Another “quick takes” on items where there is too little to say to make a complete article, but is still important enough to comment on.
The focus this time: Making sure the children are mercifully free of the ravages of intelligence.
First, a little mood music:
Carrying on…
So, how’s schooling in that paragon of Leftist success, Chicago, doing?
“Wirepoints released the findings that stem from 2022 data from the Illinois Department of Education, which indicated that in 55 Chicago public schools, no students were reported proficient in either math or reading.
“There were 22 schools that had no students who could read at grade level; another 33 schools claimed that no students could perform math at grade level.
“Statewide, there were 53 schools that reported no students who were proficient in math; another 30 schools reported zero students who were able to read at grade level.”
According to California, teaching math means telling students that two plus two equals RACISM!!1!
“Perhaps you’ve read the headlines about kooky San Francisco discarding algebra in the name of anti-racism. Now imagine that worldview adopted by the entire state.
“On July 12, that’s what happened when California’s Board of Education, composed of eleven teachers, bureaucrats, professors—and a student—decided to approve the California Mathematics Framework.
“Technically, the CMF is just a series of recommendations. As a practical matter, it’s the new reality. School districts and textbook manufacturers are already adapting to the new standards.
“Here are some of them:
- Most students won’t learn algebra until high school. In the past, when that was expected of middle schoolers, the CMF tells us, ‘success for many students was undermined.’
- This means calculus will mostly be verboten, because students can’t take calculus ‘unless they have taken a high school algebra course or Mathematics I in middle school.’
- ‘Detracking’ (ending advanced courses) will be the law of the land until high school; students will be urged to ‘take the same rich mathematics courses in kindergarten through eighth grade.’
- Lessons will foreground ‘equity’ at the expense of teaching math basics like addition and subtraction. ‘Under the framework, the range of student backgrounds, learning differences, and perspectives, taken collectively, are seen as an instructional asset that can be used to launch and support all students in a deep and shared exploration of the same context and open task,’ the CMF continues. It adds that ‘learning is not just a matter of gaining new knowledge—it is also about growth and identity development.’
- Letter grades will be discouraged in favor of ‘standards-based assessments.’ (It’s unclear what those are.)”
It is good or bad that schools are teaching fewer days in a year?
“Nationally, 850 school districts — representing thousands of individual schools — have dropped the 5th day of instruction, up from 650 districts in 2019.
“…
“[…] minuses include mounting evidence that kids in 4dsw programs fall behind their peers. One 12-state study, led by Paul Thompson, an economics professor at Oregon State University and leading scholar of 4dsw policies, found ‘reductions in both math and English/language arts achievement’ in districts that adopted the 4-day schedule. Another found lower math scores in kids who attend 4-day programs, plus higher absenteeism and lower on-time graduation rates.”
Oh…
TTFN.
