Many NEHS Chapter Advisors face challenges to what and how they teach. 45% of respondents to the Chapter Annual Report survey said that they, or other teachers at their schools, had been subject to book challenges, censorship, and/or educator intimidation during the last academic year.
60% of survey respondents asked for more support for Chapter Advisors and teachers at schools facing challenges to texts taught in English classrooms in the form of resources provided by NEHS. To that end, NEHS is partnering with NCTE (the National Council of Teachers of English) to provide a range of resources to NEHS chapters to help them combat these issues.
Find NCTE Intellectual Freedom Center resources
The NCTE Intellectual Freedom Center provides a range of resources to teachers, including guidelines on how to select materials for English classes and how to deal with censorship at schools. NCTE has also published a position statement on the “red-flagging” of books by schools, and formal statements on the importance of academic freedom, classroom libraries, and students’ right to read.
Report book censorship
The NCTE website also allows teachers (both NCTE members and those who are not) to report examples of book censorship within their schools. Reporting challenges to the texts being taught in classrooms allows NCTE to track the number and location of censorship incidents across the US and beyond.
Download book rationales
NCTE has produced over 600 book rationales, which give English teachers tools through which they can defend their book choices. The rationales also provide reasons as to why texts should be incorporated into the curriculum or teachers’ classroom libraries, and how doing so will enrich students’ learning
More from NEHSXpress: August 15, 2023
Fall Enrollment & Induction Ceremony Resources
New Literary Initiative Grants
Intellectual Freedom Challenge
Expanding Student Knowledge with a Classroom Library Grant
