the “most essential goal” for Princeton, New Jersey Public Schools; ^[3] acknowledges that educational equity is “not about equality;” ^[4] identifies the younger grades as the right time to develop students’ “anti-racism, anti-bias and social justice” mindsets; ^[5] and supports the far-left Black Lives Matter movement. ^[6]

Due East founder Marceline DuBose endorsed putting critical race theory-inspired concepts such as equity “front and center” in virtual learning environments, supported the suspension of grading and homework during the COVID-19 pandemic, ^[7] and has said there is no way to do equity “without redistribution” of economic resources. ^[8]

History and Leadership

Due East Educational Equity Collaborative was founded in 2020. ^{[9] [10]} Marceline DuBose is Due East Educational Equity Collaborative’s founder and lead equity specialist. ^[11] She is also the lead equity specialist for the critical race theory-inspired Equity Literacy Institute. ^{[12] [13]}

In 2020, DuBose co-authored a post for the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development that emphasized the importance of putting critical race theory-inspired equity concepts “front and center” in virtual learning environments, including suspending grading and eliminating homework during the Covid-19 pandemic. ^[14] She has said that equity “requires us to redistribute things” that may make people with “power and privilege” uncomfortable and that there is no “way to do equity without redistribution.” ^[15]

Activities and Funding

Due East Educational Equity Collaborative provides professional development resources to schools and educators to apply a critical race theory-inspired “equity lens” to all school practices, including teachers’ policies, procedures, and practices. ^[16] Due East views schools as “an ideal space for developing student understanding, voice, and agency related to anti-racism and social justice.” ^[17]

Due East rejects the notion that equity is “equal, color blind, fair treatment of others.” Instead, it defines “equity” as a concept that is circumstantial, responsive, institutional, saying it emphasizes the needs of “minority students, immigrants, refugees, English as a second language students, LGBT students, free or reduced-price lunch students, religious minorities, special education, and homeless students.” ^[18]

The organization produces critical race theory-inspired classroom resources for students, ^[19] conducts so-called equity assessments of schools, ^[20] supports individual educators adjusting curriculum to represent “multiple cultures, histories, and perspectives” to create “cultural representation,” ^[21] has called white high school students “privileged,” ^[22] and supports the far-left Black Lives Matter movement. ^[23]

In 2018, Due East released a 2017-2018 Educational Equity Culture and Curriculum Audit for Princeton Public Schools in Princeton, New Jersey, ^[24] which defined critical race theory-inspired equity as the “most essential goal” of the school district and acknowledged that educational equity is “not about equality.” ^[25] Following the audit, the Princeton Schools acknowledged “systemic racism and bias” existed in the district, established a three-phase racial literacy project for pre-K to first grade, updated its social studies curriculum to meet the controversial Southern Poverty Law Center’s Learning for Justice critical race theory-inspired education standards, ^[26] and used a grant to fund the purchase of critical race theory activist Gholdy Muhammad’s book, Cultivating Genius. ^[27]

Due East opposes the celebration of Christmas and Thanksgiving as a part of the “holiday season” at public schools, saying children are “taught to celebrate and idolize whiteness with images of white Jesus, white Santa, and ‘friendly’ Pilgrims.” The group urges schools to “stop” referencing these holidays ^[28] and promotes a critical race theory-inspired lesson plan called “Teaching Thanksgiving,” which opposes what it calls “perpetuating myths about the first Thanksgiving” and promotes “decentering whiteness.” ^[29]

Educator Training Activities

Due East Education Equity Collaborative partners with the Equity Literacy Institute to offer so-called Racial Equity Facilitator Training certificates to teachers who complete 12 hours of professional learning through the group’s Racial Equity Facilitator program. ^[30]

In 2021, the seven-week-long Antiracist Educator Summer Series themes included presentations on: ^[31]

• From Equity-Posing to Antiracist Doing: Embracing a Transformative Approach to Antiracism in Schools;
• “But I’m Oppressed Too!” Identity-based Pitfalls in Antiracism and Anti-oppression
• Operational Antiracism: The movement to decolonize your classroom and your pedagogy one period at a time;
• No More, “Next Time.” Using student voice to help you recognize, respond to, and redress racism and bias in the movement;
• “That’s Actually Worse”: How curriculum about Anti-racist Social Movements Can Still Be Racist;
• Recognizing, Emphasizing, and Humanizing Blackness in Schools; and
• Navigating Resistance and Building Strong Coalitions to Transform Schools for Racial Justice and Equity.

The organization also co-hosts a 10-hour virtual experience for educational leaders to “eliminate racism and sustain antiracist schools and districts” with the Equity Literacy Institute. ^[32]

Blogging and Social Media Activities

Due East Education Equity Collaborative hosts a blog where one writer claimed schools commit “spirit murder” against black children, alleged schools perpetuate “white supremacist culture” by giving Black students lower grades than white students, and said the majority of white teachers will “continue to teach through the lens of the oppressor.” ^[33] Another blog post contended that math is “not race-neutral.” ^[34]

On its Twitter page, Due East Education Equity Collaborative has said you cannot do equity without redistribution, ^[35] accused schools of being complicit in police violence, ^[36] called “efficiency” an “enemy of equity,” ^[37] and said that even white teachers with the best intentions “harbor racist beliefs.” ^[38]

Funding

Due East Educational Equity Collaborative receives its funding from program and event fees. ^{[39] [40]}