Tag: equity

‘Equity’ Grading Is the Latest Educational Fad Destined To Fail

Modern public-education history is littered with novel education theories that have failed so spectacularly that the terms are now used as pejoratives. For instance, when I was in elementary school in the 1960s, the “New Math” focused on teaching abstractions rather than fundamentals. You can find reams of research documenting its failure decades later, but the evidence was recognized almost immediately.

That then-new approach “ignored completely the fact that mathematics is a cumulative development and that it is practically impossible to learn the newer creations if one does not know the older ones,” according to Morris Kline’s 1973 “Common Core,” a set of educational standards embraced by California and 39 other states in 2010. On hindsight, it also deserves a failing grade.

“Despite the theory’s intuitive appeal, standards-based reform does not work very well in reality,” read a 2021 Brookings Institution report. “The illusion of a coherent, well-coordinated system is gained at the expense of teachers’ flexibility in tailoring instruction to serve their students.” Don’t get me started on some of the loopier ones: pass-fail grading, the replacement of phonics with whole-language learning, and Social Emotional Learning (SEL).

“Education in the United States has lurched from fad to fad for the better part of a century, finding ever-ingenious ways to underperform preceding generations,” explained investigative reporter Joe Herring in a 2022 piece reviewing some of them. Apparently, there isn’t enough productive employment for education PhDs, so they spend their time dreaming up big experiments to improve education rather than focusing on the obvious ones.

The process gains life as evidence pours in about the latest underperformance. And the latest data certainly is impressive, albeit in a depressing way. Following COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, traditional public schools (and California’s in particular) couldn’t rise to the occasion. Teachers’ unions slowed re-openings. Test scores plummeted, especially for poor and minority students. Many students checked out permanently, as soaring chronic absentee rates prove.

Always eager to embrace easy-button solutions rather than, say, ideas that promote competitiveness and excellence, our school bureaucracies are on to some “innovative” ideas that have a ballpark-zero chance of improving educational outcomes. The new ones are based around the concept of equity. As with every education reform fad, they sound OK in the elevator pitch. Who doesn’t support equity? But they will create a mess that further impedes student progress.

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UCLA Med School Launches Review Of ‘Health Equity’ Course But Warns That Whistleblowers Could Be Disciplined

The University of California, Los Angeles medical school is launching a probe of its controversial “health equity” class—and warning whistleblowers they could be punished if any more information leaks about it.

The dean of the medical school, Steven Dubinett, announced Friday that his office had formed a task force to review all first-year courses, including “Structural Racism and Health Equity,” after the Washington Free Beacon published materials from the mandatory class. But the school isn’t happy about having its hand forced.

In an email to students and faculty, Dubinett implied that the leaks were an “attempt to intimidate” the medical school and hinted that future leakers could face discipline—especially if they record lectures. 

“Recording class sessions is not permitted without express consent from the instructor and class participants,” Dubinett wrote. That warning appears to be a reference to an earlier incident in which a guest lecturer, Lisa Gray Garcia, led the required course in chants of “Free, Free Palestine” as well as a prayer to “Mamma Earth,” part of which was caught on tape and thrust the course into the national spotlight.  

“Doxxing or publishing, posting or identifying private information of faculty, staff, trainees or students in any public forum, including social media, is contrary to UCLA policy and our core values of mutual respect and inclusion,” Dubinett continued. “Guidelines for overseeing invited guest speakers are being developed that will address adherence to our policies.”

The veiled threats come days after the full syllabus for the course went viral online and sparked outrage from prominent doctors—including former Harvard Medical School dean Jeffrey Flier—who said it was filled with unscientific claptrap and called for an investigation. Leaked readings claimed that weight loss is a “hopeless endeavor,” described “anti-capitalist politics” as a tenet of “disability justice,” and advocated for abolishing the police. 

The syllabus was designed with input from Shamsher Samra, a professor of emergency medicine who has endorsed “Palestinians’ right to return” and published research on the “health of border abolition.” Though the course initially included an exercise that separated students by race, that lesson was canceled in January after it became the subject of a local civil rights complaint.

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‘Grading for Equity’: Promoting Students by Banning Grades of Zero and Leaving No Class Cut-Ups Behind

Joe Feldman has faced many tough crowds in the course of successfully selling his “Grading for Equity” program to school districts across the nation. During the consultant’s presentations, teachers concerned that his approach lowers standards have rolled their eyes, questioned his understanding of students, and worse.

“A guy in the front row got his stuff together and walked out of the room,” Feldman told RealClearInvestigations.

Despite the frequent resistance from teachers, dozens of districts from California to Massachusetts are giving the consultant’s ambitious project a shot. As schools face a series of crises, including a spike in chronic absenteeism and sharp academic decline, grading for equity offers a path to better grades and higher graduation rates. Its practices include the removal of behavior in calculating grades, the end of penalties for late assignments, allowing students to retake exams, and a ban on zeros as the lowest mark.

Since the pandemic, districts have been lowering standards by making grading more lenient to help struggling students, according to several studies. But Feldman insists that his sweeping overhaul isn’t part of that controversial trend. He says the practices he promotes are a matter of fairness and accuracy in an educational system that’s stacked against blacks, Latinos and other disadvantaged students.

Grading for equity, however, stirs enough dissent among teachers and parents that some districts have dropped the difficult revamp in mid-stream. They say Feldman’s reforms are a form of leniency that brings out the worst in some students, hurting the very kids he wants to help.

“What’s most troubling are the practices that lower expectations, like giving a 50 percent grade instead of a zero even when a student doesn’t attempt the assignment,” said Meredith Coffey, a former teacher and now a researcher at Thomas B. Fordham Institute who co-wrote a report on grading for equity. “If students know that they could do nothing and get 50 percent, why would they work hard? Many would do nothing.”

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NPR journalist blows whistle on network’s obsession with DEI and progressive diktats and reveals how stories like Hunter Biden laptop were ignored: ‘Here’s how we lost America’s trust’

A veteran NPR editor has blown the whistle on how the publicly-funded broadcaster has become an activist organization obsessed with pushing progressive ideals. 

Uri Berliner, a business editor at NPR for 25 years, has offered a glimpse into his belief that NPR has gone from a respected information source to one that can’t be trusted to honestly cover the news. 

In an essay for The Free Press, Berliner notes that while NPR has always had a liberal bent, the publication was not ‘not knee-jerk, activist, or scolding’ – something he says changed when Donald Trump entered the political arena. 

Berliner uncovers how NPR knowingly kept information from its audience during the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. 

He says NPR editors were quick to jump on claims that Donald Trump was a Russian asset – but far more reticent to cover their subsequent debunking.

It was a similar story with the Covid lab leak theory, which NPR continues to discredit, as well as the Hunter Biden laptop, which bosses declined to cover, Berliner says.  

‘Today, those who listen to NPR or read its coverage online find something different: the distilled worldview of a very small segment of the U.S. population,’ Berliner writes.

Berliner tracks the last days of the old NPR to 2011, when he says it still had a leftist tilt, but ‘still bore bore a resemblance to America at large,’ and an audience that described themselves as 26 percent conservative, 23 percent moderate and 37 percent liberal.

But by 2023, only 11 percent of listeners described themselves as very or somewhat conservative, while 21 percent said they were ‘middle of the road,’ and 67 percent reported they were very or somewhat liberal. 

‘That wouldn’t be a problem for an openly polemical news outlet serving a niche audience. But for NPR, which purports to consider all things, it’s devastating both for its journalism and its business model,’ the veteran editor says in his essay.

Berliner explains that Trump’s 2016 candidacy for presidency changed how NPR covered politics, writing: ‘what began as tough, straightforward coverage of a belligerent, truth-impaired president veered toward efforts to damage or topple Trump’s presidency.’

NPR, Berliner writes, became obsessed with rumors about Trump colluding with Russia to defeat Hillary Clinton, repeatedly covering Representative Adam Schiff as he led the fight against Trump.

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Missouri Warns Marijuana License Applicants Of ‘Predatory Practices’ Around Social Equity Status

Veterans John and Kara Grady received a Facebook message last week from a man who was “looking for a female veteran to be part of our dispensary license.”

Being a veteran is one of the seven categories that makes people eligible to win one of the state’s social-equity marijuana licenses, called “microbusiness licenses.” The other categories range from having a lower income or living in an area considered impoverished to having past arrests or incarcerations related to marijuana offenses.

When the Gradys—who run Slaphappy Beverage Co., which sells hemp-derived THC drinks—turned him down, the man began attacking them on their social media pages.

“I was like, ‘What kind of tactics are these?’” John Grady said in an interview with The Independent. “You have to ask yourself—if it’s that competitive on the microbusiness licenses, then really what’s going on?”

Just hours before Grady received that message, the Missouri Division of Cannabis Regulation issued a warning about “predatory practices” in social-equity marijuana licensing throughout the country.

And those tactics are likely escalating, with the next round of applications running April 15 to 29.

“[The Division of Cannabis Regulation] has become aware of solicitation efforts by companies to apply for microbusiness licenses on behalf of qualified individuals with promises of future ownership in the license,” the agency said in a press release last week.

The division warned that some groups are scamming eligible people by giving them, “no agreements in place that would actually result in the eligible individuals being the owners of the license.”

The division recently revoked nine of the 48 social-equity cannabis licenses issued in October—following an investigation by The Independent that found some applicants thought they were partnering with the Michigan investor but in reality signed agreements requiring them to relinquish all control and profits of the business.

The revocations came just as the division was gearing up for the second round of microbusiness applications, and now the state is urging applicants to be extra careful regarding whom they partner with.

“Eligible individuals should exercise caution in accepting such arrangements as some of the solicitations may be predatory in nature,” the division’s Thursday press release states.

Because only 39 of the 48 microbusiness licenses were ultimately issued from the first round, the division will award one additional wholesale license and eight additional dispensary licenses in the upcoming round.

The owners of the revoked licenses have vowed to appeal, though nothing has been filed as of yet.

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Seattle Is Getting Rid of Gifted Schools in a Bid To Increase Equity

Seattle is getting rid of its specialized public schools in an effort to increase racial equity. Ironically, this decision may end up hurting the very students the policy change is intended to help.

In 2021, Seattle Public Schools (SPS) moved to phase out its “highly capable cohort schools.” The district had three elementary schools, five middle schools, and three high schools devoted to teaching students at an accelerated pace. The district plans to finish phasing out the specialized schools by the 2027–28 school year. The reasons behind the change are rooted in the disproportionate number of white and Asian students in the program.

“The Seattle community and our families began to demonstrate discomfort with the racial gap disparity in classrooms and in schools now affiliated with” the advanced schools, reads a 2020 SPS task force report, which recommended doing away with the accelerated program. “Our current data regarding students receiving services who are identified as highly capable is disproportionate to the student populations who attend our school classrooms each day….Current practices must be interrupted and an authentic examination of our commitments and priorities must occur.”

School officials say that gifted students will still get specialized instruction through the “highly capable neighborhood” model it plans to start next school year. However, a recent story from The Seattle Times sheds doubt on Seattle’s ability to make good on this promise.

“SPS is offering a whole-classroom model where all students are in the same classroom and the teacher individualizes learning plans for each student,” writes reporter Claire Bryan. “Teachers won’t necessarily have additional staff in the classroom; the district is working to provide teachers with curriculum and instruction on how to make it work.”

The idea that teachers have the extra time to craft individual instruction for each student in a classroom with a wide range of ability levels is obviously far-fetched.

“You can only do so much differentiation,” Karen Stukovsky, a parent with three children in highly capable cohort schools, told the Times. She added that one principal told her, “You have some kids who can barely read and some kids who are reading ‘Harry Potter’ in first grade or kindergarten. How are you going to not only get those kids up to grade level and also challenge those kids who are already way above grade level?”

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The bar exam will no longer be required to become a licensed attorney in Washington

The Washington Supreme Court approved multiple new avenues to become a licensed attorney in the state Friday, none of which require taking the bar exam. 

The court approved new ways for law students to become licensed attorneys in the Evergreen State. One method is an apprenticeship program for law school graduates who work under an attorney for six months, then submit a portfolio for review. The other option is to complete 12 credits of skills coursework, 500 hours of hands-on legal work prior to graduation, and submit a portfolio for the Washington State Bar to review.

“These recommendations come from a diverse body of lawyers in private and public practice, academics, and researchers who contributed immense insight, counterpoints and research to get us where we are today,” Washington Supreme Court Justice Raquel Montoya-Lewis said in a statement. “With these alternative pathways, we recognize that there are multiple ways to ensure a competent, licensed body of new attorneys who are so desperately needed around the state.”

Law clerks can also become lawyers without going to law school by completing standardized education courses under the guidance of an attorney and 500 hours of work as a licensed legal intern. 

In 2020, the Washington Supreme Court created the Bar Licensure Task Force to examine alternative paths to becoming a licensed attorney in the state. The task force looked at the “efficacy of the Washington state bar exam” and assessed “disproportionate impacts on examinees of color and first generation examinees.”

While Washington’s alternative licensing program has a DEI element, states with similar programs have implemented their programs for other reasons.

California is considering DEI as a barometer for expanding its licensing program that would help students “avoid the heavy expense of preparing for the traditional bar exam — a burden that falls disproportionately on historically disadvantaged groups, including first-generation graduates, women, and candidates of color,” according to Reuters.

The new avenues to becoming licensed address the “serious legal deserts problem” in Washington and “help remedy the fairness and bias concerns with the traditional licensure,” according to Seattle University School of Law Dean Anthony Varona, co-chair of the task force. 

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Maryland city hires ‘racial equity’ leader who incites violence, promotes black liberation through revolution

The City of College Park, Maryland, hired a “racial equity” leader to spearhead its mission to eliminate systemic racism in its departments who has made statements defending violence and promoting the idea of a revolution against the United States. 

Kayla Aliese Carter supports “Black liberation” through revolutionary means and said she is working with some activists to plan “how we will eat and live and grow after we burn it all down.” She was hired to be a “Racial Equity Officer” under former Mayor Patrick L. Wojahn, who resigned from office after being arrested for child pornography.

According to the city’s website, she assembled a team tasked with implementing a “racial equity” agenda across all city departments, affecting policies, practices, programs and budgets. However, after publication, the city told Fox News Digital that Carter doesn’t oversee an entire team. 

“Ms. Carter does not oversee an ‘entire team.’ Ms. Carter does not supervise City staff and her work primarily has been with the City’s Restorative Justice Commission, which has been charged with the development and implementation of a successful process of restorative justice for College Park’s Lakeland community,” the city told Fox News Digital. 

Carter was hired after former Mayor Wojahn signed into law “Resolution 20-R-16,” “which renounced systemic racism, declared support of Black lives, and called for the ongoing explicit and conscious confrontation of racism,” in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd in 2020.

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Pres. Biden’s budget proposal seeks to spend $3 billion for teacher DEI training programs

President Joe Biden’s budget proposal seeks to set aside billions of dollars to push progressive gender, sexuality and race ideology at home and around the globe.

Released this week, the $7.3 trillion budget also proposes spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to train school teachers in diversity, equity, and inclusion dogma.

The White House touted the spending in its announcement of Biden’s budget, which includes $3 billion to “advance gender equity and equality worldwide.”

That $3 billion figure is several hundred million dollars higher than the 2023 budget request.

Funding for domestic projects of the same kind are robust as well though, including for public education to “improve the diversity of the teacher pipeline.”

In fact, Biden’s budget prioritizes training a new generation of teachers who embrace progressive ideology on race, gender, and sexuality.

For example, the budget includes $30 million to increase the number of teachers who go through the Hawkins Centers of Excellence, a federal effort that sets up programs to trains teachers in inclusivity on race, gender and sexuality.

Those training programs must be set up at minority-focused colleges such as historically black colleges and universities or colleges focused on serving Native Americans or Hispanics.

Once established, the taxpayer-funded program must “examine the sources of inequity and inadequacy in resources and opportunity and implement pedagogical practices in teacher preparation programs that are inclusive with regard to race, ethnicity, culture, language, and disability status and that prepare teachers to create inclusive, supportive, equitable, unbiased, and identity-safe learning environments for their students.”

In another similar funding item, the budget sets aside $95 million for the Teacher Quality Partnership Program, another federal effort that administers grants for training teachers.

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California activist group teaches teens to push for ‘racial justice’ with taxpayer funds: Report

A California activist group, Californians for Justice (CFJ), was paid “nearly $2 million to facilitate equity and leadership development training for students and teachers” between 2019 to 2023, per a Free Press report. 

The Long Beach Unified School District used taxpayer funds to pay CFJ, The Free Press revealed. 

CFJ pushes to teach youth about “racial justice” and is active in San Jose, Oakland, Fresno and Long Beach, according to the organization’s website. 

Long Beach Unified School District spokesperson told Fox News Digital that it believed in educating students to value “justice, equity, and inclusion.” 

“Californians for Justice (CFJ) assists Long Beach Unified in developing programs at five comprehensive high schools, focusing on creating opportunities for students of color to have a voice in decision-making and experiences at the schools,” the spokesperson said in a statement. 

The spokesperson continued, “As a district, we collaborate with all communities, striving to educate students as stewards of justice, equity, and inclusion, celebrating our collective differences. Long Beach Unified values CFJ’s expertise in equity training and professional development for students, fostering an inclusive learning environment. Our practice of providing stipends, referred to as internships, up to $1,400 per student and family ensures equitable participation in CFJ programs, embracing diverse perspectives in education. We address concerns promptly, ensuring educational materials are unbiased.” 

The statement also claimed that the school district “prioritizes a safe, inclusive environment for staff, actively addressing instances of discrimination or exclusion.” 

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