At the heart of the investigation is an exercise in the mandatory high school course involving an “identity wheel,” which asks students to consider personal characteristics such as sexual orientation, gender identity, race, and economic status. The exercise is intended to help students examine how those characteristics relate to privilege and disadvantage.

The Department of Education is also investigating whether the Palo Alto and North Monterey County school districts properly “notify parents and obtain their written consent” before surveying students about the protected information as part of their ethnic studies programs.