Report on Controversial Middle East Curricula in Newton, MA Public Schools

Between May 2014, and September 2014, Verity Educate analyzed 26 individual pieces of educational material used in Newton public high school curricula related to the Middle East. Parents and community members asked Verity Educate to assess the material for factual accuracy in response to a multi-year controversy. The 26 pieces include handouts, assignments, readings, and one video. All were provided to Verity Educate by students, parents, and community members in Newton.

Verity Educate’s final report is now available. 153 pages long, it addresses over 300 specific points of inaccuracy and inconsistency in the curricula. Some educational materials were found to be without error, but others were replete with factual inaccuracies and sometimes blatant biases.

Verity Educate’s primary finding is:

There has been a demonstrated lack of subject matter expertise in the creation and oversight of these Middle East curricula, and the vast majority of materials used do not originate from authoritative sources or are so altered as to have lost their authority.

Additional findings include:

• Multiple, easily-refuted instances of inaccurate and false information
• Academic dishonesty ranging from plagiarism to deceptive editing
• Material taken directly from a hate-filled, religious, proselytizing website (see more here)
• Assignments designed to prejudice students towards a radical position of a one-state scenario in Israel/the West Bank/Gaza
• Neo-Orientalist mistreatment Arab perspectives
• Repeated biases against Israel, the U.S., and biases that sanitize the ideology and actions of terrorists

Interested in learning more?  Visit our website to request a copy of the report.

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