‘Socialist experiment’: Watchdog finds SPLC’s social justice standards woven into teacher training programs nationwide

A new watchdog report has found that colleges of education across the country are incorporating social justice standards from the Southern Poverty Law Center to shape K-12 teachers.

The SPLC, a far-left activist group known for putting conservative and Christian organizations on a hate map, has built a sprawling presence in teacher training, with its Learning for Justice standards now embedded in preparation programs across 38 states and Washington, D.C.

The report from Defending Education, a nonprofit watchdog, found SPLC content in coursework, classroom activities, and pre-service degree program evaluations and handbooks, among other areas.

“Because COEs are the primary institutions responsible for preparing future K-12 classroom teachers, as well as the continuing education of present teachers and administrators, they play a major role in what content, materials, ‘best practices,’ and perspectives shape educators,” Defending Education noted, adding that few colleges of education “outwardly acknowledge their use of SPLC materials; instead, many COEs hide their usage and promotion behind faculty login pages.”

“It is quite clear that the SPLC’s programming has more than a trivial impact on education,” Defending Education Director of Research Rhyen Staley said, per Fox News. “Pre-service teachers should not be forced to adhere to or promote politically charged ideologies to obtain a degree. Furthermore, students and their families deserve an educational experience that is free of political bias and promotes balanced viewpoints.”

Noting that the SPLC is “actively training teachers with DEI and ideological materials,” Defending Education founder Nicki Neily wrote on X that the “Southern Poverty Law Center is turning education materials into a socialist experiment.”

Among numerous instances identified in the report, Sacramento State University’s College of Education requires pre-service teachers to be “evaluated on the integration of the Social Justice Standards into their professional practice.” The “Teaching Credential Branch” of the college’s mission is to prepare “socially just teachers and teacher leaders to be agents of change, committed to equity and inclusion in culturally and linguistically diverse schools and communities,” the report found.

Portland State University and The College of William and Mary’s School of Education are among the list of 100 schools using SPLC social justice standards in their programming in various ways. On a state level, the Maryland State Department of Education incorporates the SPLC’s standards into its teacher induction programming regulations, the report noted.

A representative of Maryland’s Education Department said it is “not aware of any local school systems incorporating SPLC materials into training for teachers or board members, so questions about local implementation would need to be directed to individual LEAs.”

Heartlander News reached out to the SPLC, Sacramento State University, William and Mary, and Portland State University for comment.