Students at Cesar Chavez High School in Stockton spent a recent class period tracing their family trees as part of a Filipino American studies course now in its second year that counts as a full alternative to traditional U.S. History. The class is one piece of a broader shift in Stockton Unified School District, which allows students to take ethnic studies courses in place of standard U.S. History requirements.
A Class Built Around Stockton's Own History
The district's ethnic-studies alternatives also include Native American, Black and African American, Mexican American and Asian American studies, according to CBS News. Teacher Jerick Ladaro, who was born and raised in Stockton and teaches both Filipino American studies and Intro to Ethnic Studies at Cesar Chavez, said the course is meant to show students that Filipino American history is not separate from the American story but a part of it. Aldrich Sabac, Stockton Unified’s Ethnic Studies curriculum specialist, said, “You can still learn U.S. History but through the context of a specific community,” according to CBS Sacramento.
Ladaro, whose mother is from Boracay and whose father is from Ilocos, has said the course connects the Filipino American experience directly to Stockton's own history. The district's ethnic-studies page describes the broader goal this way: the program aims to highlight the local narratives and history of Stockton while making connections with national and global events, according to the Stockton Unified School District. That framing matters in a city that was once home to the largest Filipino population outside the Philippines itself.
Mapping Family Trees With the Claramo Sisters
On October 22, students in the class worked with the Claramo sisters of the Filipino Farm Center to explore their own family trees and ancestry, building on an organization with deep roots in the region. The Filipino Farm Center was originally formed in Lathrop in 1941 as a resource for farming interests and a community gathering space, per the Visit Stockton history project.
For senior Jayden Tenorio, the exercise turned personal fast. Tenorio has a father from Sorsogon and a grandmother from Cebu, and he said his father and grandmother came to California seeking a better life. He added that he valued experiencing the family-tree activity alongside his brother, a detail that underscored how the assignment reached beyond the classroom and into his own household.
Camila Fernandez, a senior at Cesar Chavez High School, said she discovered through the project that she shares her name with her great-grandmother. Santanah Alvarado said learning about her ancestry left her grateful for her loved ones and hopeful that she could one day repay their support. Senior Amahnti Chanhkal said Ladaro helped the class understand Filipino experiences throughout history, including the period of Spanish colonization.
Dance, Identity and a Club Built Around Heritage
Charlotte Margate, president of Cesar Chavez High School's Filipino club, helps teach traditional Filipino dances, including tinikling, as part of student life connected to the course. She said the class matters for Filipino American students and others alike because it connects American culture with other cultures rather than treating them as separate subjects.
Ladaro has said that learning about oneself can strengthen identity and a sense of belonging, while also connecting generations within a family. Stockton Unified says its Ethnic Studies Community Collaborative is meant to give students, teachers, families and community members an official space to shape curriculum and activities together, according to the district's own materials.
Part of a Longer Local Push, Amid a Stalled State Mandate
This moment did not emerge overnight. Stockton's Filipino community historically centered on what was once nicknamed “Little Manila,” an area where Filipinos owned businesses and built community institutions, according to the Columbia Law Review. That same analysis describes Stockton as home to more than two decades of grassroots investment in ethnic-studies courses. Little Manila Rising started an earlier ethnic-studies-based program called Us History at Edison High School back in 2016, focused on Mexican American, African American and Filipino American histories and cultures, per the National Civic League. The district's board voted unanimously in April 2017 to adopt ethnic studies as an elective at all its high schools.
Statewide, the picture looks far less settled. California had planned a one-semester ethnic-studies graduation requirement set to begin with students graduating in the 2029-30 school year, according to the California Department of Education. But that mandate has not taken effect because implementation was contingent on state funding, and the 2025 state budget did not fully fund it, EdSource reports. Districts can still satisfy the eventual requirement through several paths, including a course based on the state's model curriculum or a locally developed course approved by their own governing board, under state legislation.
Around California, districts have responded in very different ways. San Francisco Unified paused its ethnic studies curriculum just two weeks before the 2025-26 school year began, while Folsom Cordova Unified kept the subject optional in 2025 with plans to make it mandatory the following year, according to EdSource. CalMatters has reported that some districts have simply used their own money to train teachers and start offering the classes anyway, without waiting on the state. Stockton Unified is described as among the first school districts in the country, and the first in California, to offer ethnic studies as a full alternative to U.S. History, though CBS Sacramento's own report frames that distinction as true as far as the outlet is aware.
