Recommendations for “Equity” in Virginia Public Schools Will Destroy Them
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38 responses to “Recommendations for “Equity” in Virginia Public Schools Will Destroy Them”
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I think this may have gone too far. It is time for communities to start creating academies as an alternative to this nonsense.
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My point exactly. Parents and teachers will vote with their feet from this creation of the worst of our unleashed, suddenly relevant purveyors of the biggest scam in American education history. Segregated schools were not a scam, they were just facially wrong.
This iteration is a scam because it refuses to accommodate reality in service to philosophy.
A group of Black school district superintendents who can lecture the Board of Education without reference to their own failures to teach Black kids to read is not an Underground Railroad, but rather a group of shameless poseurs.
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My point exactly. Parents and teachers will vote with their feet from this creation of the worst of our unleashed, suddenly relevant purveyors of the biggest scam in American education history. Segregated schools were not a scam, they were just facially wrong.
This iteration is a scam because it refuses to accommodate reality in service to philosophy.
A group of Black school district superintendents who can lecture the Board of Education without reference to their own failures to teach Black kids to read is not an Underground Railroad, but rather a group of shameless poseurs.
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My community has an academy. It’s racist as hell.
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I’m trying to save the public schools from the deadly prescriptions of the woke who seek to leave scorched earth where public schools used to be. I don’t feel good about my chances of success.
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Then, you should not send your child there.
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The Northam administration will destroy Virginia public schools, the black-white educational achievement gap will widen, and Northam’s acolytes will blame racism for every negative outcome.
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Not that it isn’t, right?
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“If so, half of the 84% of Virginia public school teachers who are white will need to leave.”
I saw the writing on the wall about 5 years ago. I did the VDOE and LCPS a favor. Retired. One less white teacher for the collective good.
One problem with communities creating their own academies as an alternative. It will be immediately labeled as racist and modern day massive resistance. Just ask these folks from the old John Singleton Mosby Academy of Front Royal. The left is winning this round and there is no stopping it.
https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/nvdaily.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/3c/d3cf7232-76c7-5797-83b6-0aa8c2799473/5bed88c998fb6.image.jpg?resize=1014%2C630-
I disagree. Their own words damn them if people understand what they are trying to do. I consider it my job to tell them. Beats whittling.
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I hope you are right Captain. I felt so alone at Briar Woods. There were just a handful of staff that see it in the light you and I do.
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“They want student and teacher demographics to match. Good to know.
If so, half of the 84% of Virginia public school teachers who are white will need to leave.”
Are you saying the student demographic is only 42% white across Virginia public schools?
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46%, according to VDOE’s September 30, 2020 enrollment figures.
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The actual numbers are 580,619 white kids of 1,212,756 total kids, or 46% white and declining, but close enough.
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You just taught the Half Wit Troll something he didn’t know! Two of those white kids who will not be in public school in September are well known to me. And I’m actually not that happy about that.
Look, the reality is that only the black and Hispanic parents can do anything about this. If enough of them stand up and say, this is nonsense and we need schools focused on academics and not obsessed with every racial measure, then the politicians will listen. As long as they keep voting for this, they get it. Eric and Nancy and Larry and the other lib Dems who get the real power are happy to feed the meme.
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I did not know that. That is why I asked the question.
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Happy is he who gets a straight answer.
Of all that nonsense Jim outlines, the most dangerous would be to end the Praxis testing which demonstrate actual grasp of the material to be taught. The real world we live in is full of high stress tests in many forms, and preparing students for that will be hard if the teachers themselves can’t handle it.
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“Multiracial democracy”. Scary as Hell to an RPV’er.
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Well, if 84% of teachers are white and only 46% of students are white, perhaps they have a point. The solution may not be as drastic as you paint but the ultimate goal may well be to change teacher demographics over time to be more representative of the students being taught.
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The Langley High School student demographics in Fairfax County are 70% White, 21% Asian, 5% Hispanic, 2% Black and 2% other. Do 21% of the teachers at Langley need to be Asian?
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Might be that the instructor would be able to better understand Asian culture, the students would better relate to the instructor (they would “get” and trust each other more), the instructors would be less likely to apply knee jerk generalized characteristics to all Asian students but would see the individual student clearer, and overall instruction would be improved (particularly for that demographic) if they were. Is there a real need to make such a change at Langley? Unlikely. The overall Asian student population at Langley is likely doing fairly well there compared to other minority student populations elsewhere.
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A look at the digest of education statistics shows that Bachelors degrees awarded in education declined nearly linearly from 176,000 in 1970 to 82,600 in 2017-2018.
The policy recommended to the Board would, as it is intended to do, result in a mass exodus of white teachers, but there is no way on God’s earth to find 38,000 qualified minority replacements. We will have to renovate the schools by knocking out walls to accommodate class sizes of 50 kids each.
The most telling statistic for the problems of educating Black children is provided by the U.S. Department of Education in a 2019 report. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019038.pdf
“Indicator 3. Children’s Living Arrangements
“In 2016, the percentage of children living with married parents was highest for Asian children (84 percent), followed by White children (73 percent); children of Two of more races, Pacific Islander children, and Hispanic children (57 percent each); and American Indian/Alaska Native children (45 percent). The percentage was lowest for Black children (33 percent).”
Notice that the percentage of kids living with married parents tracks precisely with the standardized achievement test results of the races listed.
The African American Superintendents must have missed that, just like they missed the 4th grade Black student illiteracy statistics.
It takes a special kind of cynicism to blow those things off when seeking “equity” in outcomes.
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“Notice that the percentage of kids living with married parents tracks precisely with the standardized achievement test results of the races listed.” No sh%t, uh, Sherlock….
Nothing explains it all, but nothing explains more than that. Imagine that, 100,000 years of social evolution that produced the two-parent family got it right.
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I believe that decades of research demonstrates that home life and learning at home have more to do with educational achievement than the nonsense associated with pushing for equity in outcomes. Why not start with the doable such as making sure that there is equal opportunity and the right of parents to choose charter schools?
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Charter public schools in New York City and elsewhere have solved the problem of minority educational achievement.
Most obviously, Success Academies could efficiently and effectively fix the dreadful public schools in Richmond if invited to do so. But they are not welcome. Too many adults enjoying the fruits of RPS positions without the bother of having to produce results.
Non-charter public schools have not and effectively refuse to do so with nonsense like was presented to the Board of Education.
Yet we have laws and regulations that effectively block charter schools in Virginia.
Next time someone tells you that the public schools in Virginia are run “for the children”, remind them of that fact.
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The power of unions!
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Before anyone dismisses as an artifact of the effects of slavery the fact that in 2016 the percentage of Black children living with married parents was 33%, they must explain why the percentage of Black families formed by a married couple living together was 78% in 1950 (bureau of the census).
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It is not permitted to ask that question!
One could be stumbling towards truth…
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Below are some thoughts on the recommendations. Please do not read these as a disparagement of the work of this group, but rather as pointing out some practical considerations that we need to overcome to begin to implement some of these recommendations.
Inclusion of a teacher diversity index on the commonwealth’s School Quality Profiles expressing student-teacher racial ratios in the form of a single indicator or composite score related to teacher and student demographics
This is not a bad idea at all, but it’s very difficult to find any teachers these days, much less being picky about demographics. Divisions appear to be hiring all that apply, meet the licensure requirements, and have a pulse. -
Inclusion of an indicator on disproportionality in disciplinary outcomes as a factor in school accreditation;
This idea is wonderful, but the reporting of discipline across the commonwealth is already inconsistent to say the least. Some schools document every discipline referral into the student information system, and other schools only document significant behaviors. The data in the student information system is what is reported to VDOE that they publish online and would use for these purposes. There is no way of which I am aware to control for such variance in procedure. If a school gets into accreditation trouble for this, they’ll just simply not report as many incidents in subsequent years.
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Example. Petersburg Virginia.
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Establishment a single indicator or composite score related to school climate that includes indicators related to antiracism and culturally responsive and inclusive learning environments;
This is one of the best ideas of all of these recommendations, if an instrument can be devised that can accurately gauge school climate. If students, parents/guardians, and teachers feel that the school is a safe, supportive, inclusive place with high expectations for all, things will go much better. However, I worry that the instruments may get off track and measure things that may not directly lend to that kind of a positive environment.
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If you don’t buy into the anti-racist point of view, how safe and included are you going to be? Safe, supportive and inclusive doesn’t necessarily fit anti-racism concepts like “Striving for equity and inclusion is not interchangeable with acknowledging systemic racism.” That’s from the VDOE page, “Anti-Racism in Education” at https://www.virginiaisforlearners.virginia.gov/anti-racism-in-education/The Basic Tenants of Anti-racist Education So we abandon striving in favor of automatic condemnation?
This is on the VDOE page too:
“According to Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility
– Racism exists today, in both traditional and modern forms.
– All members of society have been socialized to participate in racist systems.
– White people benefit from racism, regardless of intentions.
– The racial socialization of each member of modern society occurred without consent and doesn’t make anyone a bad person.”
——–“Racial Bullying is perpetuated by Stereotypes, which
are used to describe the behavior of a certain group of people (people from the same race, religion or type of job, for example).”Isn’t this what the whole anti-racist attitude toward white people is?
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I guess it’s according to who you talk to. I’m sure there’s certainly zealots who would like to take this to the extremes, but I think most folks are fairly reasonable.
The one thing that I know is that if students and their families don’t believe that the school folks care about them, they won’t worry so much about working with the school folks. School climate is one of the most, if not the most, important pieces of the puzzle. Education is a people business, and without those positive relationships I don’t expect much good to happen.
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Requirement for the equitable distribution of experienced teachers among high- and low-poverty schools
Sometimes our experienced teachers are not the ones we want with our most at-risk students. I have witnessed some veteran teachers become jaded over time, and wouldn’t give an at-risk student air in a jug. I have also witnessed 40+ year veterans that are among the best in the business at helping at-risk students. Experienced does not always equal effective.
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Reconfiguration of school division boundaries and school attendance zones to promote integration and advance equitable opportunities for all students.
This sounds like a great idea, but I am worried that there may be some negative unintended consequences that follow (already alluded to in one of the comments on this post). I worked a short time for Roanoke City Public Schools. While there, I was really surprised by the fact that the demographics of the students didn’t match the demographics of the city. For example, according to the Census Bureau, in 2019, white folks made up 62% of the population. According to the September 30, 2020 enrollment figures from VDOE, white kids only make up 32% of the overall student enrollment. I suspect that if this reconfiguration of school division boundaries were to occur, it has the potential to exacerbate this problem. The current de facto segregation by neighborhoods in many of our cities is a real problem, but the viable solution is probably not as simple as redistricting.
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Not sure why Dr Governor is beating around the bush. Just set the quotas already… the quicker they start the quicker people will take notice and this can come to a head.
Let’s test these theories…. But my guess is the worst schools will get much worse. What’s left of the middle class will be gone. And kids will attend schools either ranked an 8+ out of 10 or a 2 or worse out of 10… there will be no in between.
I also wonder how HBCUs will keep professors once the larger better funded universities get on board and poach all their professors in the name of Equity. -
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