DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – The Detroit Public Schools Community District is reviewing a contract extension with a educational vendor that a nonprofit watchdog group says promotes critical race theory.
The Detroit Public Schools Community District Finance Committee is reviewing the contract at its June 18 meeting.
What’s in the contract?
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The contract with Leading Educators is projected to be $488,545 in 2024-25. According to data from the school district, it paid Leading Educators $1.7 million for work done between 2022 and 2024.
Leading Educators stated it has worked with the Detroit school district since 2019 and has set up an entire page describing the work it has done with the district. That page highlights academic performance.
Critical race theory.
InfluenceWatch, a watchdog that reports on the activities of organizations, called Leading Educators “a critical race theory-aligned educational nonprofit that purports to create better educational outcomes for minority students by teaching left-of-center concepts about racial equity through mentoring.”
In addition, InfluenceWatch stated: “Leading Educators believes in teaching critical race theory-aligned concepts in every area of the curriculum. It instructs math teachers to ‘(s)elect or adapt the contexts of problems to infuse social justice into mathematics.’ It encourages all teachers to ‘(a)sk for and use students’ pronouns and your own’ and to ‘(a)void gender generalizations’ by saying ‘students’ instead of ‘boys and girls’ and using ‘inclusive labels for families (e.g., use ‘your adults’ vs. ‘parents’).’ It also warns teachers against disciplining students for behavior disruptions in a way that would upset racial equity.”
“Anti-racism” and intersectionality.
Leading Educators’ website states, “How We Can Teach for Equity is a roundtable conversation with educators and leaders who contributed to Teaching for Equity to discuss how academics, well-being, and anti-racism intersect to create equitable experiences for students.”
In 2022, Leading Educators posted a story on its website written by a teacher that lamented states that banned the teaching of critical race theory.
“There are a few difficult things about being a teacher. I think we know that. One of the most recent things that concerns me is the attempts to ban ‘critical race theory.’ We need to be having conversations about why our country is the way it is—and based on history and facts,” former Minnesota school teacher Tara Troxel wrote in that 2022 post.
She continued, “But there are some states that just want to stop that. That’s really hard for me because it’s so personal. Music came from Indigenous people, you know, with their flutes and their drums. Some kids ask, ‘Why do we only learn about old white guys in music?’ And it’s a real question. I’m like, ‘Sorry, I can’t answer that for you. You have to talk to your parents.’ That’s really hard.”
Academic performance.
Detroit Public Schools Community District says it hired Leading Educators to improve student academic performance. The district says its data shows that when teaching staff get training support, improved student achievement follows.
The district described the work with Leading Educators: “For the 2025–2026 school year, Leading Educators will continue its partnership with the District through a more targeted and capacity-building approach, focused on coaching a group of twelve school principals and collaborating closely with their supervising assistant superintendents. This refined scope is designed to deepen instructional leadership capacity, accelerate school-level impact, and lay the foundation for long-term, District-led sustainability. Coaching is focused on building the capacity of principals in the areas of monitoring instruction through observation and feedback, acting on student data and providing professional development and/or coaching support to teachers.