Follow the Money

Report Details

What is the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project?

Based at Columbia University in New York City, Teachers College Reading and Writing Project is an enterprise that was begun by a controversial educator, Lucy Calkins, who has drawn fire from parents for teaching ineffective methods for reading and writing, particularly for students with disabilities, such as dyslexia.

According to its website, Calkins began the project in 1981 as a “think tank, field-based research team, and provider of curriculum and professional development.”

“Since then,” the website information continues, “the organization has evolved in important ways, becoming more directly involved with school leaders, data, international schools, technology, classroom libraries, and with an effort to fight oppression and to be anti-racist.”

In a YouTube video published in late 2020, the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project shared a message on how to “promote anti-racism.”

The speaker, who self-described as white, said: “I have white children. I know the world around them is steeped in whiteness.” As her daughter interrupted her with a “mama,” (2:30) she said that she had to expose them to “black, indigenous people of color,” so her children can “grow up fighting for justice and fighting to be antiracist.”

While the amounts for the contracts listed here are relatively small for K-12 vendors to receive, the receipts are revealing because they offer a window into the way that school district staff members are often indoctrinated to the views of ideas like how “to be anti-racist” through trainings, webinars and conferences.

What services does the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project offer?

The organization says “its mission has expanded,” and it’s “offering monthly events for school leaders and organizing weekly virtual conversations with notable voices in the field.”

What K-12 work has the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project done?

CONNECTICUT

Berlin Board of Education

 Contract

In Purchase Order No. 2100685, dated Oct. 7, 2020, the Berlin Board of Education paid $650 to the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project for a registration to the “Equity Institute: Advancing Racing Equity in Education: Grades K-8.”

For Invoice No. TCRWP-174633, dated Jan. 25, 2021, the Berlin Board of Education paid $650 for a registration for a staffer to the “Black History IS American History Institute: Grades K-9.”