County Schools to Hold 'Diversity Matters' Workshop

Anne Arundel County Public Schools will host a free workshop Saturday centering on diversity issues in the classroom. 

The session at the Carver Staff Development Center will be "aimed at helping parents understand how cultural values and beliefs influence behavior," according to a press release from AACPS. 

The workshop will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and there will be light refreshments provided. 

"The issue of understanding learners from diverse cultures is a critical one as we seek to elevate all students and eliminate all gaps in our school system,” said Teresa Tudor, AACPS’ Senior Manager for School and Family Partnerships, said in the press release. “Parents are a key part of that equation, and this workshop will provide strategies and resources that parents can use to help their children.”

The issue of diversity and cultural awareness has been a topic of discussion recently after a teacher at Arundel High reportedly distributed a "Chitling Test," an exam created in the early 1970s by a sociologist to demonstrate differences in understanding and culture between races, according to reports in the Baltimore Sun and Capital-Gazette. 

Students were not asked to take the exam, but some parents objected to some inflammatory language in the test. School officials said the test was meant to foster discussion, but apologized and said the test should not have been distributed because it was not approved as instructional material by the school board.