Racist Homework: Understanding, Responding, and Preventing It in Schools

If you have arrived at this page, you are likely dealing with one of three situations: your child brought home a school assignment that contained racially offensive content; you are researching whether the homework system itself is racially inequitable; or you are an educator or parent trying to understand how to prevent or respond to racist content in school assignments.

All three of these situations are real, important, and more common than most people realize. This guide addresses all of them — clearly, honestly, and with practical steps you can take right now.

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What Is “Racist Homework”? Understanding the Two Meanings

The term “racist homework” is searched for two very different reasons, and it is worth separating them clearly from the outset.

The first meaning refers to individual school assignments that contain racially offensive, insensitive, or harmful content — word problems referencing slavery, worksheets using racial slurs, prompts that ask students to justify discrimination, or assignments that frame race in ways that demean or dehumanize students of color. These incidents make headlines regularly and cause genuine harm to children and families.

The second meaning refers to a broader academic and policy debate: whether the homework system itself — as a structural practice — disproportionately disadvantages students of color and low-income families, making it a form of systemic inequity.

This argument has been made by educators, researchers, and equity advocates, particularly in the context of what is known as the “homework gap.”

Both meanings deserve serious attention. We address both below.

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Part 1: When a School Assignment Contains Racist Content

Real Incidents That Made National Headlines

Incidents of racially offensive homework assignments are not rare one-off mistakes. They have occurred repeatedly across the United States in recent years, affecting children of all ages.

In Los Angeles, California, second-graders at Windsor Hills Elementary School — a school where 87% of students identify as Black — received a math homework assignment containing word problems using the words “master,” “slave,” “cotton,” and “missus,” including the phrase “needed them in the big house.”

Parents and community members expressed outrage that a school serving a predominantly Black student population had assigned material so insensitive to its students’ history and identity. (Source: The Root, 2017)

In Kannapolis, North Carolina, middle school students received a history homework assignment asking: “How many slaves would be needed to equal at least 4 white people?” The assignment, described as a lesson on the Three-Fifths Compromise, prompted one parent to post it on Facebook where it was widely shared. The school issued an apology stating the assignment “did not meet our standard or expectation” for racial equity. (Source: WCNC, 2019)

In Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, fourth-graders at a Lutheran school were given a homework assignment asking them to “give three good reasons for slavery and three bad reasons” — asking 9 and 10-year-olds to justify one of history’s greatest atrocities. One African American student’s response — “There were no good reasons for slavery” — went viral. (Source: ParentMap, 2018)

In Williamsville, New York, sixth-grade Spanish students were given a translation worksheet containing the sentence “You are Mexican and ugly” alongside “You are pretty and American.” The school district issued a public apology after parents shared the assignment on social media. (Source: CNN, 2022)

In Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, sixth-graders at Nitschmann Middle School received a worksheet about the Code of Hammurabi that included prompts asking students to rule on disputes involving enslaved people — framing students as participants in an ancient slave economy. The school district described the assignment as “unacceptable and inappropriate” and launched an investigation. (Source: LehighValleyNews, 2025)

In Elk Grove, California, a school assignment containing a racial slur and a racist cartoon image of a dollar bill was distributed to students. A parent spoke in tears before the school board, calling for accountability beyond training and emails. (Source: WTVM/KCRA, 2025)

These incidents share common threads: the assignment reaches families through a child who often does not understand why it is wrong; a parent or guardian shares it publicly; the school issues an apology; an investigation is launched. Rarely is there meaningful accountability or systemic change.

Racist Homework: Why Do These Assignments Keep Happening?

The persistence of racially offensive school assignments reflects several overlapping problems in education:

• Lack of diverse curriculum review. Assignments are often created or sourced by individual teachers without review by diverse teams who might catch offensive content before it reaches students.
• Implicit bias in curriculum design. Some assignments are not intentionally racist but reflect unconscious bias — an assumption that the default student is white, or that historical atrocities can be treated as abstract intellectual exercises rather than lived history for many families.
• Insufficient cultural competency training. Many teachers — particularly in predominantly white schools or districts — lack the training to anticipate how assignments about race, slavery, or discrimination will affect students of color in their classrooms.
• Sourcing unvetted external materials. Multiple incidents have involved teachers downloading worksheets from third-party sites without reviewing them for appropriateness. The Code of Hammurabi assignment in Pennsylvania, for example, was not part of the district’s approved curriculum.
• Structural homogeneity in teaching. The United States has a persistent diversity gap in its teaching workforce. According to the U.S. Department of Education, approximately 79% of public school teachers are white, while more than half of public school students are students of color. This demographic mismatch makes it more likely that assignments will be designed without considering their impact on students of color.

What Should Parents Do When Their Child Receives a Racist Homework Assignment?

If your child has brought home an assignment that you believe contains racist content, here is a clear, step-by-step response plan:

1. Stay calm and talk to your child first. Before taking any external action, talk with your child about what they experienced and how they are feeling. Validate their feelings if they are upset or confused. According to Nemours KidsHealth, creating a safe space to share feelings about racial incidents is a critical first step for children’s emotional wellbeing. Do not dismiss their reaction, and do not overreact in front of them in a way that increases their distress.
2. Document everything. Take clear photographs of the assignment. Note the date it was sent home, the subject, the teacher’s name, and your child’s grade level. Keep a written record of every step you take from this point forward.
3. Contact the teacher directly. In most cases, the appropriate first step is to contact the teacher who assigned the work — calmly and in writing (email is best, as it creates a record). State specifically what content you found problematic and why. Ask for an explanation and ask what action they plan to take.
4. Escalate to the principal if needed. If the teacher’s response is dismissive, defensive, or inadequate — or if the incident involves repeated behavior rather than an isolated mistake — contact the school principal directly. According to experts cited by The Beacon, this is especially appropriate when the incident is not isolated. Put your concerns in writing.
5. Request a copy of the school’s anti-discrimination policy. Schools receiving federal funding are governed by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits racial discrimination. Ask specifically how the school’s anti-racism policy applies to this situation and what steps will be taken to prevent recurrence.
6. Contact the school district if the school’s response is inadequate. If the school fails to take the matter seriously, escalate to the district superintendent’s office. Many incidents have only been properly addressed after parents made complaints at the district level or before school boards.
7. Consider external support. Organizations including the NAACP, Learning for Justice, and the American Civil Liberties Union offer guidance and advocacy support for families dealing with racial discrimination in schools. The Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER) also offers advocacy services for families whose children experience racism at school.
8. Know your legal rights. Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, your child has a federally guaranteed right to be free from racial discrimination in any school that receives federal funding. A school that receives a report of racial discrimination is legally obligated to investigate — even if the discriminatory content came from a teacher rather than another student. If a school fails to investigate adequately, families can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

Important: You do not need to prove that a teacher is personally racist to make a valid complaint about a racist assignment. The harm to students is real regardless of intent. Schools have a duty of care to all students, and that duty extends to the materials they distribute.

How to Talk to Your Child About a Racist Assignment

How parents respond to racist incidents (Racist Homework) shapes how children process them — and whether children feel safe bringing future concerns forward. Experts at Nemours KidsHealth offer this guidance:

• For young children (ages 5–8): Keep it simple and concrete. “That assignment had words in it that hurt people’s feelings, and those words aren’t OK. Your teacher made a mistake. We talked to the school about it.” Reassure them that they are safe and loved.
• For school-age children (ages 8–12): Explain what was wrong about the assignment in age-appropriate terms. Connect it to values of fairness and respect. Ask open questions: “How did it make you feel when you read that?” and “What do you think would have been a better way to teach that lesson?”
• For preteens and teenagers: Have a fuller conversation about racism, history, and why the assignment was harmful. Help them understand the difference between intent and impact. Brainstorm with them how they might respond if it happens again — speaking up, talking to a trusted teacher, or coming to you.

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Part 2: Is Homework Itself Racially Inequitable?

Beyond individual offensive assignments, a growing body of research and educational debate asks a more structural question: does the homework system as a whole disproportionately disadvantage students of color?

The answer, supported by substantial evidence, is: yes — in several specific and measurable ways.

The Homework Gap

The “homework gap” is a term used by researchers and policymakers to describe the divide between students who have access to home broadband internet and internet-enabled devices, and those who do not. As homework increasingly requires online research, digital submissions, and internet-based platforms, this gap translates directly into educational disadvantage.

The homework gap falls disproportionately on students of color. According to research cited by Community Networks:

• Children in one out of every three Black, Latinx, and Native American households did not have broadband internet access at home.
• Broadband availability is lower in counties with majority Black and Native American populations compared to majority white counties — a gap that persists even after controlling for income differences.
• The COVID-19 pandemic transformed the homework gap from an inconvenience into a crisis, as remote learning made home internet access essential for basic educational participation.

As the nonprofit Common Sense Media noted during the pandemic: “The homework gap is no longer just about homework — it’s about access to education.”

The Resource Gap at Home

Homework assumes a home environment conducive to academic work — a quiet space, adequate lighting, available adults who can provide help, access to books and supplies, and time free from caregiving responsibilities. These conditions are not equally distributed across families.

Students from lower-income households — who are disproportionately students of color due to historical and ongoing racial wealth gaps — are more likely to live in crowded homes, to have caregiving responsibilities for younger siblings, to work part-time jobs, and to have parents working multiple jobs who are unavailable to help with schoolwork. Homework that counts toward grades in this context functions as a measure of family resources as much as student learning.

Racial Inequity in School Funding

The quality and quantity of homework a student receives is shaped significantly by the school they attend — and school quality in the United States is deeply racially stratified. According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2024 report:

• Black students are twice as likely as white students to attend inadequately funded school districts.
• Black students are 3.5 times more likely to be in chronically underfunded districts.
• Between 2019 and 2022, Black and Hispanic students in 20 states experienced sharper declines in test scores than their white peers — a gap that widened during COVID and has not fully recovered.

These funding disparities mean that students of color are more likely to attend schools with larger class sizes, fewer resources, less experienced teachers, and weaker academic support systems — all of which shape the homework experience.

The Achievement Gap and Homework’s Role

Research from Stanford University’s Center for Education Policy Analysis documents persistent racial achievement gaps in American education. White-Black achievement gaps correlate strongly (0.61–0.68) with racial socioeconomic disparities at the state level — meaning the places where Black families face the greatest economic disadvantage are the same places where Black students show the largest academic gaps.

Homework, assigned uniformly regardless of students’ home resources, can reinforce rather than close these gaps. A student without internet access, without a quiet workspace, and without an available adult to help is not going to benefit from the same homework assignment as a student with all three.

What Educators and Researchers Say

The debate about homework equity has produced two main schools of thought among educators:

Those who argue homework should be reformed or reduced point out that research on homework’s academic benefit is weaker than commonly assumed — particularly for younger students — and that uniform homework policies ignore the radically different home environments students come from. Several school districts have moved toward no-homework or reduced-homework policies in lower grades, citing both equity concerns and questions about academic effectiveness.

Those who defend homework argue that the problem is not homework itself but the lack of support structures for students who need them — internet access programs, after-school homework support, and better home-school communication. They argue that eliminating homework risks reducing academic engagement for students who do benefit from it.

Most researchers occupy a middle position: homework should be meaningful, limited in quantity, and designed with equity in mind — with schools providing the support resources that make it genuinely accessible to all students.

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Part 3: How Schools Can Prevent Racist Homework Assignments

For educators, administrators, and school board members seeking to prevent racially offensive assignments from reaching students, research and professional organizations point toward several evidence-based practices:

1. Implement diverse curriculum review processes. All assignments — particularly those dealing with race, history, and social justice — should be reviewed by diverse teams before distribution. A review process that includes educators of color, community members, and cultural competency specialists is more likely to catch offensive content.
2. Invest in cultural competency training. Teachers need ongoing professional development in culturally responsive pedagogy — not one-time workshops but sustained, practice-focused training. Learning for Justice (formerly Teaching Tolerance) provides free resources and professional development for educators at all levels.
3. Audit existing curricula for bias. Schools should conduct systematic reviews of their existing curriculum materials — including supplementary worksheets and third-party resources — for racially biased content. This is not a one-time exercise; it should be an ongoing process as materials are updated and replaced.
4. Build diverse teaching teams. Research consistently shows that students of color benefit from having teachers who share their racial and cultural background. Actively recruiting and retaining diverse teaching staff reduces the likelihood that assignments will be designed without awareness of their racial impact.
5. Create clear reporting and accountability structures. Schools need clear, accessible processes for students and parents to report racially offensive incidents — and those processes need to lead to genuine accountability, not just apologies. This means tracking incidents over time, investigating patterns, and taking meaningful action when problems recur.
6. Center student voices in curriculum design. Students — particularly students of color — should have meaningful input into how topics of race and history are taught. This does not mean avoiding difficult history; it means teaching it in ways that are accurate, contextualized, and humanizing.

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Resources for Parents, Students, and Educators

• Learning for Justice (learningforjustice.org) — Free resources for educators on anti-bias education, responding to hate and bias incidents, and building inclusive classrooms.
• NAACP (naacp.org) — Advocacy and support for families dealing with racial discrimination in schools.
• U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (ed.gov/ocr) — Where to file a complaint about racial discrimination in a school receiving federal funding.
• Nemours KidsHealth (kidshealth.org) — Guidance for parents on talking to children about race and racism.
• Annie E. Casey Foundation (aecf.org) — Research and data on racial inequality in education.
• Stanford CEPA Educational Opportunity Monitoring Project (cepa.stanford.edu) — Research on racial achievement gaps in US education.
• The Beacon — Journalism and guides on how to combat racism in schools.

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Frequently Asked Questions – Racist Homework

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The Bigger Picture: Race and Education in America

Individual racist homework assignments and the structural inequities of the homework system are both symptoms of deeper issues in American education. As research from Stanford University, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the UNCF consistently shows, racial inequality is woven through nearly every aspect of the US education system — from school funding disparities and achievement gaps to discipline practices and access to advanced coursework.

Black students are less likely to have access to college-ready courses. Even when they do, they are underrepresented in advanced placement enrollment. The average reading score for white students on the National Assessment of Educational Progress is 26 points higher than for Black students. Only 7% of Black students perform at or above proficiency in 12th-grade math, compared to 32% of white students. (Source: UNCF K-12 Disparity Facts)

These are not gaps produced by differences in ability, effort, or family values. They are gaps produced by centuries of deliberate exclusion — from anti-literacy laws that criminalized teaching enslaved people to read (in place from 1740 to 1867), to school segregation, to ongoing inequities in school funding, curriculum, and discipline.

When a racist homework assignment appears in a child’s backpack, it is not an isolated incident from an isolated teacher. It is a visible symptom of a system that still has profound work to do — in classrooms, curricula, hiring practices, funding formulas, and the training we provide to the adults we trust with our children.

Every family that speaks up about a racist assignment, every school that takes a complaint seriously and changes its practices, and every educator who commits to culturally responsive teaching moves that system — slowly, imperfectly, but genuinely — in the right direction.

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References and Sources – Racist Homework

• Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2024). Racial Inequality in Education. aecf.org/blog/racial-inequality-in-education
• CNN. (2022, January 16). A New York school district has apologized for a middle school Spanish assignment that some parents are calling racist. cnn.com
• Community Networks. (2020). Homework Gap Hits Communities of Color Harder. communitynetworks.org
• KidsHealth / Nemours. Talking to Kids About Race and Racism. kidshealth.org/en/parents/talk-about-race.html
• LehighValleyNews.com. (2025, January). Inappropriate slavery assignment at Nitschmann Middle School sparks outrage.
• ParentMap. (2018). Dear Teachers: If You’re Not Woke, Stay Out of the Classroom. parentmap.com
• Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis. Educational Opportunity Monitoring Project: Racial and Ethnic Achievement Gaps. cepa.stanford.edu
• The Beacon. (2023). 7 steps parents can take to combat racism in their children’s schools. thebeaconnews.org
• U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. ed.gov/ocr
• UNCF. K-12 Disparity Facts and Stats. uncf.org/pages/k-12-disparity-facts-and-stats
• WTVM / KCRA. (2025, March). School district investigating racial slur assignment. wtvm.com