Friday, January 07, 2022



Statistics Show America’s Education System Is Failing: CRT and Lower Expectation Equals Fewer Literate Graduates, Expert Says

According to government statistics, America’s education system is failing. According to one expert, lower expectations and the shift in focus from academic excellence in mathematics, science, reading, and history toward the implementation of social constructs like critical race theory equals fewer literate graduates.

“Public records and other evidence show that state-level and some local education officials are no longer focused on maintaining high academic standards and providing the best public education possible to students,” Liv Finne wrote in her September 2021 report (pdf) regarding the lowering of academic standards by school officials in Washington state as they implement CRT. “Instead, a concern for learning has been replaced by an aggressive political agenda designed to instill doubt, mental pain and low expectations in students. This race-centered agenda also seeks to divide children from teachers, their own communities and from each other. This harmful trend can only be resolved through policies that return high-quality academic standards to public education and well-funded and supportive education-choice programs that allow families to access alternatives services to meet the learning needs of all children.”

Finne, a former adjunct scholar now serving as Director of the Center for Education at Washington Policy Center, has been analyzing education policy for the past 13 years. Her research suggests the unmistakable decline in the literacy of America’s students from fourth to twelfth grade is a direct result of the shift from academic excellence toward social constructs such as CRT.

“Internationally, we do pretty well at the fourth grade,” Finne told The Epoch Times, “but we decline from there.” Recent statistics support her claim.

Government data for 2019 shows the average fourth grader has a 41 percent proficiency level in mathematics. By the eighth grade, the proficiency level drops to 34 percent. By the twelfth grade, America’s students have an average math proficiency level of only 24 percent. In reading, fourth graders have an average proficiency rate of 35 percent. By eighth grade, the proficiency level drops to 34 percent, and by the twelfth grade, America’s average student shows only a slight proficiency improvement to 37 percent. In writing, the proficiency levels are 28 percent in fourth grade with eighth and twelfth graders sharing a score of 27 percent.

America’s students fare worse in science, with fourth-graders having only a 36 percent proficiency rate and eighth-graders dropping to 35 percent. Twelfth-graders have only a 22 rate of proficiency in science. The worst scores come in history, with fourth-graders starting out with only 20 percent proficiency and dropping to 15 percent by the eighth grade. By grade 12, America’s students have a paltry 12 percent proficiency level in history.

Recent numbers from USA Facts show similar results.

According to Finne, there are a number of reasons for the steady decline in literacy among America’s students the longer they remain in school. Number one is “the low expectations we have of our teachers.”

The Shortage of Qualified Teachers
“We don’t expect our teachers to be particularly well educated and they are not trained to teach the science of reading,” Finne said. “So basically, we have a public school system that is negligently instructing children how to read, and it’s been going on for decades.”

Conversely, teachers blame other factors for the academic decline among America’s students.

According to a March 2021 report (pdf) by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the decline in academic achievement begins with the shortage of teachers. This shortage has triggered a domino effect, forcing principals to hire less qualified teachers or unqualified substitute teachers, which leaves students receiving instructions from teachers who lack sufficient skills and knowledge, which inevitably leads to poor levels of proficiency in basic subject matter. A May 2019 EPI study (pdf) showed nearly 30 percent of the teachers blamed low academic achievement on students “coming to school unprepared to learn.” Nearly 22 percent of teachers blamed parents who “are struggling to be involved” in their children’s education.

“More than one in five teachers (21.8 percent) report that they have been threatened and one in eight (12.4 percent) say they have been physically attacked by a student at their current school,” the 2019 report stated further. “Compounding the stress, teachers report a level of conflict with—and lack of support from—administrators and fellow teachers, and little say in their work. More than two-thirds of teachers report that they have less than a great deal of influence over what they teach in the classroom (71.3 percent) and what instructional materials they use (74.5 percent), which suggests low respect for their knowledge and judgment.”

Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford University School of Education blames inequity of funding and resource allocation for the low scholastic skills of America’s students, insisting that the analyses of recent data reveal that “on every tangible measure—from qualified teachers to curriculum offerings—schools serving greater numbers of students of color had significantly fewer resources than schools serving mostly white students.” Darling-Hammond further suggests that “policies associated with school funding, resource allocations, and tracking leave minority students with fewer and lower-quality books, curriculum materials, laboratories, and computers; significantly larger class sizes; less qualified and experienced teachers; and less access to high-quality curriculum.”

Finne suggested another reason why the system doesn’t correct itself is that the education system is a monopoly run by the government and there’s no way to hold the system accountable for results. “We have tried for 40 years, since the report during the Reagan years—A Nation at Risk—revealed we were in real trouble in our education system,” Finne said.

Since then, Finne said other top-down efforts like Common Core, pushed by the Obama administration, also failed. Rather than improving education, the testing standards set by Common Core actually furthered illiteracy because those standards were “based on good intentions” and policies “to make everyone feel good, but they failed because it’s based on a government monopoly system that ultimately degrades the quality of education.”

Lowering the Academic Achievement Bar

Rather than develop curriculum that provides students with the qualifications needed to graduate high school, Finne says the education system has opted to lower the bar of academic standards.

“They’re lowering the bar in a couple of ways,” Finne explained. “Like the Ethnic Studies framework passed by the State of Washington in 2019, critical race theory concepts are now woven into the learning standards of all of the different subjects.”

As Finne explains, traditional educational standards have been reorganized into systems of oppression and the whole CRT construct—a “false philosophy from radical professors in higher education” is now being “imposed as the truth” in the standards of learning in K-12 schools.

“When you take attention away from the basics, and focus on teaching this ideology, you’re going to get a lowered level of knowledge and skill acquisition of the basics in reading, math, history, and science; not to mention learning falsehoods in history like the 1619 Project,” Finne insisted. “It’s astonishing.”

Finne also cited the movement to get rid of testing.

“I see the state board of education is now working on eliminating the need for tests,” Finne noted, and while she is not a big proponent of testing and believes students are currently being “over-tested,” she believes the elimination of all testing would be a disaster because we would not know which kids are falling behind and we would lose the proof that the current standards are failing.

Finne explained that one of the things the top-down reforms did was to require state tests to measure student knowledge in math, reading, and science. Those tests revealed a huge academic achievement gap of 20 to 30 points between white and Asian students and those of black, Hispanic, and Native American children.

“So, the CRT concepts come along by virtue of the radicals,” Finne said. “Educators no longer learn how to teach reading writing and science. They learn how to teach social justice to the children. So, their priorities have been turned completely upside down. We’re not focused on teaching children who aren’t doing well in schools to a higher level. We’re lowering the bar.”

According to Finne’s September 2021 (pdf) report for Washing Policy Center, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction in Washington State is now in the process of lowering learning standards in the areas of English language arts, history, social studies, math, and science, and replacing them with standards that “incorporate best practices in Ethnic Studies.” They are also developing Ethnic Studies materials for K-12 grades. The decision follows Washington State Governor Jay Inslee’s signing of SB 5044 J (pdf) in April, which requires CRT training for all school staff, board directors, teachers, and administrators in public schools across the state. Earlier, in 2019, the legislature voted to weaken the official definition of “Basic Education” by shifting learning resources away from core academic standards to “producing global citizens in a global society with an appreciation for diverse cultures.”

According to Finne, the new push by the school system to abandon efforts of academic achievement and shift toward social constructs like CRT is an effort to hide the fact that they have failed in their jobs to educate our children

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UK: Keep schools open by merging classes, Nadhim Zahawi tells head teachers

Head teachers should send groups of children home and merge classes if necessary to keep schools open, Nadhim Zahawi has said.

All secondary school pupils in England will be expected to wear facemasks in classrooms as well as communal areas once schools reopen from Tuesday.

Critics including Robert Halfon, chairman of the education select committee, said that masks could be damaging to children and questioned whether their reintroduction was necessary but scientists argued there was no evidence of their use harming pupils.

Teaching unions and some primary school heads said that more was needed to make schools safe amid the Omicron wave.

Schools start reopening from tomorrow and all secondary pupils are expected to take lateral flow tests on site before rejoining lessons

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Woke Arizona State University students accuse college of 'persecuting' THEM after they were reprimanded for making two white students leave campus multicultural space

A pair of Arizona State University students have unleashed a nine minute diatribe after they were disciplined for taunting two white male students who entered the college's multicultural space.

On Monday, Mastaani Qureshi, an undergraduate and Sarra Tekola a graduate student posted a video on social media alleging ASU had carried out an investigation into their actions and called for them to write a three-page paper over the September 2021 incident.

In the video posted in response to the University's punishment Qureshi and Tekola claim the investigation into their actions was 'racially biased' adding they were 'forced to confront these men', because, in their view, the ASU faculty allegedly refused to answer their cries for help.

'Dear White People, A.K.A. ASU — You openly discriminated against us on November 16 when you handed down your decision from your racially biased investigation,' Qureshi said.

'We're being persecuted for defending our multicultural center from racism and sexism … ASU is a violent place.'

In September 2021, the women filmed themselves rounding on the two white men who they claim were taunting them by wearing an anti-Biden shirt, toting a Chick-Fil-A cup, and using a laptop with a pro-police sticker.

Qureshi and Tekola have now lashed out after they were punished for taking it upon themselves to ask the white students to leave for what they claim was 'racist' and 'offensive' stickers and a t-shirt.

In their latest video, they condemned being ordered to write up how 'next time, when they talk with white people about race and society they will be civil' and to reflect on how they might deal with a similar situation in the future and 'facilitate a civil dialogue' about the purposes of a multicultural space.

In its ruling the university wrote that to the pair that it 'expects that such dialogues will be both respectful toward other parties and mindful of the setting in which they occur.

'In this instance, the confrontation captured on video was not respectful dialogue, and its heated nature in an enclosed space where numerous other students were studying caused disruption to their activities as well as to the previously quiet study activities of the students who you confronted.'

Despite their penalty it was clear from their response on Instagram the pair did not agree with the university's findings and are unlikely to write a paper on how they might respond in the future.

'ASU does not recognize the difference between equity and equality and refuses to center the most marginalized,' Tekola ranted. Equality means offering everyone the same opportunity, while equity - which has been co-opted by woke campaigners in recent years - means ensuring everyone achieves the same outcome.

Tekola then spoke up arguing asking 'students of color' to be more civil in the face of alleged 'white supremacy and neo-Nazism' is 'actually violent.'

The pair also claim to have been on the receiving end of 'rape, death and lynching threats' on social media and are now suffering from 'emotional and psychological violence' since their first video went viral.

Qureshi and Tekola concluded their video by asserting ASU to be number one at 'ignoring marginalized students.'

'ASU refuses to protect students of color, and the world needs to know how they treat us here on this campus when we push to make it a better place for all,' Tekola said in a statement.

Tekola and Qureshi are ASU students and organizers of the Multicultural Solidarity Coalition, a student-run organization not affiliated with the University that had been advocating for the development of a multicultural space since 2015.

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My other blogs: Main ones below

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)

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