Elliott Educational Services LLC is an educational consulting firm based in Los Angeles, California that provides critical race theory-aligned “antiracism” workshops, consulting, and speeches on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Background

Elliott Educational Services was founded as a limited liability company in Los Angeles California by Christina Hale Elliot, a left-progressive activist and former educator. The firm offers to both educational and education-adjacent institutions a variety of services aimed at helping them to reach the firm’s critical race theory-aligned objectives. Examples of such services include assessments, workshops, policy recommendations, educational program development, technical assistance, and providing speakers for events. ^{1 2} Aside from Elliot, the firm lists three other consultants. ³

According to the “Consultant Report Card” of right-leaning education watchdog Parents Defending Education, the firm has done business with California’s La Canada Unified School District, Etiwanda School District, and the Piper Preschool in Santa Monica, California. ⁴ Additionally, the testimonials page of the firm’s website cites individuals from the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, a prep school in La Canada, and the University of California, Riverside. ^{5 6}

Activities

According to a post on the Elliott Educational Services website, the La Canada Unified School District in California hired the firm in September 2019, and afterward the district’s board “showed enthusiasm” for “embracing” a plan developed by the firm’s principal consultant Christina Hale Elliot to, among other things, “improve inclusion.” According to the same post, Hale was the school’s first contracted “diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant.” ⁷

In 2018, the firm republished an article by Elliott titled “From Starbucks to Schoolyards.” ^{8 9} In the article, Elliott discussed a widely reported incident in a Philadelphia Starbucks where two African-American men were arrested on charges of “trespassing and creating a disturbance.” Elliott argued that the arrest was baseless and resembles racially motivated discipline policies in schools. Elliott claimed that “far too often the decision to call police has nothing to do with a broken rule or policy but instead is about a Black adult or child having the gall to show emotion” and “the true infraction is showing up as a fully-feeling, fully-expressive Black human being.” ^{10 11}

Christina Hale Elliot

Christina Hale Elliott is the founder and principal consultant of Elliott Educational Services. Formerly, she worked in various educational positions, including as a secondary English teacher, literacy coach, university lecturer, and supervisor of teacher education. ¹²

1. “Services.” Elliot Educational Services. Accessed November 22, 2021. https://www.elliotteducationalservices.com/services
2. “Elliott Educational Services.” Parents Defending Education. Accessed November 22, 2021. https://defendinged.org/report/elliott-educational-services/
3. “Our Team.” Elliot Educational Services. Accessed November 22, 2021. https://www.elliotteducationalservices.com/our-team
4. “Elliott Educational Services.” Parents Defending Education. Accessed November 22, 2021. https://defendinged.org/report/elliott-educational-services/
5. “Testimonials.” Elliot Educational Services. Accessed November 22, 2021. https://www.elliotteducationalservices.com/testimonials
6. “Who we are.” Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy. Accessed November 29, 2021. https://www.fsha.org/about/who-we-are
7. Hale-Elliot, Christina. “Diversity Report Spurs LCUSD Board to Confront Inequality.” Elliot Education Services. August 20, 2021. Accessed November 22, 2021. https://www.elliotteducationalservices.com/media/diversity-report-spurs-lcusd-board-to-confront-inequity
8.  Hale-Elliott, Christian. “From Starbucks to Schoolyards: Calling the Cops for Being Black is Nothing New.” My Reflection Matters. May 6, 2018. Accessed November 22, 2021. http://www.myreflectionmatters.org/from-starbucks-to-schoolyards-calling-the-cops-for-being-black-is-nothing-new/
9. “About: Mission.” My Reflection Matters. Accessed November 22, 2021. http://www.myreflectionmatters.org/about-mrm/
10. Hale-Elliot, Christina. “From Starbucks to Schoolyards.” Elliot Education Services. May 6, 2018. Accessed November 22, 2021. https://www.elliotteducationalservices.com/media/from-starbucks-to-schoolyards
11. Siegel, Rachel. “‘They can’t be here for us’: Black men arrested at Starbucks tell their story for the first time.” Washington Post. April 19, 2018. Accessed November 22, 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/04/19/they-cant-be-here-for-us-black-men-arrested-at-starbucks-tell-their-story-for-the-first-time/?noredirect=on
12.  “Our Team.” Elliot Educational Services. Accessed November 22, 2021. https://www.elliotteducationalservices.com/our-team