Identifying Racial Optics and Its Influence on Teacher Curricular Decision-Making in Secondary Social Studies

Social studies teachers represent various political, racial, and ideological perspectives. It remains unclear how social studies teachers choose curricula and balance the racial representation they present and the implications for students’ racial lenses and understanding of race in the past and present. This review of literature will have an impact on scholars as it will contribute to the existing data on the impact of teachers’ race, racial lenses and perspectives, and racial pedagogical content knowledge on their curricular choices. Scholars could use this information to examine the influences of race consciousness on social studies classrooms and understand its impact on curricular decision-making as well as the long-term effects on the development and perception of America’s narrative.