Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow released an interim report Friday, summarizing her office’s work to root out so-called “inherently divisive concepts” and critical race theory in educational resources provided to local school divisions by the Virginia Department of Education.

Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s first-ever executive order compelled the review.

“There is much work to be done, but I am encouraged that Superintendent Balow is proactively reviewing policies and practices around the Commonwealth,” Youngkin said in a statement. “This is the first step in improving Virginia’s education system, restoring high academic expectations, equipping our future generation to be career or college ready, and providing equal opportunities for all Virginia students.”

The interim report is a window into the Youngkin administration’s working definition of “inherently divisive concepts” and critical race theory, which until now has been fairly vague. Now, it appears to be simply broad: Balow’s report takes aim at initiatives that focus on equity, closing achievement gaps between students based on race, gender, socioeconomic background, and immigration status.

Critical race theory is an academic discipline commonly taught in law school that holds that racism is systemic in American society. Northern Virginia public schools say they don’t teach it. . But it’s become a catch-all term for conservatives angry about how schools educate on race and respond to students’ social-emotional needs.

Balow’s report lists eight different resources and tools previously backed by the state department of education that have now been rescinded or partially rescinded, and provides brief notes on the rationale for each one.

“Numerous resources within EdEquityVA employ the concept that current discrimination is needed to address past discrimination. (Treating people differently based on skin color to remedy old/previous discrimination.),” the report notes about a department of education initiative that seeks to promote equity by developing teachers’ cultural competency and “closing opportunity gaps.”

The EdEquityVA website suggests that the initiative is designed to help schools with “eliminating the predictability of student outcomes based on race, gender, zip code, ability, socio-economic status, and/or languages spoken at home.”

Also on the Youngkin administration’s chopping block: Virginia L.E.A.R.N.S., a workgroup and resource guide meant to help schools think through bouncing back from the pandemic and addressing its well-documented disproportionate effects on communities of color.

“Substantial focus on building an equitable culture to remedy the learning loss caused by COVID-19 and school closures,” the report says, explaining why the project has been rescinded.

The report also takes aim at the word “anti-racism.” One aspect of the EdEquityVA program, it notes, includes a reading list with works from anti-racist scholar Ibram X. Kendi. One exhibit attached to the report is a list titled “The Basic Tenants of an Anti-Racist Education,” which outlines:

“A. Racism exists today, in both traditional and modern forms. B. All members of society have been socialized to participate in racist systems. C. White people benefit from racism, regardless of intentions. D. The racial socialization of each member of modern society occurred without consent and doesn’t make anyone a bad person.”

Only one exhibit provided in the report explicitly mentions critical race theory: an EdEquityVA reading reference list includes the book Foundations of Critical Race Theory in Education, by Edward Taylor, David Gillborn and Gloria Ladson-Billings. Not all materials mentioned in the report were included as exhibits.

The materials being targeted by Balow, who previously led the charge against so-called critical race theory as the superintendent of public instruction in Wyoming, are mostly training resources and references for school districts. They are not the curriculum standards set by the state’s Board of Education, nor are they curricula themselves, which are selected by local school divisions.

Youngkin and others who oppose racial equity initiatives and teaching about systemic racism have suggested that discussions about race make white children feel shame, and teach children to treat each other based on their race.

“Our Virginia students should not be taught to discriminate on the basis of sex, skin color, or religion and VDOE policies should certainly not recommend such concepts,” Youngkin said in his statement.

Youngkin has also established a ‘tip line’ email address for parents to report educators for teaching “inherently divisive concepts” or other things they find objectionable. Youngkin has characterized the address as simply a part of his administration’s constituent services, but many educators are concerned that it could chill classroom dialogue on difficult subjects.

Critics suggest the moves by the Youngkin administration — while they may not include immediate classroom curriculum changes — will result in Virginia students learning a sanitized version of the history of race in America.

“With the appointment of Jillian Balow, Gov. Youngkin had hired his general for the war to erase any history that might be perceived by white students or parents as forcing them to feel inferior,” said Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Mamie Locke in a statement. “But, after decades of being told that I was inferior for my race, for my gender, for the way I look–and children in my community facing that same treatment–I am sincerely appalled at and fearful of what these reforms will mean for the next generation.”

New polling suggests that many Virginians oppose Youngkin’s anti-critical race theory push. A Christopher Newport University poll found that Virginia voters “support teaching how racism continues to impact American society (63% to 33%) and oppose a ban on the teaching of Critical Race Theory in public schools (57% to 35%).”