Teaching of Religion at STRIDE

In today’s society, the teaching of religion in the classroom has all but gone away. Not because schools can’t teach about religion, but because of all the polarizing opinions concerning the issue. For the past twenty years — between the fear of stepping on toes and the fear of "the church-state thing" — it has been nearly taboo (Klee, 2002).

STRIDE Academy has been using the Core Knowledge curriculum since our inception in 2005. The Core Knowledge curriculum gives our students a deep understanding between religion and its affects on history. In the first grade alone, children encounter the polytheistic faiths of the ancient Maya, Aztecs, and Inca, as well as the Egyptians and Babylonians. First graders are also introduced to some major world religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These topics reassert themselves throughout the later years of the Core Knowledge curriculum: for example, in the third grade study of Rome, the Byzantine empire, with the rise of Christianity; or in the fourth grade, the rise of Islam and the Crusades; or in the later study of such religiously inspired movements as abolition or the American civil rights movement of the 1960s (Klee, 2002).
Parts of the above artcle are from remarks delivered by Mary Beth Klee at the 3rd National Core Knowledge Conference.

STRIDEs Objectives to Teaching about Religion

Stride Academy Definition of Religion: A belief system that pertains to specific matters of ultimate concern as part of a larger literary or historic tradition and that includes specific activities and/or rituals.

Stride Academy Answer to Why is it Important to Teach About Religion?

Part of history
Different accounts of events
Produce literate and historically informed citizens
Understanding of our neighbors

Stride Academy Essential Features for Developing lessons, units, and presentation.

Must be objective – does not promote one religion or point of view over another.
There is an identified academic and secular purpose to the instruction.
Instruction promotes understanding of diversity within and between religions.


Supporting materials used in creating the above.

Publications from the First Amendment Center (www.firstamendmentcenter.org) about teaching about religion in the public schools.

Taking Religion Seriously Across the Curriculum. 1998. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Statement from ASCD. “The proper role of religion in the school is the study of religion for its educational value. The task is to teach about religions and their impact in history, literature, art, music, and morality. It seems natural that the art curriculum, for example, must pay attention to the impact of Christianity on the work of Michelangelo, just as a history class focusing on the colonization of America must pay attention to the religious upheaval in sixteenth-century Europe that fueled that colonization.”

Teaching About Religion in the Public Schools Position Statement from the National Council for the Social Studies. “Knowledge about religions is not only a characteristic of an educated person, but it is also absolutely necessary for understanding and living in a world of diversity. Knowledge of religious differences and the role of religion in the contemporary world can help promote understanding and alleviate prejudice. Since the purpose of the social studies is to provide students with a knowledge of the world that has been, the world that is, and the world of the future, studying about religions should be an essential part of the social studies curriculum. Omitting study about religions gives students the impression that religions have not been and are not now part of the human experience. Study about religions may be dealt with in special courses and units or wherever and whenever knowledge of the religious dimension of human history and culture is needed for a balanced and comprehensive understanding.”-- Jason Ulbrich, Education Director

What is STRIDE doing to close the gap?

There are facets of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) that need reform. A positive consequence of NCLB is the attention paid to closing the achievement gap between cultural groups, students with special needs, students who speak English as a second language and socio-economic classes. STRIDE Academy has taken an honest and open look at the data over the past four years. There is a clear and obvious gap in test scores between black students and white students. This gap in achievement levels between different cultures is unacceptable and we need to remedy this situation as soon as possible. The lack of proficiency in reading, writing and math amongst black students is a symptom of deeper problems that have gone ignored, unaddressed, and unmet for far too long (Kafele, 2006).

STRIDE teachers have been meeting one time per week to participate in professional development and strategic planning to specifically raise proficiency amongst black students. The book that we have used as our tool to improvement is Motivating Black Males to Achieve in School and in Life authored by Baruti Kafele (www.principalkafele.com). The main points of the book and our training include:
- Learning about black male students to meet their classroom needs
- Learning about ourselves to meet our black male students needs
- Three Crises: community crisis, family crisis, self crisis
- Who are we as a school?
- Developing a Young Men's Empowerment Program

Thus far, STRIDE has focused on setting high expectations for ALL students. We need to believe ALL students can go to college. Our job at STRIDE is to prepare EVERY child for college. That is the ultimate goal. Teachers are now working on a three pronged approach:
1. Helping students set incremental goals in order to get to college. These goals include: academic, social, behavioral and emotional.
2. Establish trusting relationships with students. Without a trusting relationship with students, they will not be motivated to learn.
3. Include more black role models in our curriculum and visually throughout the building.

While we are still in the infancy stage of closing the achievement gap at STRIDE, we will close the gap. -Jason Ulbrich, Education Director